Rock 'n' Roll Dublin Ireland

Rock 'n' Roll Dublin Ireland

Rock 'n' Roll Dublin Ireland

( 6 reviews )
100% of reviewers recommend this race
  • Dublin,
    Ireland
  • August
  • 13.1 miles/Half Marathon
  • Road Race
  • Event Website

Heart Runner Girl

Netherlands
2 6
2018
"They changed the route"
Overall
T-Shirts/SWAG
Aid Stations
Course Scenery
Expo Quality
Elevation Difficulty
Parking/Access
Race Management
Heart Runner Girl's thoughts:

I’d heard good things about the Rock ‘n Roll running series and the reviews of the Dublin race also seemed to be positive. Main thing people complained about was that they had to get back to the start with busses after they’d finished. When I looked at the course for this year the start and finish were both at the Royal Hospital so that seemed to be sorted out. I did notice they’d also changed the rest of the course, but having never been to Dublin, I didn’t really think about it much. Turns out they had to change the route, because the Pope would be coming to Dublin two weeks later and therefore we weren’t allowed to run through the park.

Race Packet pick up was really easy. In the centre of town in Trinity College with clear markings where you had to go. Picking up my bib and t-shirt were also easy.

The Royal Hospital was pretty easy to reach on race morning. But the bag drop was a bit chaotic. For some reason the bag drop was based on the first letter of your last name instead of equally divided by race number. This caused some confusion, because when the lines got long you couldn’t really tell which letter you were actually queuing up for and it also meant that some lines were much longer than others.

There were 14 corrals, but there wasn’t that much time before the 10k would start after the half, so they decided to let several corrals go at once. We ran along the Guinness factory and soon after we left the city and ran past Phoenix Park, but we never went into the park.

Around 8k into the race there was a very steep hill. So steep that there was no running involved, everyone around me was also walking. And this hill basically went on and on. After which we turned around at roughly the 13 kilometre mark. The route then went along the river for a few kilometre until we ended up back at the same steep hill, just on the other side. So, most of the route went through the middle of nowhere and after the race you can’t really say that you’ve seen Dublin. I’ve heard more runners say afterwards that they didn’t get the time they wanted or that they found this the hardest half they’ve ever done. I also expected more live bands on the course. Rock ‘n Roll promises that there’s a live band every mile, so technically there should have been 12 bands. But I’ve only seen 7, of which two where just speakers next to the course.

All in all a bit disappointed. I’ve heard good things about the Rock ‘n Roll races and also about the race in Dublin. I’ve also heard it’s taken the organisation a long time to clean up the route. I don’t mind the organisation using bottles, personally I actually prefer them over cups, but it would be better to use smaller bottles and have enough bins to discard them in. But during the half there were hardly any bins.

Would I run this race again? Maybe. If they change the route back to a course that is flatter and where you get to see more of Dublin, then I might give it another try.

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