RACE REPORT - Bridge to Brisbane 12k - 1/8/4 Options

[Puntermatt]

G'day all,
Hope all Brissy CR's are looking forward to the race - you can expect my report before noon and I'm sure that we all look forward to reading everyone's thoughts and experiences here afterward.

Cheers
Puntermatt

[Puntermatt]

Well, on a gorgeous Brissy morning, I understand that we may have had a record race turnout for the Annual Bridge to Brissy 12km race.

Temperatures were cool but not chilly and I was quite comfortable at the start line in my race gear and old t-shirt which was eventually sacrificed to the t-shirt Gods! Tesso and Karisma were the first CR's I bumped into and after a quick chat, I joined the boys Run67, Spot and Eddie and we flew the CR flag from a prominent position just behind the starting line. You just can't miss those CR caps even in a crowd of thousands!!!

Coming in on a very light prep of 22, 28, 20 and 25km weeks since the Gold Coast coupled with some niggling hammy probs and tendonitis requiring extra stretching and icing, I just wanted to relax, enjoy myself and sneak under my 10km PB which I set as a predictor before GC when only running at 90% effort. I also targetted breaking 46mins.

After the gun went, we only had 20 or 30 metres before reaching the brige's incline. It was inside this distance that Spot and I were less than 5 metres from an impressive race fall!!! With Spot's luck of late(See "Race/running falls" thread) he was probably thanking his lucky stars he avoided it!!!

The Bridge incline was not the fearsome monster it seems from a distance and I was not extended in making a steady pace up it before making a speedy but controlled descent down the other side. Coming off the bridge, I wasn't feeling to flash and was being passed by far too many people for my liking. I thought I wasn't going fast enough, but did not see any 1 or 2km signs to confirm this and neither did Spot. Anyone else see them?? However, I reached the 3km sign in 11.20, 10 seconds under goal pace and then started to settle into the race practicing drafting at every opportunity. This is much harder than it appears and is definitely a skill that will take some time to master.

A light cooling Westerly confronted the field heading down Kingsford Smith Drive and I continued to churn out 3.50's, staying on target pace. Heading into Newstead, I sliced 29 seconds off my 10km PB by clocking 38:14 before running the last "2km's" in 8:12 to record 46:26. I was surprised at the slow last 2km and speculated with Spot after the race that perhaps it was too long or the 10km marker was too short. One thing is for sure - the notoriously short last km is a thing of the past!!

Run67 and Spot both beat me home with Spot in particular running a great race. He is on target to break 17:30 for 5km's in the next few months if he continues to run like he did today.

Despite recording a 10km PB, I feel that I will run the 10km faster and stronger with a heavier training schedule than the freshen up/extended taper I've just had. A 37min 10km at Noosa at the end of the month is beckoning me!!! Bring it on!!

All in all, it was a great event, and fairly well organised. I had no trouble walking past thousands of people and securing myself a prominent starting position. My clothes were unlucky enough to be in the last truck back at the finish line and I had to wait 5 minutes to collect them, but no major dramas there.

I had to come into work today, so was unable to hang around too long to share war stories with the CR's but all in all - it was an enjoyable morning. I'll be back next year.

Cheers
Puntermatt

[MaxMTC]

Puntermatt, i think i was standing directly in front of you at the start line. Well done on a great effort. Got through in 44:01 on my watch, so hopefully the timing chip folks will be kind and get me under 44min. I hate to say it, but everyone thought the 10km was short. i went through at 36:10, which is well under the 37:17 i ran at the coast last month, and quite a few people were way under their person marks. I think it was either the 8th or 9th km that was the problem, i remember one of those being very quick. The last km seemed quite long. I thought i really picked it up after hitting 11km at 40:00, but the clock said otherwise.

