AIBU to be fucked off at road marathons?

[JesusOnAYamaha]

Once a year in London is one thing but they're bloody everywhere now and it's not like the organisers put diversions in so you can get to where you're going. We had one in our town a couple of months ago and I couldn't leave my (no through) street because they blocked it off so people could spend a day running past it. I mean I couldn't even cross the road at the end of my street, on foot. Now I've just found out that I can't get to where I need to be for a family event later this month because another load of joggers are closing down a bunch of roads into/in this other place.

AIBU to think they could just run round a park? Or a field? Or a racecourse? Or a hill? Or somewhere where they're not in the way of residents and other people who just want to go about their business.

I know I probably am BU. It's probably nice that people get to run around if they like running. They probably enjoy spending a day running past my street and I should be happy for them. But, I am a bit fucked off with it all.

Roads get closed for all kinds of reasons besides running races
Resurfacing, gas works, street parties, carnivals, fun fairs, food festivals etc (or - more rarely - crime scenes)

As an aside,local land owners near my home town refused permission for an annual charity race to be held on their land, so it was re-routed to laps of a field. It was pretty dull but would have inconvenienced fewer people

You can be fit and still have high cholesterol, get heart attacks. It doesn't really save NHS loads of money.

YANBU. The roads round here were closed for a big bike race the other weekend, but they couldn't confirm the timings of when they were open and closed. It's all rural there's not a lot of options for other routes.

It's essential to close roads to carry out repairs. Not for these races.
If there's a market, it closes one side road, not the whole route into the city centre. There are loads of places to run and cycle. Why inconvenience so many for a few people to have a race?.

I love running, but knowing how much it annoys people makes me want to sign up for every city marathon there is 🤗

Yep, I agree (and I love long distance running). I think road marathons are mad anyway, all that pounding on concrete can't be good for knees/hips - I don't get why more people don't prefer trails/fell running. Yes, it takes a lot longer to cover the same distance, but at least you're not wrecking your joint cartilage!

But WHY?! Why purposely annoy people, for no reason? It's bizarre!

Because no one would enter if it was laps of a park! You’d need to do a lot of laps or have a very big to do a half or marathon. 🙄

Omg.. I feel your pain. It was the Chester marathon on Sunday. Bloody nightmare!

I was 30mins late for a hospital appt because of the traffic around one of these on a Sunday. I cannot fathom why you'd close all the road around a hospital? Fucking stupid Wigan Council.

Being fit doesn't result in less illnesses and health problems? What a bonkers thing to say 😂

YABU. We have a motoring rally that takes place right past our house for a whole weekend every year. We can't even leave on foot (there's no pavement but even if there was, it'd be too dangerous with cars racing past on what is normally a 20mph road).

We can get in/out before 8am, after 6pm and for a brief half hour when they stop for lunch.

It's annoying, but it's one weekend of the year, we know it's coming and we plan around it. We, like everyone else including you OP, occasionally partake in things that inconvenience others (Any kind of pop-up event, festivals, sports events etc etc) so find it easiest jus to live and let live.

And to those that say 'can't they just do laps of the park', No. for a marathon with hundreds or participants you'd need a fucking enormous park to have space for 26 miles worth of laps. Don't be absurd.

So, it's ok to inconvenience a whole city?
How selfish.

OMG it’s once a year!! It might do you good to join in, it’s great for lowering stress levels ;)

Yes. Yanbu. Really effecting my town now. ..my literally have about two roads and both are used by organisers for cycling races and runner events....we all stuck in our town until 2pm on a sat or sun alot of the summer

It's most weekends in my town between the cycling races and running ....

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.

The roads in your town are closed most weekends?

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

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

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.

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

@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)

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.

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.