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| Running along the Thames is a fantastic morning out in any weather |
The Quicksilver RBK Half Marathon
"Photos of you at the RBK Half Marathon 2022 are now live and
online !! Just click here to search with your bib number and see yourself
smashing it in the rain ! "
Free to download or order the free downloads - https://sspimg.com/RBK-Half-2022-Gallery
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| If you wanted to run somewhere peaceful - Run The Trail was the place to be (*look Dad !, I'm doing PR type shots*) |
Macmillan - Run The Trail
We also had the inaugural Macmillan Run the Trail event at Pippingford Park - which used Pic2Go technology to get photos out to participants live during the event for sharing their achievements to friends, family and sponsors for that special extra lift - and they can register here for their free gallery:https://pic2go.co.uk/register#runthetrail
There will be a backup gallery on the SSP website later for browsing - and free downloading - but for best sponsorship and benefit lift - the pic2go gallery is the best !
Weekend race volume roundup - so how's it going in general compared to pre-covid ? I'm thinking I should try to do this to keep an eye on things and see if and when things pick up. Last week was an average down 28% - will this week be any different ?
Nope.No. Nopey No.
We see it's not just across the running industry - but all "in person" events that are down a third (ours is roughly 28%) - and costs everywhere are going up - see this article here about the music events industry - https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/oct/21/music-festivals-uk-raise-ticket-prices-costs-soar
Weekends racing numbers
So I ran some numbers, searched out the best races that were indicative of this time of year across 10k's and Half marathons that have been well established from before the pandemic - and this is the table I got:
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| race volumes across the weekend 22-23rd October 2022 |
Two of these organisers told us they had record entries, but these are actual starters on the day. They were not record numbers. I am now wondering if they had record no-shows too - and is that also a thing ? (or were they just lying to boost marketing blah?).
You'll see that I've excluded the Beachy Head Half from the numbers - because it didn't take place before covid lockdown, but I have included the Ultra with the marathon - because it falls into a bucket of similar minded runners. If all Beachy Head runners are counted - then it's down on totals by just 11% compared to pre-covid - but I'm still at odds doing that because there's no guarantee the half marathon runners would have run the marathon instead pre-covid.
There is one exclusions to this list - and that's the Run Norwich 10k - which is my first race listed to turn the tide - but because it's a large race over 5000 persons - with a pre-lockdown 2017-2019 average of 5,529 finishers - and had a two year break - it's managed a stunning lift of 12% to 6,201 participants for a 10k. Those extra 672 runners and the average weight that puts into the mix as a 60% by volume of the total runners across these considered races - again biases the data.
Interestingly Run Norwich is organised by their local football clubs community sports foundation - illustrating how important local community, connection and a sense of togetherness can bring people together.
If we just average the average volume drops across all the races - we still get an average drop of 27%. This takes the absolute volume weighting of runners and considers it on a "average of races averages".
So yes - it's still at 27% drop on average.
Let's hope there's more upside as we get into November after the clocks go back, although the season does tend to stop now...
Anyway enough of the cheerful stuff - let's have some pretty photos of runners running !
First up - do yuo like trail running ? Yes ? Then you should have been at Pippingford Park for the Run the Trail with Macmillan
Trigger warning - it's very hilly there too... beautiful, but hilly.
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| Pipingford House in the distance |
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| well organised event village |
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| up at the highest point |
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| back down towards the valley and the house in the distance |
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| the not dead - dead Oak |
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| a motivating hand |
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| over the small bridge |
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| Tree trails in the woods |
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| Run ! |
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| Get your warmup on |
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| It was not Richard E Grant doing the video, but he had done steady cam for Ellie Goulding yesterday, so basically he was famous |
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| Heroes together and happy to finish |
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| Deep earnest contemplation after finishing a challenge |
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| Top Man wins ! |
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| post match interviews |
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| Black dog signals joy at return of the Master ! |
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| Basically - you - next year. Get your entries in ! |
And then over at Kingston upon Thames, sunday morning, it felt more like Kingston under Thames... because it rained a bit, then went very very dark, and then got a bit lighter, and then it finished the race.
Then eventually it stopped raining !
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| the river makes for a lovely view |
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| this is a full colour photo at 9am in the morning... |
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| A happy day running |
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| he's got his Gel, so he's good to go ! |
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| keeping up to date with the latest politics on the move |
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| loves a bit of jumping |
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| V for Victory |
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| High Five for Salisbury |
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| The autumn leaves around Hampton Court |
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| Hampton Court looking fine in the background |
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| All nice in the rain and the flat routes |
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| skating into the finish at speed |
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| the ground is flooded - floating along |
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| Timing mat, not a stream |
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| lit by shoplight |
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| nobody won the 2:10 race |
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| getting through the rain with a smile |
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| mind the flag at the finish ! |
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| So - we had a wonderful time in the rain, and finally got our food delivered to the finish line - Deliveroo has it's place at last... |
It's now the long road into winter and preparing for next year - we have a few races and will continue to promote free photographs at races as the best way forwards for adding value to a race for the participants, the sake of the charities, promoting sponsors and giving them reason to sponsor, and giving you the proof that you deserve that you ran through the rain for 2 hours last sunday !
Until next time - keep training and be careful out there in the rain and the darker days - please wear High-Viz !
Anthony
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