[1902]

Results (unofficial)

Male
1st Patrick Nyangelo TAN 35:37
2nd Micheal Shelley 35:38
3rd Dickson Marwa TAN 35:46
4th Alastair Steveson 35:53
5th Gemechu Woyecha 36:03

Female
1st Rina Hill 40:52
2nd Felecity Abram 41:42
3rd Gerway Majah TAN 41:43
4th Kate Siebold-Crosbie

Tanzanian runner Patrick Nyangelo won his second Bridge to Brisbane in a close race with local star Michael Shelley. A solid pace was set by Patrick and his compatriot Dickson Marwa. The Tanzanians were challenged in the earlier stages by the Gold Coast Marathon winner Gemechu Woychea along with locals Michael Shelley and Alastair Stevenson. The two Tanzanians had finished 1st and 2nd in 2003. Michael Shelley showed his growing confidence and was able to put in a strong challenge over the final kilometer. This split the pack with Shelley and Nyangelo pulling away from Marwa and Steveson. Shelley lead into New Farm Park. As they raced around the park Patrick Nyangelo was able to edge in front 50m from the line, and hold off the close challenge to the finish.

Local Australian Olympic Tri-athlete representative Rina Hill had a convincing win. Rina's running is in great form in her lead up to the Athens Olympics. I am sure everyone in the local runnning and tri communitiy wish her all the best in Athens. Felicity Abram 2nd had a close battle with Gerway Majah (TAN) 3rd.

[1902]

From speaking to runners the 10km in Skyring Ave was not in the same place as last year. It was closer to the start ( or short, so to speak). There was a general consenses that times for the last 2kms were slow, which tends to support the theory.

Other than that it was the same course as the last few years, so congrats to all those who ran pbs.

[Puntermatt]

Thanks a lot 1902!!! Incidentally, did you source this info from a website or obtain it at the Finish?? I'd be interested to know which website if thats the case. Thanks!

Incidentally, Nyangelo finished 33.5 seconds outside his winning time from last year(see below). Rina Hill is an amazing athlete going so close to the time of a calibre of last years winner Anna Thompson. I can't recall the conditions last year, but unless they were tough, it suggests that the notoriously short last km is no more!


Top Males/Females 2003


Fastest Males
Place Name Race No. Time
1st PATRICK NYANGELO 4 0:35:3.150
2nd DICKSON MARWA 3 0:35:3.350
3rd BRETT CARTWRIGHT 78 0:35:8.350
4th MICHAEL SHELLY 76 0:35:44.0
5th COURTNEY ATKINSON 13 0:36:27.50
6th SCOTT BRITTAIN 203 0:37:17.950
7th CHRISTIAN ISBISTER 206 0:37:18.600
8th MARK HUTCHINSON 131 0:37:23.450
9th BRADLEY SMITH 75 0:37:47.400
10th THOMAS DOVER 10 0:37:55.350

TOP


Fastest Females

Place Name Race No. Time
1st
Anna Thompson 146 0:40:19.750
2nd
NICKEY CARROLL 228 0:41:48.0
3rd
JENNY PHILP-YOUNG 182 0:42:25.800
4th
LYNNE PIKE 9207 0:42:32.850
5th
HELEN VERITY TOLHURST 5 0:43:9.650
6th
Kate Smyth 147 0:43:19.150
7th
ALEXIS GILLHAM 116 0:43:40.400
8th
Katie Bennedick 3016 0:43:45.0
9th
Judy Burrows 3025 0:43:53.850
10th
Martina Kren 169 0:44:9.950

[fat bloke]

peuntermatt

sorry to confirm your worst fears but it appears the 10 k marker was indeed short as at least 6 guys i know seemed to have done 10 k pb,s and then been dissapointed with overall finish times as the last 2 k took well over the average k pace.
still a good run mate and i,m sure your predictions will come true on a fast noosa course

[Spot]

Hey Matt,

Regarding race distance, a mate of mine ran with a Garmin GPS and clocked the course at 11.98 km. Given that the course has very few kinks and turns, I'd expect this to be pretty close to the mark. Does anyone know the course's measurement "pedigree"?

I can't comment on the placing of the km markers as I forgot to take my stopwatch.

My race report wouldn't add much to yours. Perfect conditions, bumped into plenty of coolrunners. I was planning to run under 48, and hoping to get close to 46. Without my stopwatch I had to try to figure out splits from the day time (.... hmmm, start time was 6:47:23, it's now 7:15:19.... take away 7, borrow 1, ... where was I? .... d'oh ... keep going, run faster ...).

