Marathon Questions

[TMM]

Since we never received our marathon packet hoping some of you can help me out. My husband started asking me questions I cannot answer like:

What time does the marathon actually start?

What times does the course actually close (that is for everyone)? I booked massages for us at 3:30 pm at AKL. My husbands fears we will be rushed or worse not make the appointments.

I know the start times are staggered, but what are the intervals 10 minutes, 20, etc...? Will we be in a corral for long. Are finishing time was listed at 5 hours when registered.

Thanks for any information!

 

[littlegreydonkey]

Morning there - are you chilly, my mum says the weather's just turning bad again!!!

First, the packet may still come, It's probably stuck in the Xmas post. But to answer the questions as best I can

Marathon starts at 6am - which, is news to the people printing the booklet who actually had it starting at 6pm!!! You do however have to be on the bus from AKL by 4.00am latest (transportation starts at 3.00).

You have to finish the marathon within 7 hours, so even with the odd transportation snafu, you'll be back at AKL by 3.30 I'm sure.

Start times aren't so much staggered as naturally organised. Basically you're put in a corral - named because effectively it's one part of a huge holding pen - the letter on your number bib will tell you what corrall you're in and therefore where you're allowed to enter the big pen (different corrals have different entrance points). When the gun goes off at 6am that's the start - depending how near to the front your corral is is how soon you'll then start shuffling forward, then walking, then finally running, but in theory everyone should be over the start line around 10 minutes after the gun goes off - did I describe that okay.

AS for how long you'll be in there for, hard to say - a 5 hour finish time would be probably mid field in this particular race so maybe line crossing 3-5 mins after the gun - but there are two start points this year - red and blue - you'll find out which you are in at the expo. My feeling (and this is purely a guess) is that the faster athletes will be corralled in red, the slower in blue and so, even with a 5 hour finish time we (as I'm roughly the same finish time) could be at the faster end of blue. Again, hopefully I explained that okay. If you want to PM me a fax number (and ideally tell me if it's one I can fax to in UK night time due to the time difference) I'd happily fax you over the important pages of the booklet if you like. Helen

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Corrals open at 5ish---they do a countdown to the start and it starts and you might still be standing. The field starts at once--with a more of a delay the further you are at the back of the pack. The delay is due to crowds--you are basically waiting in a line and you cannot move until those in front of you move and those in front of them move--et cetera. But there are no time spacings (i.e. this corral leaves now--and the next corral will leave 10 minutes after that--nothing like that). Just before the start--some how--they remove the dividers that split the corrals---so you are no longer in corrals--but now one BIG corral.

Last years full officially ended at 7:13 hours precisely--it took 13 minutes for the last chip to cross. This time is forever burned in my memory as I crossed 35 seconds late--recipient of a medal...but not considered an official finisher in any records at Disney. So provided you are within the time limits of the event (stragglers that hadn't been swept by the last checkpoint--were still going many minutes after the official end)...the race concludes by around 1:15pm. The busses at that point--are line free....not many people are left. So you will be back in Ample time--even if you don't cross the finish until 45 minutes to an hour after the "official" end.

Unwritten rule--but past experience of myself and my coaches--either once you get to MGM for the full---or once you exit and are on your way to the boardwalk--the sweepers let you go free. Hence--the up to 1 hour of people still hitting the finish line.

This year they do anticipate a 10 minute time to get everyone across the start as that is what is included in the sweeper chart (check the FAQ thread as I have it posted).