Race #161 - Alyce T. Guettler Hunger Run 5k - Rock Hill, SC - 01/28/12

After two straight weeks of no races, it was a pleasure to wake up early on this Saturday morning and head to a race. January is probably the month with the fewest races so there aren't a lot to choose from but this is a good small-town race close to home. The Alyce T. Guettler Hunger Run has been held now for 32 consecutive years, which I'm guessing would make it one of the oldest races in the state of South Carolina. It's well organized and things seem to run smoothly, but it's a little old-school, and to me one of the drawbacks is that there is very little online information about the race. There's no website but if you look hard enough you get enough information to find your way there. As I write this at 9 p.m. the night of the race I still can't find the official results, but I've got a busy day scheduled tomorrow so I'll add results later on when they show up. [Note: After I posted this Stan Austin sent me a link to the results, which were up on the Active.com site.]

Much of the race takes place around the grounds of Winthrop University, and after looping around what I believe was Winthrop Coliseum you go back the same route, so the big hill that was such a pleasure to run down near the beginning came back to haunt me the last quarter mile or so of the race. I've gained a few pounds over the winter that I haven't been able to lose yet so I'm not running quite as well as back in the fall, and as I climbed that final hill about 2.9 miles into the race I looked back and there was nobody close enough to catch me so I took a short walk break of about 10-15 seconds, which is something I haven't done in a long time in a 5k. I'm not sure how much it affected my time but I finished 1st in the 55-59 age group and 15th overall in the race with a time of 21:09 so it wasn't terrible but I'm hoping I can get back under 21 minutes this year.

Click Here for Race Results

My Stats:

Time:  21:09
Pace:  6:49
Age Group:  1 of  11
Overall:  15 of  114







**************************************
* RACE RATING  (100 Possible Points) *
**************************************

Note: With my new rating system (started in December 2011) there's not a chance of any race scoring near 100. If it's important to you, look at each individual category to see how points were earned (or not). Just trying to be more objective with the details. I generally like all of the races I run. If there's something that really rubs me the wrong way I'll mention it in the summary above.

RACE COURSE  (20 possible points)
0 - Chip Timing: (3 points if yes)
0 - Starting Mat: (2 points if yes)
0 - Water Stops: (at least 1 for 5k, 2 for 10k, 4 for half marathon) (2 points)
1 - Course Marking:  (0)bad  (1)good
1 - Course Scenery:  (0)bad  (1)good
2 - Mile Markers: (0)poor or none  (1)normal  (2)with clocks or time called out
2 - Volunteers:  (0)too few  (2)good
0 - Finish line: (0)mediocre  (2)pretty good to excellent
2 - Certified Course: (0)no  (2) yes
2 - Correct Distance: (0)no  (2)yes
1 - Partly or fully on unpaved roads:  (0)yes  (1)no

REGISTRATION  (6 possible points)
3 - Cost:  (0)expensive  (1)reasonable  (3)cheap!  (Just 15 bucks on race day w/no shirt!)
3 - Race Day Registration:  (0)no  (3)yes

RESULTS  (3 possible points)
0 - Posted promptly online:  (0)no  (2)yes
0 - Clear link on website:  (0)no  (1)yes

AGE GROUPS  (13 possible points)
2 - 3 deep awards: (2)yes (0 for anything less)
2 - 5-year age groups (5 points) (0 for anything less)
0 - 14 and under group (1)
1 - 65+ group (1)
1 - 70+ group (1)
1 - Top Overall M/F:  (0)none or first only  (1)top 3 or better
1 - Masters Category(40+): (0)no  (1)yes
0 - Grand Masters Category (50+):  (0)no  (1)yes

AWARDS  (9 possible points)
1 - Overall Winner Awards: (0)none  (1)yes  (2)excellent
1 - Age Group Awards: (0)none  (1)yes  (2)excellent
0 - Door Prizes or Drawing: (0)no  (2)yes
0 - Finisher Medals for All Finishers: (0)no  (1)yes  (3)really cool medals

POST RACE  (7 possible points)
5 - Food for Race Participants: (0)none  (1)some  (2)adequate  (5)a feast!
0 - Entertainment:  (0)no  (1)yes
1 - Finisher times posted after race:  (0)no  (1)yes

REST ROOMS  (4 possible points)
0 - Porta Potties:  (0)no  (1)limited, long lines  (2)plentiful
2 - Indoor Restrooms: (0)no  (1)limited, long lines  (2)plentiful

T-SHIRTS  (8 possible points)
2 - T-Shirts: (0)no  (2)yes
1 - Design: (0)not good  (1)not bad  (2)nice
0 - Material: (0)cotton  (2)technical fabric
2 - Discount for no-shirt option:  (0)no (2)yes

PHOTOGRAPHY  (12 possible points)
0 - Professional Photography: (0)no  (5)yes
0 - Prices: (0)expensive  (2)reasonable  (5)cheap!
0 - Free Photographs (newspaper, etc.):  (0)no  (2)yes

PARKING  (8 possible points)
2 - Close to Start:  (2)yes  (0)no
2 - Close to Finish:  (2)yes  (0)no
2 - Plenty of spaces:  (2)yes  (0)no
2 - Free Parking:  (2)yes  (0)no

WEBSITE  (5 possible points)
0 - Dedicated race website (0)no  (2)yes
0 - No dedicated site but separate page on other site (organization, running store, etc):  (0)no  (1)yes
0 - Results or link to results posted on website:  (0)no  (2)yes

OTHER  (5 possible points)
2 - Shelter from Inclement Weather (needed or not): (0)no  (2)yes
0 - Swag (free socks, water bottles, etc.): (0)no  (1)yes, some  (2)excellent
0 - Part of race series or Grand Prix:  (0)no  (1)yes


TOTAL:   50

Comments

  1. Cool Down RunnerJanuary 29, 2012 at 8:10 PM

    thanks for the pointer to the results. I have included them for the CRC news letter

    ReplyDelete
  2. Cool Down RunnerJanuary 29, 2012 at 8:12 PM

    thanks for the pointer to the results. I have included them for the CRC news letter

    ReplyDelete

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