London Marathon investigates reports runners were called 'fat' and 'slow'

Ms Ayres said runners on Tower Bridge had also had to "dodge round sewage collection lorries" and run through chemical spray used to clean the streets.

One woman, Sarah Benjafield-Clarke, told the Victoria Derbyshire programme that her GP had confirmed that a blister she had developed from running during the race had developed into a chemical burn.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-48125731

There should be a time cut off after which anyone on the course is scooped up and driven to the finish as a dnf.

7.5h?? That's 17m/mile. Slow walking pace. It's got to be super expensive to maintain police and other resources for extra hours. Why would a race want to burden itself this way?

just how slow is 17m/mi (3.5mph)?

a brisk walking speed can be around 6.5 kilometres per hour (4.0 mph)

Source: Wikipedia (Walking)

I don’t mind people doing their races in however long they wish, but I really don’t get why there’s a pacer for 7h30 marathon pace

7.5 hours? They must be hitting the strip clubs along the way.

DietBacon wrote:

I don’t mind people doing their races in however long they wish, but I really don’t get why there’s a pacer for 7h30 marathon pace

That's probably the group that is most in need of a pacer. If 7:30 is your goal, do you have any idea how hard it is to hold that pace and not accidentally speed up to a normal jogging speed and finish in half your desired time?

^ I see what you did there

Don't worry, the way London marathon is going and them craving to become the BIGGEST BADDEST marathon and beat NYC in terms of participation I'm predicting 9 hour pacing groups by 2025!!! It's a sh*t-show!!! If it wasn't a part of the WMM no one would give a damn, same with Tokyo and Chicago...

I can tell they never ran San Blas half marathon in Coamo, Puerto RIco. I understand Spanish and trust me they would call you all sort of names. Oh, and I ran it during the years Rono , Rodgers, Yifter, Viren , Virgin ran it. People are such wusses nowadays. What are they going to do about it? Arrest them? Please.

Why are they even running a marathon?

fat and slower wrote:

Why are they even running a marathon?

*walking

KawauchiFTW wrote:

Don't worry, the way London marathon is going and them craving to become the BIGGEST BADDEST marathon and beat NYC in terms of participation I'm predicting 9 hour pacing groups by 2025!!! It's a sh*t-show!!! If it wasn't a part of the WMM no one would give a damn, same with Tokyo and Chicago...

They raised more than a billion dollars for charity. It's worth closing the roads for another hour or so and letting everyone experience it to the fullest.

But aren't they fat and slow?

let'emwalk! wrote:

KawauchiFTW wrote:

Don't worry, the way London marathon is going and them craving to become the BIGGEST BADDEST marathon and beat NYC in terms of participation I'm predicting 9 hour pacing groups by 2025!!! It's a sh*t-show!!! If it wasn't a part of the WMM no one would give a damn, same with Tokyo and Chicago...

They raised more than a billion dollars for charity. It's worth closing the roads for another hour or so and letting everyone experience it to the fullest.

There really is no reason for the people raising the money actually have to run. Charity should be given because someone wants to give, not because a second party is out there doing some meaningless effort in the grand scheme of things.

From London Marathon website:

Course cut-off times

We are required to keep to a strict schedule for reopening the roads to traffic, therefore you must meet the cut-off times stated below.

The Course Closed Vehicle travels at a seven-hour pace and crosses the Start Line at 11:00, moments after the final participants. If you do not stay ahead of the Course Closed Vehicle, you will be required to move onto the pavement to complete the event. Further information is available below.

Location 7:00 hour pace

(minimum pace needed to avoid completing the event on the pavements) 8:00 hour pace

(minimum pace needed to receive a medal and official finish time)

Cutty Sark

(6.5 miles) 12:50 13:10

Tower Bridge

(12.5 miles) 14:20 14:45

Canary Wharf

(18.5 miles) 16:00 16:40

Tower of London

(22.7 miles) 17:05 18:00

The Finish Line

19:00

19:00

The above from:

https://www.virginmoneylondonmarathon.com/en-gb/final-instructions/course/

To obtain a finisher’s medal, you must complete the event by the official cut-off time, which is currently 19:00 on Sunday 26 April 2020.

Please note that if you are slower than seven-hour pace (which is 16 minutes per mile), you will complete the event on the pavement. Seven-hour pace begins when the last participants cross the Start Line, which is predicted to be at 10:50 in 2020.

We are required to meet a strict schedule to reopen the roads of the capital and get London moving. This means that if you are slower than seven-hour pace, you effectively become a pedestrian and you will be sharing the pavement with others. There will be a huge clean-up operation on the roads around you to enable us to reopen London to traffic.

https://www.virginmoneylondonmarathon.com/en-gb/event-info/participants-disabilities/

This problem happens a lot, and I don't really understand why. Race organizers seem very reluctant to set or enforce strict time cutoffs or minimum pace requirements, but they are also very impatient to get the course picked up (because everyone's tired from being up since 3 AM and the locals want to get the roads opened up). What they should do is either set and enforce strict time cutoffs, or else be patient and wait for all the racers. Instead, what happens is the worst of both worlds. They won't DNF the runners or shuttle them to the finish, but instead they will impatiently try to harass the slow runners into hurrying up so they can finish their cleanup. I don't understand why anyone thinks this way of handling things is acceptable, but for some reason it seems to be the norm.

So they actually had a cutoff time of 7:00 but they supplied a 7:30 pacer? That makes no sense at all.