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TCS London Marathon 2024

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SailorSteve Apr 2024 6:21pm, 22 Apr 2024 2,623 posts	Quote Pin SailorSteve Maybe i should start a new thread but ill get it off my chest here and be done with it: I’m not a fan of pacers at all. “Take responsibility for your training; take responsibility for your race”, is my unvarnished view. I find them a distraction at best and the source of moving roadblocks at worst, particularly in big marathons. But I accept that my curmudgeonly attitude is the exception and that the provision of pacers is seen as a positive feature by many. As always with any event, I accept the t’s and C’s of the organisers. I first came across the following saying elsewhere on fetch a few years ago, Polish in origin I believe: “not my circus, not my monkeys”, which I have adapted to organiser’s running event provisions, rules and regulations etc. i.e. “it’s their circus and we’re their monkeys” if we wish to participate in any given event. Like it or lump it SS. Fair enough. As you were😁
Shades Apr 2024 6:56pm, 22 Apr 2024 2,339 posts	Quote Pin Shades SailorSteve I agree, re the pacers. Part of the training is to be able to pace yourself and I see it as a weakness in a runner if he follows pacers for the whole race. When I used to coach I would advise some of the runners to be paced to halfway and then they should take responsibility for the rest of the marathon distance themselves. If a runner I know gets a PB from being paced the whole distance I can't help but think they're a bit weak and I would expect them to be able to run that time again without a pacer.
Surrey Phil Apr 2024 9:08pm, 22 Apr 2024 10,336 posts	Quote Pin Surrey Phil I'm not a fan of pacers either. The London course is congested for quite a few miles so it takes a while to find your pace anyway then, when you do, the pacer's entourage are blocking the road. What's wrong with wearing pace wristbands? I found them very helpful when I started doing marathons and often did my own for big events to allow for the slow starts and course congestion.
Foxy Apr 2024 9:10pm, 22 Apr 2024 34,970 posts	Quote Pin Foxy far less congestion than previous years especilay in the early stages where it used to be awful.
Pothunter Apr 2024 9:13pm, 22 Apr 2024 8,745 posts	Quote Pin Pothunter I think people are very reliant on them. I had one guy ask me where in the pen the pacers were going to position themselves because last time they were too far ahead and he couldn’t catch them up! I told him I didn’t even know what pacers were going in each pen! Re the early walkers I have a vague recollection that in previous years they did add a few 8hr+ runners to earlier waves in order to give them extra time to get to the finish. Not sure if that was the case this year but I can’t imagine it would be much fun to have 50,000 runners overtake you and quite possibly jostle you trying to squeeze past. You should be getting a survey through soon - make sure you feed it all back. It probably won’t change things but at least it may give food for thought.
larkim Apr 2024 9:25pm, 22 Apr 2024 23,860 posts	Quote Pin larkim Green wave had some 7+ hour planned runners who were going off relatively early. It was an odd mix in green, basically 3-3:45 runners and then 7+ runners. All of the other waves had much more gradual blends of pacers in the waves (and therefore I presume predicted times). I disagree with the pacers being a bad idea. A necessary evil. Though I would never blame them for my own performance; if they were a rubbish pacer I'd still be expecting to keep an eye on my own times and take some action if they were too fast / too slow.
Fragile Do Not Bend Apr 2024 9:38pm, 22 Apr 2024 12,056 posts	Quote Pin Fragile Do Not Bend Personally I’ve nothing against people using pacers but it does amuse me that most people seem to think they have to be as close to the pacer as possible. You can be as far behind them as you like (as long as you can see their flag) and if you are keeping that distance fairly constant then you are matching their pace.
Pothunter Apr 2024 10:12pm, 22 Apr 2024 8,747 posts	Quote Pin Pothunter Indeed! I think that most people would do that with a parkrun pacer (for example) but the added pressure we all seem to put on ourselves with a marathon means many want/need that extra crutch. I’m sure that 90% of people who asked me about the pen times yesterday actually knew the time they just wanted to hear it again. Having a pacer is similar - most could probably achieve the same result without one, but running alongside an “expert” definitely gives a level of comfort.
larkim Apr 2024 10:33pm, 22 Apr 2024 23,861 posts	Quote Pin larkim I did a spreadsheet of pacers who were returnees from last year and they were all good with even splits so they were generally trustworthy! Apparently when runners world mag used to provide them they were much less consistently reliable!
Shades Apr 2024 8:09am, 23 Apr 2024 2,344 posts	Quote Pin Shades I remember when I did Limerick marathon and I was running along happily enjoying the scenery. Then I could hear a sound in the distance quickly coming closer, sounded like a herd of wildebeest, I held my place on the road and was absorbed by the 1:30 pacers and followers in the half marathon. Thankfully I didn't get knocked over but they were running unnecessarily close to the pacers.