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.

Even concerts and sports matches that take place in purpose built stadiums still cause massive disruption to the surrounding areas/traffic/public transport as well, although I guess you're in the picture if you choose to live in the immediate area.
Whereas it seems the race that OP is mentioning had very poor communication with affected residents, which would make it hard to prepare, or make alternative plans

@miserablecat That's why I left those scenarios out. If you live in Wembley or Twickenham or anywhere else close to a stadium or arena or professional sports ground then you presumably knew what you would be signing up for when you moved there / stayed there.

We can only take OP's word for the level of communication. Our local marathon was last Sunday and there were only a couple of roads immediately around the finish line actually closed but signage warning of delays was up along the whole route for at least two or three weeks in advance.

Cars don't have any more right or priority to be on the road than me as a jogger or cyclist. I do always try to be considerate (if I'm holding people up I move in where I can etc etc) but drivers need to learn to share. There truly can't be many days in a year where roads are closed to vehicles.

And before anyone moans about road tax (or gets pedantic about what it is called) I also have a car and pay it!

I think the comparison with the Reading Festival is inaccurate. We know when the Reading Festival is going to on as it has a strict schedule. It's also been going for a long time, so if you live near it you generally do so in the clear and open knowledge that you will have a week of pain. Like living next to a football stadium, or wimbledon, or a church with bells. The races that happen in my area are an innovation. I think we had one before covid. Now we get 3-4 a year. They are new and have been foisted upon us without consultation. They are running through a residential area that has no business to benefit. In fact, they are running through our residential area so as not to adversely affect the shops and business in the town centre who objected loudly when one was run there. I also note that they run these events through the estates rather than the posh areas of town. If it was that much of a boon the well off roads would be campaigning to have the races down their streets (as was the case for the olympic torch)!

I don't totally object. But the burden of them needs to be spread around more. And residents need proper notice to make car arrangements. And residents need to be able to leave their roads on foot - we are trapped for the bike events at present as there are no ways for us to cross the event road once we walk out of our cul de sac. They are not only on Sunday mornings - we have had them on weekdays as well. And some of us have lives to live even on Sunday mornings.

Quite. Signage for road closures is usually widespread and early. So I find it hard to believe that there wasn't sufficient notice near OP to say that there would be road closures on Sunday. There might not have been leaflets sent to EVERY house (and even if there were, lots of people don't even look at things they consider to be junk), but there would have been yellow AA road signs up on and around the route for several weeks beforehand.

I was in Cardiff at the weekend and got trapped by the half-marathon, and the marshal was a jobsworth who officiously told me I couldn't cross (on foot) because then 'everyone would want to'.
Luckily he wandered off eventually and a more relaxed marshal waved me across.

@MrsBobtonTrent who the hell is organising mass participation road runs on a weekday during the day - that sounds unlikely (unless it is a bank holiday). For starters the council are unlikely to approve the road closures.

Yes, it is really quite nice when roads are closed for runners and you can walk around without pollution.

Interesting that the majority on this thread feel no one should be cut off from leaving their home because of other people’s enjoyment but a similar thread a year or so ago about cycle races came to the opposite conclusion.

I think the cycle races have more of an impact - much wider area and the events last longer. But the principle is the same - if you don't like it, go out or stay in, but don't decide that you absolutely have to use those particular roads at that particular time.

I am baffled by all these people getting "stuck".

I travel a lot with Mr Monkey when he runs marathons. I tend to explore the city while he is running and I mostly manage to get around very unfamillar foreign cities, often my first visit, without the level of drama on here.

In Boston this year you had to be searched by the police every time you entered the race zone. I still managed to have a nice sightseeing day without creating too much of a fuss.

@MrsBobtonTrent agree with everything you say and we are definitely in the scruffbag (council estate) end of town. Very likely the people signing off the closures neither know nor care that all of us little streets off the main road connect only to each other, with no through way out other than the main road itself.

I have a car and don't pay "road tax" because my car is exempt. I bet that blows the "cyclists don't pay road tax" mob's mind.

But I think there are various complaints -

OPs complaint is that the race was poorly communicated, and took all day and provided no opportunity for diversion

Other people do know about events in advance but think once or twice a year is too frequent

Others think roads shouldn't be used for races and running should be confined to fields, gyms and athletics tracks....

We have a housing estate on the outskirts of our town and our half marathon used to use it but doesn't now. Thinking about it, I think if it did go all the way through it would effectively mean you couldn't get out either end.

Sometimes it is a matter of logisitics. You have to start and finish a race somewhere accessible and it has to be long enough to get the distance in - in most cities that means leaving the centre - the London Marathon goes through Woolwich and Deptford for example.

However many cities are keen that races go past all the main tourist sites as they are keen to use the race as an advert for the city.

The Scouts aren't paying £50 a head to do that walk.

I was running Cardiff on Sunday and road crossings for pedestrians were definitely plentiful, and - from what I could see as I ran past - well organised. But there would have been quite a few places where crossing the road just wouldn't have been possible.

Cardiff is one of very few events that have a LOT of runners (in excess of 20k). Only the Great North Run has more (and London Marathon). I can see how it's very difficult to police road crossings (for pedestrians/spectators) because the chances of you getting in the way of runners is high. When you're running in a crowd, you can't just stop suddenly, or swerve to avoid someone. People crossing a stream of runners would likely involve a big pile up!

Smaller events (which the vast, vast majority are) have a much slower stream of participants and it's much easier to cross the road.

Lots of things cause inconvenience to people off road and on road, that's life.

I'm a runner and I take part in all kinds of races (well I plan to, only done 2 so far) The one I did off road was still an open path so we were still inconveniencing those walking. The road one I did was on closed roads so causing problems to people who wanted to drive on the road.

Unless we don't do any running races anywhere?

It's also not just running, we had a nightmare in Singapore trying to navigate the roads because they were closed because of the Grand Prix (which we were there for so we couldn't complain but perhaps the locals do?)

Download festival causes chaos every year and used to be a pain for me to get to work.

Roadworks that seem to be a speciality near me are constantly causing issues although our issue with them is the lack of planning and consistency.

Tourist hot spots can be jammed in the summer because of out of town visitors. I'm definitely guilty of visiting these kinds of places and causing part of the problems.

However, what is the alternative? Nobody does anything that might cause a problem? No races, running or otherwise, nobody visiting anywhere out of their area, no festivals...

I think the races would be perfectly fine if they didn’t completely block some people in.

In our case even if we had parked streets away, they where mad we where even walking across where runners may be. Thats not on to be trapped in a circle because thats where they decided the race would basically turn around and head back to the city centre.

We no longer live in that circle thankfully but I still feel for those who do we live along part of the straight now. I can still get to anywhere I need though there may be a diversion but I’m not stuck.

Agree @Wellingtonspie. Where I live it complete seals off the area, there is no option to drive your car somewhere the night before and park slightly further way because it's a semi-rural location.

People post on FB asking questions about how they can get to work, get to the people they care for and get told to pipe down, enjoy it, watch the race...it's so patronising.

I agree, @Hoplolly . It's ridiculously inconvenient for no good reason.
Run somewhere else where you don't put main roads out of commission and force people to accommodate your hobby.

People drive to hobby activities in their cars, are they allowed?

I suppose I would prefer it if there was some rotation of the circuit - we cannot be the only possible 26 and 13 mile course in Greater Manchester - or failing that if a little extra of the money generated came to those districts who are inconvenienced. At the moment it's the same streets every time but the money generated is divvied up at GM level with no sweetener for affected zones.

I don't see why these runs are in cities, myself. They aren't a very good place for them.