With the floods in Valencia is the marathon in doubt?

Yes - I am on north of the city. For the last few days it has been grid locked with traffics all over the city due to damaged roads, bridges and railways, so all the cars redirect.

The is not a way for 30,000+ people to be arriving safely on the city in the next 3 weeks.

Expect for event to be canceled on Monday morning.

To add, I have also heard from friends very close to the situation that we will be cancelling on Monday or Tuesday. Although the route is fine, it's just not feasible due to a collapse of infrastructure in the surrounding region. The only alternative is a delay to early March before things get too hot, but this is unlikely.

If my sources are correct, then I thank you for your interest in the marathon, and very much look forward to seeing you in 2025 for the greatest Valencia Marathon ever.

Hi, one more Spainard reporting in. Rumors in my club says it will be cancelled. Too much political pressure to continue with race.

Lol at all these fake "Spaniards" trolling letsrun with doom and gloom using forced broken English. You're not fooling anyone guys. Back to your basements pls.

Hi. I am a local runner here in Madrid. Not faking it. Normally there are 50+ high speed trains that go between Madrid and Valencia every day, but they are indefinitely suspended. This is significant because how most of the runners will arrive to Valencia (either local from Spain, or fly into Madrid and take train from there). Still, the local situation is driving into Valencia city is only for essential travels. Logistically, there are issues that may not be fixed by December 1st.

But bigger issue in my opinion, is the political climate here in Spain. I think for this reason they will cancel the race. I said it is just rumors, but what people in my club are saying.

Sound legit. I wasn't necessarily calling out you, it was the "diego_" poster who is clearly using fake broken English.

I think posts identifying the decision will be taken due political pressures rather than infrastructure are bang on. In my opinion (which is no more than hunch) is it'll be cancelled due to local people's current thoughts on it, rather than it not being possible (which it would be if locals were keen on it).

I think I'm right in saying it's bankrolled by a Billionaire. So if he's happy to stump of funds (for Valencia people/running community) to cancel it, the impact to company running marathon won't be severe.

I have trains booked for Madrid to Valencia for the end of this month, but yeah haven't heard from the ticket office (Renfe) to confirm cancellation yet.

It seems surprisingly difficult to find train/transport information, here in the UK when a line is damaged in a storm they tend to give an exact date for the works to be completed. I note that Ouigo gives a date next week (14/11) for the suspension to be lifted, but not sure where they've plucked that date from.

"Due to the weather conditions experienced in recent days, service on the Madrid-Valencia line is cancelled until 11/14/2024 due to damage to the infrastructure."

Renfe (who I booked with) don't seem to have given a date:

renfe.com

Suspendidos, entre dos y tres semanas, los servicios de AV

A causa de las inundaciones en la Comunitat Valenciana provocadas por la DANA obligan a mantener la suspensión del servicio de Alta Velocidad.

Open link

> re. Malaga / Pisa / any of the alternatives, any thoughts on which
> is going to be the flattest/fastest/best alternative?

Those of you who were looking for alternatives should consider Firenze (Italy) which is pretty flat and can be good for performance. One week before Valencia though.
Malaga is a little less flat but works as well. There is a risk on wind on the seafront.
I've ran both, and the 2 cities are great to spend time before/after.

Alternatively, Sanremo on the same day as Valencia. But... no density at all. It's a small one. Flat but 100% seafront, so wind can be a factor again.

Diego_ post seems legit for me as Valenciano. The northwestern part of the city is pure chaos every monring. Having said that, the strongest argument to cancel the 'thon would be the lack of Hi Speed trains.

If i was to take a bet on this: Reschedule it to February/March, offering the option to runners of either running it then or in December 2025.

I think given the scale of the disaster and the circumstances that they’re working through, it would be almost impossible to provide exact dates for train line repair work at this stage. Whilst transport and infrastructure are obviously vital, I think efforts are being focused on more pressing issues at the moment. Yes the UK might possibly do things differently but having never experienced a natural disaster of this magnitude, who knows. I would imagine the situation and priorities would be pretty similar if it happened here.

It wasn't a criticism of anything on my part, we certainly have not seen any disasters of this scale over here since trains were a thing!

It was more that I was comparing the level of communications and the strange fluctuations in dates given by different rail operators, it's almost like Ouigo have plucked a date from thin air whilst other operators have not

I’ll wait for the official announcement…

Lying fellow. Friends he is not telling the truth. It is likely to be cancelled next week but there is no announcement on refunds.

I'm registered for Valencia and have booked a hotel in Valencia and a flight to Madrid but have not yet booked a train from Madrid to Valencia. I imagine that many other people (especially coming from elsewhere in Spain, or Europe like me) are in the same boat, because normally it's very easy to book train tickets at the last minute. But now, of course, there are no such trains, and it's unclear when train service from Madrid to Valencia will be restored. So this is a major issue for the marathon. I literally cannot get there as things stand. For the last week or so I've been assuming the race is not going to happen, and honestly I think it shouldn't happen as planned.

I spoke with someone who works in the race organisation. There will be no refunds. All proceeds go towards the recovery. Middle class hobbyjoggers can afford it.

Screw that - I want my money back. The Spanish government can foot the bill, not tourists.

I don’t believe what you’re writing. In my opinion, the money should be directed to the victims of the disaster if the marathon is canceled, but they can’t just take people’s money, as it’s clearly stated on their website that if the event is canceled, the money will be refunded or the participation can be transferred to the following year. They can’t just decide not to refund the money.

I don’t understand why this topic is full of rumors and fake information. Why can’t you just wait until next week?