I was ecstatic to cross the finish line with the race clock showing about 45:30 (waiting for official time) .... about a 3 minute PB. postscript - got my time from Monday's paper - 45:15.95 - and a top 100 placing - bonus!

Organisation wise there were a few things to work on:
* There was no drinking water in the recovery area.
* The fruit ran out at about 8:00.
* Were some of the km markers missing or was that just my domestic blindeness?
* I made the mistake of throwing my clothes bag into the first truck I saw (No. 3). It was right down the bottom and wasn't unpacked until about 9:00. Luckily the day not cold or wet. Next time I'll be sure to pick a truck up the front.
Other than that the organisation was great, a well marked course, plenty of marshalls and water stations.

Spot.

[Tesso]

What a great morning! Started with Karisma but that was the last I saw of her other than her heels .... well done Karisma, you are sure looking good for C2S next week!

Nobody I've spoken to saw 1 or 2 km markers - maybe there wasn't really anywhere safe to put them. I was wondering when the the first one was going to appear and glanced at my watch to find I'd been running almost 9 minutes ... because I hadn't seen a marker I thought I'd only been running for 4 minutes or so :) .

I was suspicious of that 10k marker, wondering how I did close to a 1 minute PB, and so did most others I found out at the end. Bummer <_< . Crossed the line in 52:50 according to my watch so that's an 8 second PB for the B2B :) .

At the end found myself de-chipping right next to our Lord Mayor "Can Do Campbell" who said his time on the clock was 53 flat. I proudly proclaimed I got him by 10 seconds but that I was probably closer to the start line when the gun went. Anyway, an opportunity to discuss the new green bridge went begging as we tried to work out who was closest to the front of the pack when the gun went :D .

[Hermie]

Karisma Karisma Karisma
This was all part of my race plan............not,
Well done on your race.When you went past I knew I was never going to catch you.
My legs fell off at 5 1/2 ks.What can one expect.
My race is proof that long slow kilometres teach you to run long and slow.
This is not to say you would not have beaten me anyway.
However I did catch the bloke in the tights.

[RobR]

What a difference it makes to a race when you meet all those freindly fellow CR's at the start and can give each other some encouragement. Puntermatts enthusiasm is so contagious. Man! that guy is keen.
I was up there near the start line - even managed to pass a few on the way up the bridge. A few (a lot) passed me as well. I had a great race, 48:28, a 4min PB for me.
I remember the 3k marker, the 5k marker and the 11k marker. I didn't see any of the others.
I was pretty pleased when I hit the 5k right on 20min and thought if I can keep this pace I'll do okay. I must have slipped a few seconds per k from there but I am very happy with my time.
I use Karisma's method of picking out a person as and objective and then working my way closer and past (if I can). I was a little reluctant to pass some of my objectives though ;) - probably where I lost the few seconds.
All in all another great B2B.
Eddie :D

[Niftyone]

Well. that's it for another year. Along with an estimated 19,000 other fitness nuts I and my running buddy took off in the third group and zigged and zagged our way over the bridge and onto the remaining flat part of the course.Seen the 2km mark,looked at my watch,nearly i4 minutes,blimey I'd better get moving or we'll be late for breakfast but by the time we hit Kingsford-Smith Drive we were back onto our 5.00k pace and things went O.K. from there apart from collecting a steel pole whilst trying to avoid someone who stopped to see what was going on behind them. By the 10km mark we were back on time which was pretty amazing,however the last 2km took just over12 mins and we didn't slow that much so maybe the markers were out a bit. Finished around 1hr 14min which I was happy with considering what the start was like. The after run set-up was not as good as previous years I thought and some of the food stalls tried to rip off some of my friends which didn't go down well, but we'll be back next year. Next event Springfield Lakes 5km 14th August. Keep on runnin B)

[susan]

Hi,
Well, I started out with a friend who is a new-ish runner and doing her second ever fun run. Gave her a "few tips" at the start.... and then she took off. I assured myself that she would run out of legs and I would catch her up, but apparently not.
Anyway, good for her!
I went 10 minutes faster than last year! 1:04.
I just love seeing all those thousands of people out running.

