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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

@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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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!

You can't leave your front door?

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.

Cars are far more inconvenient, and they're every where all the time

YABU. I live in Cardiff, we've just had the half marathon this weekend.

Yes, the road closures can be annoying as a resident, but in all honesty the route has barely varied in it's 21 year history and with the exception of COVID disruption the date is pretty much always the 1st Sunday of October. There is plenty of notice and signage in advance so you'd have to be either really new to the city or living under a rock to be unaware of the road closures.

Entirely predictable, and brings thousands of visitors from all over the world (it's a super half) to visit and spend money in the city, possibly the surrounding area too.

As someone who lives in the city I find the constant road closures/gridlock for football, rugby, music gigs to be far more disruptive. Very little advance warning and very frequent.

You're also missing the point that some people only start running because of these big events. They sign to challenge themselves for charity/in memory of someone, start training and realise that running is good for the mind as well as the body. It encourages participation and activity, we need more motivation for exercise, not less.

In a way I agree with this. We live in a city and there are definitely quite a few events over the year. The traffic is quite busy already on weekends and on the day of events it becomes practically impossible to get out of the house.
The problem is that in a city you need to use public transport or your car to get somewhere and you can’t. It’s not a village where you can get around everything by foot in 30 minutes.
Also weekends are the only time when most people can get to shops for something major or visit relatives so it looks like “ oh it’s just one weekend” but weekends are very valuable.
On the other side people who are taking part do a great thing for themselves and others. And I suppose doing events in a city helps with transport and other logistics for organizers and participants.

Athletics tracks? Parks? Hire a large field?

Roads aren't closed for cars to use them and they are designed for cars. Closing roads so people can go jogging is very inconvenient.

The race organisers have to pay to close the roads and it’s not cheap. Road racing isn’t a cheap hobby.

It’s a shame that your council can’t be more flexible with this.

104 times round the track = a marathon. They do exist, but are not popular.

Big road races can fill stadiums- of seated spectator space capacity. There aren't venues that can accomodate events of long distance running- at professional events like the Olympics, they still have to compete in public spaces.

Distance track running or other multiple short loops is an injury risk because of being imbalanced to one side from running in one direction. Treadmills are mindnumbingly tedious and not the same functional movement as propelling yourself along a static surface. It doesn't activate the full range of muscles effectively so also leaves runners with injury risk. They have their uses for short distances and suplementing outdoor running but are not a good strategy for sole and prolonged use.

Motivation for thousands or tens of thousands of people to train for and participate in sport is healthy and of greater benefit to society. Most events result in donations to charities, and they draw people into areas that result in extra spending in the local economy. Ultimately councils would refuse permision and support if they didn't think that events were of greater benefit.

It's taken events like parkrun years to get back to their previous participation levels from the Covid disruption. Without events and training cycles, it was very difficult to maintain regular, healthy, consistent training in 2020/21. Many people that tried running then were displaced from other activities then reverted back and there wasn't much actual gain in the running community.

Outdoor, social exercise is so powerful for physical and mental health. Society's bigger problem is a lack of people taking part in adequate levels of exercise for basic health.

I have some sympathy with this, but the problem is where you draw the dividing line. If it's not OK to cause problems for residents with running events, what about all those football, rugby, tennis etc events that attract big crowds? I live near a large stadium and, when there's a big match on, they close the roads around us and there's horrendous traffic jams on the main roads. It's not like they can tell the big sports stadia to fuck off somewhere else. What about big pop events, parades, royal events etc?