Chester marathon?

[ParisGal]

Does anyone have any experience of Chester marathon?

My mum's partner is going to run it, she wants to go to support him, and my brother is going to be his "water boy" and be at every checkpoint or whatever they're called.

Mum can't stand around much at all, and might have to retire to a café, especially if my brother has to drive around to be at the checkpoints.

Not sure exactly what anyone can say that would be useful - the only definite point is how are runners expected to get from the racecourse carpark to the start line? Any ideas of where it'd be best for Mum to post herself to cheer him on? He won't have any kind of app so that he can be tracked, but I presume he'll be able to give reasonable predictions from his training times.

Thank you!

[Princess Morripov]

I can help!

I have done the Chester half and 10k, so I’m pretty sure it’s the same (but further of course ). It sets off from the racecourse (that is the start line!) but you absolutely won’t get parking there on the day, you’d be lucky to maybe get the Roodee if you were early, or park and ride from the business park.

Not a lot of it is city centre apart from briefly on the way out, then the way back in but it does get VERY busy for people coming back in near the town hall. If she’s ok standing then she could find a position along there but it’s likely to get quite congested there.

In terms of the check points there’ll just be water stops on the route I imagine, but I wouldn’t necessarily plan around those locations, as I imagine there’ll be just busy and frantic from experience, grab a water, drink it, chuck it, carry on.

If she’s driving there’s a possibility she could park near the Grosvenor Pulford just out of Chester and do a wave from there - that’s probably a good spot. And then head back into town for the finish?

[Duophonic]

I've never done it but I've done a few marathons and I think your brother stopping at every checkpoint is going to be nigh on impossible. They'll be road closures and each checkpoint will be organised in a way that there's water and energy gels available so he won't be able to get that close.

Sorry to pour cold water on the idea but essentially what you should be doing is staying put somewhere to cheer him going past there's plenty of on site official support for water and nutrition.

Supporting someone doing a marathon is standing around for hrs for a glimpse of your runner.

[ParisGal]

Thank you very much, both.

Oh dear, I did think it seemed difficult to get to each check point without being able to drive up to them. I assumed that they'd got some sort of plan or knowledge that it'd be possible, but it'd be totally unsurprising for that not to be the case

Mum definitely thinks that they're supposed to park at the racetrack but that the start is elsewhere They do know that it's not necessary with the water business, it's just for moral support.

[Duophonic]

The race route is around small villages in Wales there'll be so many road closures that he'll not get anywhere near. That and from the metric marathon is on the same day but staggered later means thousands of people either participating or spectating.

Most marathons you make your own way to the start point unless you are running from point to point - Inverness is one where it starts at x point on the banks of the loch and you run into Inverness, the bus you to the start. New York is similar.

I had a look at the website and it starts at the racecourse.


Mr D and I have a system that one runs the chosen event the other supports. We rarely run a distance like that at the same time. We see the other off at the start and then head to either a cafe or mooch about a museum.

I did Berlin a few years back Mr D and Mini waved me off at the start went sight seeing and lunch and made sure they tracked my progress and got me at the end.

I really admire that your brother wants to support but it can be a really lonely sport doing long distance.

[Chicky]

I’ve spectated a few marathons (not Chester) and the best thing to do is pick one or two spots on the course that it’s easy to get close to beforehand. If your brother cycles then that is easier to get round than driving and parking is as you can often get past roadblocks on a bike.

Check what pace the person running is planning so you know roughly what time they will get to the points you choose. One or two spots is probably all that it’s possible to manage though.

[Princess Morripov]

https://www.activeleisureevents.co.uk/m ... nformation

This is quite a useful link, I was going to say you definitely can’t park at the racecourse, but you can, as long as you park there prior to 7.30am which is as good as not being able to park as that’s hours in advance

It absolutely starts from the racecourse though.

[Ruby]

In my experience of 'watching' my sister in multiple long runs, it's a nightmare. There is a LOT of standing around and waiting; before, during and after. I stood at the finish line of the Great North Run for hours and still missed her and had to go and find her in a tent.

I don't have any Chester-specific advice. Other than you should go into the cellar of Spudulike (or whatever it is now) because they have a very well preserved Roman hypocaust.

[Topcat]

More Romans, I see.

[ParisGal]

https://www.activeleisureevents.co.uk/m ... nformation

This is quite a useful link, I was going to say you definitely can’t park at the racecourse, but you can, as long as you park there prior to 7.30am which is as good as not being able to park as that’s hours in advance

It absolutely starts from the racecourse though.

I'm actually a bit concerned that my mum apparently read this same link (she mentioned that the official website listed those villages as being good to spectate in) but came away with the impression that the racecourse is for parking but not the start :woteva:

I'd never heard of metric marathons!

Does anyone know if the chip tracking means that you can know where he has already been tracked and when, or is that only for people with social media to link to?

I will mention the Roman Spudulike attraction, and possibly ask how often they all think about the Roman Empire. For the one who's running, it's probably daily, but not as much as WWII

Oh, I read someone saying that they'd put their name on their vest when running a marathon, and it'd been really nice to have random spectators encourage them by name - is that generally the case?

[Chicky]

Chip tracking should mean you can go on the website and see where he is. It’s often really slow to update though so I wouldn’t rely on it.

Names on vests and numbers are really common. I hate having my name shouted when I’m running (it makes me think I know the people in the crowd and I like to be anonymous) so I don’t. I entered one marathon where you had to put the name you wanted on your number, you couldn’t leave it blank so I wrote “no name” and that’s what they printed on my number

[Duophonic]

Chip tracking is where you wear a chip and there will be timing mats at strategic places on the course but it doesn't necessarily mean that you will be able to track your person. The big marathons offer tracking for spectators but smaller ones don't tend to as it means additional setup

Chip timing just means that you're not at the mercy of gun times - gun time is when the gun goes off and it could take due to crowds minutes to cross the start line, chip timing is more accurate as even if you start your watch too early your chip will only activate when you hit that timing mat at the start. It also prevents folk from cheating.

Nothing on the site suggests that you'll be able to track via an app or the website your particular person

https://www.activeleisureevents.co.uk/m ... nformation

I have two running club racing vests - one with my name on for marathons and stuff and one without. It's just preference as to what you'd prefer.