[blacksheep]

Great day to be had by all. My gun time was 68 minutes this year compared with 96 in 2003 so it was fantastic to decide that I have become a runner as well as an ex-smoker. Still pacing myself against people who seem they will collapse at the next breath but they continue to beat me over the beeps!
I am employed by one of the sponsors and so get free entry but I would pay 20 bucks just for that view of the city at the top of the bridge, to wave at the helicopters and to watch the spectacle of 16,000 go for broke.
However, the drinks did seem quite far from the finish this year and there was some stuff up with the clothing bags which annoyed people who just wanted to go home after the race.
And as for the public transport back to Murrarie, fuggedabouditt!

[karisma]

My morning began in a little panic(as race mornings sometimes can!) nothing like getting the adrenaline going tho! But ended incredibly as running a 3 minute PB or any PB for that matter! can make you feel, just so good it is often indescribable but is definately one of the reasons why I love to run and keep coming back for more...

here's my longish race report...
an early morning,we left home at 5.30am which one would think would give us plenty of time to park and get ready for the 6.45am race start :rolleyes: ...watching the time, trying not to panic too much, we eventually were able to find a park,still a little distance from the start tho, some people were actually bussing it over!(were we really that far away?) Run 67 started running.."Oh good!..I will be tired and totally stressed even before I start!",closer to the bridge we came across some of our club mates.."Good, others are late too!", "don't think I will have time to go to the toilet tho <_< "...at the race start there seemed to be people as far as the eye could see,"I thought we were going to start at the front?"...Run 67 and the others jumped over the side rail and started cross-countrying it past the hourdes..."I did my trail run yesterday! don't you know it's not my favourite!" but it didn't take too long and I couldn't believe how close we were towards the front! "I hope I don't get trampled by the speedsters!" A bit of a stretch, a talk to Puntermatt, Tesso and some more team mates and BANG...

Everyone started running together and there were no walkers or prams to side step, absolutely no jostling at all! Didn't get any practice in for the City to Surf, but was just the best idea to start up near the front! I've never been able to pick up any pace up the bridge before but today my tight hamstrings did indeed notice the slight incline!...but it was over quite quickly, the downhill seemed to keep going tho...then the race home...

Pretty flat and fast(well as fast as the legs would take me!) we ran along the tree-lined roads of Eagle Farm,just feeling comfortable and trying to pass some people and keeping up with others and at around 6k I saw Hermaphrodite.."does this man ever stop running? he ran a 100k race then 50ks last weekend", it took me about 1k to catch him, but I did!(thanks Hermie ;) ) my next focus was that man in the green tights! got him too!...and just kept going that way, the Breakfast Creek bridge is always a little tough bit and the last few k's seemed to just go on and on and I thought the last one just felt that long because I was getting tired!...51.35, very happy with that (Tesso you weren't that far behind!)

A very enjoyable day :D

[1902]

Regarding the race distance. The course has not been officially measured and certified under the Athletics Australia Course Measurement Scheme. There really is no need for this to be done as it is a point to point course and 12 km is not a standard IAAF road race distance. The important thing is that the course remains the same so runners from year to year can compare times.

I do believe when the course was changed to the current route a measurement was made with a calibrated bicycle wheel by a certified measurer from the Eagle Farm side of the Gateway Bridge to the finish. Other information was used to calculate the distance over the bridge. To this effect it could be said the the distance is petty close to 12 km.

Spot's mate with the Garmin GPS tends to confirm this. Other reports on the Garmin GPS indicate this to give fairly accurate measurements. However note that a course measurers using a calibrated bicycle wheel will cover the course by the shortest possible route. I can tell you they cut a fine line. Where as a runner in the race may be weaving and moving all over the available road.

[Puntermatt]

Heres today's Courier Mail Page 3 Story:

No bridge too far in footsore, fancy free-for-all

Philip Hammond

EMMA Mathison, a 21-year-old Beaudesert girl cajoled by neighbours to do her first fun run, won a $21,000 car.

