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.

Oh don't be silly.

There are loads of care agencies in London, absolutely loads.

No-one has to 'magic them up'. They simply book a few extra staff one day a year, so their elderly clients aren't sitting in their own shit.

I’ll block off your road for 6 hours then & see how daft you think I am then.. another idiot comment

When I lived in Westcombe Park, Greenwich we did get cut off by road during the London Marathon.
I think it is still the same. For about 12 hours. Trains would still run into the area. To access on foot whilst the race was going through the area (a good 2-3hrs) you had to go through Greenwich Park and round the back of the starts - a good 2 mile detour. Other than that there were crossing points on foot but not when the race was in full swing. There were always cars driving round trying to find a way out but you genuinely are trapped.

And I'm ok with that as I disagree with you. I think that any non-essential activities that encroach on other people's lives are selfish and unnecessary.

The carers will be impacted by the traffic, access and other issues, meaning they are delayed to all their visits that day.

I get this but the carer firm will have known about this for ages and could put double staff on to allow for longer journeys. For one day a year. I used to be a community midwife and when there were such events in my city the managers would double staff the day. I'm guessing a private company prioritises profits though!

Avoiding the question I see.

I live on the route of this:

https://www.etapecaledonia.com/

So yeah.

What was daft was you stating that events like this are unnecessary.

They encourage people to get active.
They raise huge amounts of money for charity and the local economy.
They are planned months and years in advance so people can very easily work around a road being closed for a few hours.

All the care company needs to do is get in a few agency workers for a day.

There are any number of non-essential activities that encroach on other people’s lives happening every minute of every day. Why single out a large-scale health and fitness event?

"I would find it hard to think either route would completely cut off car access to residential roads."

Maybe you should check then, because they absolutely do
.

You’re not literally dictating that the marathon shouldn’t go ahead, because you’re not in a position to do so. If you were, would you?

I think you have to live somewhere shit like I do that never has events to close roads

Because that one is what this thread is about. I haven't singled it out either, I've said any so all the me-me-me! events are covered.

DH does one every couple of weeks and has done for years but has managed to avoid every one of these event ones.

OP, please can you nip next door to that neighbour who will be sitting in his own excrement on Sunday and explain to him that he needs to think positively about the marathon? It’s good for some able bodied people’s health, local hotels will be benefitted and lots of charities’ coffers will be boosted.

Tell him not to be so bloody selfish.

And all those people who have worked all week and are hemmed in, unable to go anywhere on their weekend. Selfish gits.

You don’t get it all..sorry for you

@Sesma I'm glad your husband enjoys running solitary marathons and feels safe doing so. For many people, they'd much rather have run an organised, marshalled event with paramedics on hand if needed. Women have been murdered in broad daylight on busy public paths, so many prefer to run in groups (park run, run clubs and organised events).
There's also a fantastic atmosphere at organised races, medals, and a sense of community. So many great physical and mental health benefits for the public good.

Pedestrian access too. Here there are a bunch of streets off the main road that are dead end - there's an industrial estate at the back, main road at the front. Can't cross the main road while the run is on, can't get out of the street the back way because there is no back way.

Me too @HauntedBungalow - also cut off every which way.

Of course, I should pull up my socks and be glad of it. Everyone in this vicinity will be stuck sitting at home. Most steadfastly ignoring the “fantastic atmosphere” and “sense of community” which is jogging past.

We've had this debate before. It's one day.

It's well publicised.

If you don't like it, go out for the day.

There are other things which are far more disruptive than one day (or a few hours) of road closures for a race.

We can't go out for the day! That's the entire problem. We can't go anywhere.

Indeed.

We often get debates about parkrun on here too. The cheek of runners to use parks for 30-60 minutes a week! (Runners pay council tax too)

Why not? Go out before it starts, come back after it finishes. If it's a marathon it lasts longer but there will be rolling closures and roads will open as the runners pass.

If it's a 10k or a half marathon it's over in between 90 minutes and 3 hours or so. It's really not a big issue.

I don't like carnivals but I don't tell my local town council to ban it. I just don't go anywhere near it. Or I leave town for the day (or weekend).

Do you want me to take my kids away for the weekend?

Do you want me to take them out at 2am when the roads close and back late the following night?

Like @HauntedBungalow says, we cannot go out for the day. We are totally hemmed in, complete with all manner of personal circumstances and disabilities and jobs and appointments.

Go away if you don’t get it. Go away and stop debating something you are not capable of understanding or have not experienced.

There is an unpleasant amount of ableism on this thread.

Poor man. Yes, this does impact a lot of people unfortunately. My DH used to work in an emergency service, and it was very difficult under these circumstances. It must be even harder for carers who don't have the advantage of "blue lights". They work so hard and have so little time between care calls. I'm grateful that people do this work as so many people are relying on them. I'm not sure what can be done however, as this isn't going to change.