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I have been waiting for someone else to vent first but it appears that I will get that honor. Yesterday's race had to be the worst I have ever experienced. The course was poorly marked - no one around at critical points to let runners know the correct direction if they happened to miss the tape on the ground. Water was late and/or non-existent. Extremely slow response by medical personnell to the lady who went down only 1 block from the finish.

Then there was the rocket surgeon or brain scientist (or was it dipstick) who was suppose to be guiding the lead female runner on his bicycle. This mental midget was heard asking for a course map at the 2nd & 3rd relay exchange point shortly before he told me I was going the wrong way. I probably lost about 4 minutes as I back tracked until I saw other relay runners and figured out I had been going the right way. Then, later in the race he told our 4th leg, Michael Witt, to go straight at a point where the course turned left. Being smarter than me Michael figured it out in about a block before doubling back.

The extra distance our team ran did not affect our finishing place but on a hot, humid and windy day it was not appreciated.

Hope others had a better experiece but I was sorely disappointed in a race I had run several times in the past.

Thanks for listening to my

I told Cindy about u and Mike getting off course when I saw her after the race. There were a few places I wasn't sure where to go. I had to look for other runners, or try to find that tape. And after running,,or was that walking 20 something miles I dang sure can't see crap
I'm sure they will fix this before next year.

David, thank you for the feedback and I agree with you that there were numerous problems at the race. Course marking and marshalling were inadequate. Water should have been available at the relay stops. The water stops did not have enough supplies or volunteers for mild weather, not to mention the extremely hot weather. Most of the water stops were not ready for runners when Brian came through on the second leg.

There are other issues as well. I personally had a poor experience, as did Brian, with the race this year. I will be sending a feedback report to the Hogeye RD later this week and will definitely include the issues experienced by the RVR team members. If anyone else had any problems or suggestions, please email them to me at staterep@arkrrca.com so that I can make the feedback more detailed.
Thanks!

I ran second leg and did ask every volunteer I met to see if the exchange was indeed at the end of the damm. No one knew and they all claimed to be clueless. I wanted to kick a little at the end but didn't know exactly where the end was so I waited and waited until it was practically the end.

The only other feedback I'd give is that medals to the relay winners would have been nice even though I know a lot of runners like the useful stuff like mugs. I am still pretty new at this and a medal showing we had placed would have been COOL!

Congrats to all the Relay winners and finishers! It was interesting!

Pink

DMac, I witnessed the mass chaos first hand and I felt TERRIBLE... I even yelled to the biker "hey, can you tell him where to go?" to which he replied "I don't know where the relay goes" I argued "isn't that your job??" and he went on to "explain" that he was only responsible for me....which confused the BLEEP out of me if that were the case why the heck he told you you were going the wrong way. I knew in the past years the relay and marathon went the same way but thought it was possible they had changed this year with a new course...It was a really bad deal. He also didn't notice when 2 guys passed me, and therefore yelled to James Bressette at the turnaround "you're the lead male!" ...and then the incedent with Michael Witt... it was pretty nuts. I agree totally that there was not nearly enough water and the water stop volunteers at some of the stations were just standing around instead of making it easy for us to get water from them, or some even filling cups up as we ran up on them.

At the end of the day, I was just glad to see the finish line.

Congrats to everyone who survived the weather. I think every finisher is a champion in conditions like that.

And I had a damn good time once I stopped running :)

One of the many beauties of the old "true" Hogeye course:
No question about which way to go!

I was not there I don't know if I have the right to respond.. BUT WHEN MY RUNNING FRIENDS ARE NOT HAPPY NEITHER AM I AND I WILL COME IN ON THEIR BE HALF .... This was a good course in past years what made this one GO SO WRONG?? CINDY I love ya and TABBY and others who worked so long and hard on this THE RUNNERS ARE ASKING QUESTIONS way too many.. can you get a SUB COMMITTEE to discuss this among youselfs. to figure out what really went wrong.. and TRY TO IMPROVE ON THIS for next year. so we will not have a repeat.. why was the water late begin with why people not stationed at exchange zones. .. we all had a good time in years past. WITH VERY MUCH RESPECT FIX IT . SO we all can enjoy it next year Thanks HUNNICUTT AKA "BLACK STALLION" PS. IT WILL BE GREAT AGAIN just have to workout the problems. YOU CAN DO IT

Andrea: Thanks for listening and passing along concerns. I have cooled down a little bit now but it would still not be a good idea for me to know who the guy on the bike was.

Leah: Thanks for the support and there was nothing for you to feel bad about. It wasn't your fault that the guy was without a clue. I only hope you weren't embarassed to know me when I let loose on the guy when the two of you passed me coming back from the turn around.

I agree with Catsmacker the older Hogeye course was better....have done both courses....even went under 3 hrs on the old one....eh! that was back in 1978..lol

What was your time in the full ?

in 1978.....it was 2.54 or 2.56 and the fastest a few years ago?? 3.18 or something like that....

LT wrote: ...and then the incedent with Michael Witt...
:)

It's all good, I didn't mind at all to cut across that field full of briars to get back on course. Made me forget about the wind for a moment. lol
I lost some of the time my team had built up and then I was just in front of Tungac so I had to run hard to stay in front of her.....she has "chicked" me too many times. haha. Overall I enjoyed the experience.

sidewinder wrote:in 1978.....it was 2.54 or 2.56 and the fastest a few years ago?? 3.18 or something like that....

Wow,,once again.. you are "The man!"