AIBU to be fucked off at road marathons?

Listen - run round the block barefoot and give to charity the money you would have spent on overpriced trainers and that stupid watch that counts down to your statistically-likely moment of death.

Wow, so much vitriol.

You can't leave your front door?

It's all year round, 5k, 10k, half marathon, full marathon, bike races... we seem to be on a main route. We're expected to suck it up but sorry, my weekends are precious! Sue me for wanting to be able to leave my house!

It's not just that laps are boring, there's a safety issue of fast runners getting tangled in slower runners, logistics of counting laps. Also reduces the capacity of the race to be non viable.

There are loads of park based 5k and 10k races but it's much more difficult to run a Half or full marathon off road. I did one a couple of years ago that was 90% on canal towpaths but the start and finish did require a bit of road use.

I've actually found that there are fewer small road races than say 10 years ago, because its expensive to get permits, insurance or permission to use land, or close roads.....which means the major races get bigger. (Although I'm talking about 10ks and half marathons, I didn't actually realise there were that many closed road marathons)
Cross country and trail races are generally smaller. I'm sure trail marathons are less popular anyway because they are harder to do, possibly less accessiible via public transport and training might be more difficult if you live in an urban area

@Dawevi ahh yes - all of those purpose built marathon courses that exist 🤣

Cars dominate most of the time, it doesnt hurt to share the road occasionally

It's more inconvenient than endless traffic. I don't personally think loads of people jogging along a road is any more pleasant than cars.

I don't really understand why they are allowed to close off so many roads at the same time for so long. They should use recreational facilities designed for sporting events.

There’s a zillion ways to keep fit without running on roads!

@KvotheTheBloodless road runs allow for greater participation. London marathon has over 50K runners - not easy to find a trail course that can cope with that amount of people.

Also trail running and road running are different disciplines with different challenges - both valid.

What's it got to do with relying on cars? The runners aren't going to work or taking the kids to school. They're running in a big circle.

They could do that - and save the NHS just as much money - by running in a small circle round a park. Or across a moor. Or on lots and lots of treadmills in an industrial estate on the weekend.

But no. They cause disruption and stress and general inconvenience to an entire city, and get all self-righteous about their cardio-vascular systems and the fact they're raising money for charity.

Listen - run round the block barefoot and give to charity the money you would have spent on overpriced trainers and that stupid watch that counts down to your statistically-likely moment of death.

I am and agree with @JesusOnAYamaha , it affects my local residential roads and the main ones near where I work . I had to last weekend and it was a pain in the ass to get to work.

Because you trip over on trails and will undoubtedly annoy all the walkers on the narrow paths.
Plus not everyone lives near the countryside.

It's a swings and roundabouts situation I think. I live in a tiny village with no bus service, street lights or mains gas/ sewage. We will never have your problem of a marathon being staged where we live but we don't have the fabulous urban facilities you enjoy for the rest of the time. I choose to live ( and love 95% of ) where I do and accept that, if I want to do pretty much anything, then I have to drive away from where I live. You live in an urban area, with all the things we don't have at your finger tips, and a few times a year you are inconvenienced by something that happens because you live where you do. I could move from where I live ( and will have to when I am older) and you could choose a different place to live if the benefits are no longer outweighing the negatives.

I seriously doubt it is a "regular occurance" in one place, these events are fairly expensive and time consuming to put on.

YANBU. A big marathon once a year in a big city is one thing - so many people participate that it is worth the palaver, as it gives all those runners something to focus on for the rest of the year.

Bit it shouldn't be a regular occurrence. The disruption just can't be justified.

Ha! I am not sure these people realise how long a marathon is - it would be A LOT of laps of the local park - cue moaning about runners cluttering up the park all day when you want to walk your dog.

Mr Monkey runs a lot of marathons and half marathons - here and abroad. They are almost always on Sundays or public holidays and are done and dusted by early afternoon.

A lot of cities and towns hold them as they bring in money and encourage tourism.

Some are better organised than others, that is true - if one in your area is poorly organised - bad marshalling, poorly signed road closures etc.. report it to the council so that can inform any subsequent applications for events.

Read my username and guess what I do! 🤣

The town I work in has had 4 weekend events over the summer that has closed roads & restricted already limited parking, our regulars avoid coming because they don't know if they can get in to us, or if they'll be able to park. Yes we do get lots of passing trade, which makes up for that day, but we have lost bookings because of it that may have been for a full weekend, not to mention the time & admin involved contacting the people to explain what's happening and them getting irate because we can't tell them exactly what times roads will be open or closed because no one knows as it all depends on lap times and they don't want to park miles away in the temporary park and ride and cart their luggage through packed streets and navigate the road closures or wait half an hour to cross a road and get to us, to then have to go back and retrieve their car before it's locked in. So it's not all positive.

And then there's no provision made for the people living in the town that need to get to work and get out to do so.

For each of them I haven't been able to use the park and ride because it closes, with the gates locked, before I finish work. Local parking is rammed.
So I'm left needing to park outside the town and walk my way in, which is fine going in, not so much fun having to do the return journey, at 11.30pm, on your own, in the dark, on A roads that are unlit and with no pavements and now open with cars going through.

It's the proclamation by the local council about how wonderful it is for local businesses, without any thought or provision made for already restricted parking and the people that need to be there to provide the service and each time added around 2 hours onto a journey that should take 20 minutes, because of the road closures and the time added for queues and then walking from where you can park.

These events are good for areas, but more consideration needs to be given to the effect it has on those who have it foisted on them.

@Ginmonkeyagain I'm slightly bemused about PP suggesting laps of a field or park given the recent thread, complaining about parkrun ....which is mostly laps of a park....and takes about an hour.....? (I think I remember you from that thread)

I don't get this. There are two main events that impact me each year - marathon & half marathon. Both times my road is surrounded so I can't get anywhere.
I don't mind it - I treat it like an occasion and take the kids to cheer on the runners instead of the usual Sunday morning activities

There are arrangements put in place for emergencies and signs up everywhere, so we have plenty of notice.

Sorry OP but YABU

laughs in London - If we Londoners got that irritated by every event and thing that closed roads or diverted traffic we'd have long since explode with fury.

Seriously I can't imagine your town has THAT many marathons or runs that ot is a constant difficulty. You don't own the public highways and spaces, people have a right to apply to put on public events. These are well planned in advance with the permission of the council - who will approve the route.

Try moving somewhere so dull and miserable they only allow public roads and spaces to be used by cars and silent dog walkers.

What do you mean no reason? I get a nice bling at the end of it

The people I know who run marathons (as opposed to 5/10k type runners) have pretty much all at some point had an injury requiring lots of physio or treatment or in one case surgery

The roads in your town are closed most weekends?

Yes of course. The motor rally I mentioned in my earlier post actually fell over my due date this year. We called the organisers in advance to make them aware and they gave us an emergency contact number for their control centre and said if we needed to leave the property they would pause the rally. As it happened I went overdue so not required.

Any major public event will go through months of planning with local services and authorities including the emergency services and all manner of 'what ifs' covered and emergency plans put in place. These people don't just turn up with a van load of barriers and do as they please.