to think marathons in cities cause too much mayhem?

[Bottlew]

There is a full marathon in my city on Sunday. They will start to close the roads 5pm on Saturday and it is impossible to drive anywhere.

My neighbour is immobile and relies on carers. All his visits are severely delayed and it means he ends up sitting in his faeces and urine for hours and hours. He won't get his meals till a lot later. There is access given for carers, emergency services but this still ends up in a lot of delays.

I know it brings in a huge amount of income for the city but the disruption is terrible particularly for those who are vulnerable. It means I don't get to visit people in need because I can't drive anywhere. Public transport doesn't work as I often have a lot of shopping etc.

I’m a runner. It’s massively unreasonable to be annoyed by it because
a. It’s one day and there is literally loads of info out there about which roads are closed and how to avoid. Yes you need to spend a bit of time planning.
b. Running as a general rule (specifically the increase in its popularity) benefit the health of wider society enormously. I’m confident I will live a longer, healthier life, and therefore be less of a drain on the nhs, because it’s made me the healthiest I’ve ever been

It is not the carers fault. They have to follow convoluted routes to get to everybody with so many road closures. They usually get round to everyone quickly.

When there is a major event, they put him to bed at 5pm to try and catch up.

Exactly. If you only have one client to see in a shift you can set off earlier to account for the delays with the intention of arriving on time. If you are delivering care to say 6 or so people then a 20 or 30 minute delay in each journey between them will soon add up to a few hours delay.

It's not true though. People living in the cities aren't cut off. If the careers are blaming the marathon they're using it as an excuse for their own failings.

2 people are needed to move him and change his incontinence pads. Are you suggesting I do this?

I am in London and cannot wait till Sunday’s marathon. The disruption is one day a year. It will be fine.

I actually miss living on the marathon route.

Do you understand how many people the carers have to see? No planning in advance can help to make sure everyone gets meals on times and have their incontinence pads changed. Sometimes vomit needs clearing up.

Fine for the able bodied, yes.

For everybody.

It’s not like the London Marathon is a new thing. The carers can easily make arrangements as those who lived on the marathon route learned to do.

They just want something to blame their incompetence on.

OP I completely agree. There is a half marathon every year in my town. The route loops so there is a small patch that is effectively ‘cut off’ until about 5pm and I’m in that patch. We cannot drive out or it and MASSIVELY pisses me off. Just bugger off somewhere else and run. Several laps of a park perhaps.

And as a retired community nurse yes it impacts hugely on visits to those in need of visits by carers, meals on wheels, family support etc.

This is absolutely disgusting and I'm shocked you haven't reported them.

The London Marathon has been going since 1981 I believe.

Are you honestly saying that every care company in the area has put elderly people to bed at 5pm, and allowed them to sit for hours and hours in their own shit due to this, for over 40 years?

I'm surprised Panorama hasn't picked up on it.

I don't mind a marathon so much, it's only one day and I plan accordingly. I used to live in a city that hosted the F1 and the disruption there majorly pissed me off though!

YABU we live on the path of one of the marathons and get ‘shut in’ to our close from midnight until 3pm ish when the roads start to reopen. We love marathon days the atmosphere is amazing and it’s great for the kids to see a positive healthy activity. This Sunday we have plans so will be staying elsewhere sat night so we have the car to get there and plan to get home when the roads reopen.

You do just need to be organised and plan ahead, as should carers etc. a friend in our close child had an asthma attack once and the ambulance were let through easily there and back and it barely delayed emergency care the organisers are really fantastic.

Life cannot stand still for the disabled - harsh as that sounds. As PP have said, these events are planned up to a year in advance and do not come as a shock. Plans can be made to ensure that such people still have their needs met, for a few hours once per year.
In the event of a true emergency, the police can clear the runners from the road to allow emergency vehicles through (did you see Boston?)

IME they often want to start putting people to bed at 6pm anyway. DH often didn't get any visits between 6pm and 10am

There's enough notice and signposting of routes affected for services such as care companies to adjust their arrangements.

We have 3 races per year; a 10k which is done and dusted by 11am, a HM which affects a significant arterial route for about 2 hours as it's in the first half, and the second half is mainly off road to minimise the disruption. And another mid-distance event that is mainly off road and affects one village for about 4 hours.

Oh the whinging about all the disruption despite everything being back to normal by midday on a Sunday. Yet no comment about the traffic chaos and gridlock every other Saturday and some weekday evenings as thousands flock to watch 22 millionaires chase a ball.

The running events bring people in to accommodation, food and services- especially where it's big marathons that people travel significant distances. They inspire people to get fit and look after their long term health (it was a race in my home town that inspired me beyond C25k and made me realise that distance running was both possible and enjoyable). And they are massive charity events, especially London, but also any of the other big name distance races.

They are huge, multi-agency events with huge attention put into organising the logistics, and that wouldn't happen if the benefits didn't outweigh the costs and disruption.

I have lived directly on a race route with the longest road closure as it was the section where we looped the start and finish. I loved the sound of the cones plopping down the road and traffic dwindling down... then the only quiet of the year... then the sounds of people as the community come and sit outside their houses to spectate. It was the only time we saw "Fay Weldon" on the other side of the road as the rest of the time we were separated by a constant ribbon of heavy traffic.

How is it fine for a 90 year old man who is doubly incontinent and the carers are being delayed for hours because of the disruption on the roads?

The carers usually come around 9.30 - 10.00pm so 5pm is very early when he is doubly incontinent.

It's not.

The care company needs to plan in advance, just like all the other care companies do.

Or are you saying 100s of elderly/vulnerable people are all sitting in their own shit for hours and hours?

You really seem to be missing this point.

Absolutely this - its a massive failure by his carers.

They are using the marathon as an excuse to have a skive.

How exactly can the carers plan ahead? They have a lot of people to get out of bed, give breakfast then come back at lunch, dinner and bed. They will need to help people get to the toilet or change their pads. If someone has fallen then am ambulance has to be called. The carers have to stay there until the ambulance arrives.

With all the disruption on the roads, it takes so much longer.

So this man’s needs should take precedence over something which will benefit many thousands of people? That’s not how society operates.

Did I say every care company in the area? 🙄