Herding_Cats
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 3, 2017
@DopeyBadger i may have missed it, but you are speculating about C being a POT corral, right? We don’t know for sure if that’s going to the the case, or is that a “before-times” thing they used to do?
Am I understanding it correctly that in signing up for Dopey you only enter one POT? So either a half marathon or a full? And then they use the formula in the OP to assign the other corral? So, for example if you entered a sub-4hr marathon you would be in corral A for the full and the half, even if you don't have a sub 1:53:45 POT for the half? Sorry if this is super obvious and I'm just being dumb.
@DopeyBadger i may have missed it, but you are speculating about C being a POT corral, right? We don’t know for sure if that’s going to the the case, or is that a “before-times” thing they used to do?
Yes, I am speculating that Corral C will be the same time pod as previously (first non-POT of 4:30-5:00) except now it will require a POT. I'm also speculating that they'll move Platinum Club runDisney back to Corral C, which would represent the slowest POT, unless an individual runner has a POT that qualifies them for higher seeding.
I’m hoping we find out from people at the DL Halloween races so I know what to expect for W&D, though I’ll be sad to move backward—I enjoy the “less time standing up/shuffling toward the start line’’ that comes with a B assignment.I suspect this is likely. I'm very interested to see what's done at F&W!
Oh right! That's now the start of the season, isn't it? And yes, I agree I'll be a little bummed, but it shouldn't be that far back if the corrals are still small.I’m hoping we find out from people at the DL Halloween races so I know what to expect for W&D, though I’ll be sad to move backward—I enjoy the “less time standing up/shuffling toward the start line’’ that comes with a B assignment.
I’m hoping we find out from people at the DL Halloween races so I know what to expect for W&D, though I’ll be sad to move backward—I enjoy the “less time standing up/shuffling toward the start line’’ that comes with a B assignment.
Oh right! That's now the start of the season, isn't it? And yes, I agree I'll be a little bummed, but it shouldn't be that far back if the corrals are still small.
I hope soYea, if my forecast is correct, then the difference between start of Corral B and start of Corral C is 3-6 minutes. So you wouldn't really lose much time in terms of waiting to start.
What were the issues? That seems to be the best way to distribute runners by appropriate speed vs. what is used now.In 2014-2017, runDisney used 16 corrals and the POT cutoff was 5:30-6:30 based on the year. The focus was a near even distribution of runners within each corral. So the cutoffs were hard to predict, but pods of 500-2000 runners per corral were used. There were many issues with this system and they moved away from it.
The issues were pretty much exactly the same as they are now. I started running Marathon Weekend in 2016 and the first couple of years really had no fewer issues/complaints than today's races. One thing that I'll say has changed, though, is there seem to be a lot fewer complaints of corral hopping and bib muling for PoT these days. I'm not going to say it doesn't still happen, but it's not nearly as prevalent a complaint.What were the issues? That seems to be the best way to distribute runners by appropriate speed vs. what is used now.
This. Mini-waves still let them control the speed and density of start, so it's not like it went from a well-paced start to absolute bedlam. But now they only have to staff/police a handful of corral entrances.Larger corrals with mini-wave starts accomplishes the same thing without requiring nearly as much manpower or materiel.
Exactly. And IMHO this is the best resource they can spend. If you've ever been to a race where they don't police the corrals well (looking at you, RnR Vegas), it's CHAOS.But now they only have to staff/police a handful of corral entrances.
The three times I did it, I was in the first corral of the second wave and it felt like everybody in the wave was trying to get into my corral. There was a bottleneck so packed I actually feared for my physical safety and ended up just hanging back until things cleared up. My last one was 2019, so I'm glad to hear it has improved.I didn't find RnR Vegas tooooo bad... The fact that the first three corrals entered within 20ft of each other was a nightmare. But once it, it wasn't awful.
What were the issues? That seems to be the best way to distribute runners by appropriate speed vs. what is used now.
Hi @DopeyBadger! Thanks for everything you do on here. Just wanted to chime in that for my 2024 Dopey, I had submitted a POT half-marathon time of 1:53:58 and somehow ended up in the A corral. I was shocked and very happy, because I felt certain that my time would place me in B corral. Anyway, just wanted to mention that since I see 1:53:45 as the cutoff time on the latest chart.
I wouldn't be surprised if they had a general guideline, and then a couple of people looked at a sorted list of submitted times and drew a line based on how many people are close. You know, if a couple of people are a couple of seconds off, let them in, but not if it overstuffs the corral.Thanks for the note! I can make that change on the table. My recollection was that was one of the values runDisney shared with me about a conversion and said it was "around there". So makes sense that being off by 13 seconds fell within the window this time around. Same with the 2:08:02 vs "2:08" they gave me.
I wouldn't be surprised if they had a general guideline, and then a couple of people looked at a sorted list of submitted times and drew a line based on how many people are close. You know, if a couple of people are a couple of seconds off, let them in, but not if it overstuffs the corral.
They're "more what you'd call guidelines, than actual rules."
Yeah, that's what I'm thinking as well. Felt really lucky though! But it also makes me happy that I sprinted as fast as I could that last 1/8 of a mile to the finish. My friends at the finish said I looked super focused and didn't even look their way. I believe I shaved several seconds off my time with that effort and it paid off.I agree, that's the general feeling runDisney gave me when they gave me the info.
You're preaching to the choir. I make a point of giving the Photopass photographers HUGE smiles as I'm running past them let alone at the Finish Line. For my POT race, I had some of the ugliest pictures of me as I was straining to run my hardest trying to beat the clock. There was a part of me that wanted a picture of my PR race, but I told my wife that I look like I'm running to find a bathroom in every single picture!Yeah, that's what I'm thinking as well. Felt really lucky though! But it also makes me happy that I sprinted as fast as I could that last 1/8 of a mile to the finish. My friends at the finish said I looked super focused and didn't even look their way. I believe I shaved several seconds off my time with that effort and it paid off.
I will be submitting the same race/POT this year, so it will be interesting if I end up in the B corral this time around.