Six friends trotted the whole way from the Gateway Bridge to New Farm dressed as a caterpillar and diminutive Kenyan Patrick Nyangelo raced to the finish line in 35 minutes, 37.5 seconds to win the men ’s 12km event.

By any standard, the eighth Bridge to Brisbane was remarkable at least in terms of the variety of joggers and walkers who took part.

Red-faced, white-haired gentlemen, overweight middleaged ladies, wiry athletes, chatty matrons, primary school crosscountry runners and young parents pushing babies in prams were there.

At the finish, some looked footsore, some exhausted but most looked relaxed and comfortable.

Many laughed as they fired up for a grand finish across the line.

Moreton Bay Road Runners member Ian Duyvelshaff was early at the front line, on his sixth Bridge to Brisbane.

You try to use your adrenalin from the start to get you up the hill, he explained. He has run all his life and at 42 years old, was confident of covering the 12km course inside an hour.

Lord Mayor Campbell Newman, in his third Bridge to Brisbane, was predicting a 50-minute run but covered the 12km in 53 minutes. I ’ve no excuse. I ’m just getting closer to old age, he said.

Yesterday ’s event saw registrations soar from just over 14,000 last year to 19,001, with 4627 competitors in the 4.25km run from Newstead.

The first woman across the line was Brisbane triathiete Rina Hill. with her running partner Felicity Abram, 17, a close second.

Itina recorded a time for the 12km of 40 minutes, 52.0 seconds.

On Friday, she heads for a training camp in France to prepare for the Athens Olympics triathlon on August 25.

I ’ve done everything I can do tc prepare, she said. In a triathlon, anything can happen because there ’s three different legs. There are a lot of faetors involved. While lucky Mathison now plans to put her 1992 Toyota Corona on the market, two other runners will be regretting they did not stay for the random prize-winning draw for the Suzuki car at 11am yesterday.

Runner number 11058 was first to win, and entrant number 21256 also failed to appear within the two-minute response time.

[Puntermatt]

And the Courier Mails 20 page Results liftout revealed the following placings from the few I was able to look up out of 14,500 12k starters:

Run67 - 82nd
Spot - 94th
Puntermatt - 134th
Karisma - 422nd
Tesso 556th

And just for good measure Tesso beat our Lord Mayor by a scant 3 seconds!!!!

Cheers
Puntermatt

[Scott67]

Had a day off this year & cheered my kids on in their first 4.25. Don't think I'll be racing against them in the future ! :D
Matt (7 y.o.)21.36
Amy (9 y.o)22.51
Watch out Craig & Benita !!!! ;)

[CoinDante]

I'm sort of glad the 10km marker was short. My goal was to run under 60 minutes. By about the 4-5 k mark I'd decided that probably wasn't going to happen. The legs where feeling a bit tired and heavy. When I got to the 10km marker and glaced at my watch i was siting on over a minute and a half under my 10k pb. I thought to myself 2ks in under 10 minutes... piece of piss, I was doing 2k's in 8 minutes in some of my speed sessions traning for the Gold Coast 1/2. I put the foot to the floor (or Asics's to the bitumen) gave all I had for the last 2 km (what a long 2km that was) to come in at 1:00:13 13 seconds over goal but I blame that on having to do up a shoe lace at about 5k. If I'd hit that 10 marker and not seen a pb time on my watch I wouldn't have pushed the last 2 like i did.

Even though I didn't break 60 minutes i've knocked 9 min off last years time and after knocking 7 mins off my 8k time last week, I'm pretty happy with myself. I'll back at the Gateway next year to get rid of that 13 seconds (and then some).

[beagle]

Great to see the increase in numbers in the event and the good atmosphere. On a per capita basis, the B2B is starting to rival C2S. I was lucky enough to go within 19sec of a PB running a 48.19. I was really happy with this knowing I had nothing left in the tank by the end.

Hopefully the run puts me in a good position to maybe go under 60 at C2S on Sunday. Good luck to all Queenslanders heading to Sydney for the big event, have a great time.