Sheffield Half Marathon Cancelled Incompetent Organisers Refusing to Refund Runners
Local / Sheffield Apr 08, 2014 - 09:48 PM GMTBy: N_Walayat
Sheffield, supposedly the city of sport has been truly nationally humiliated as within minutes of the start of the cities annual half marathon it was cancelled due to for all reasons lack of water, which left some 4,500 runners, many of whom had trained for months to stand twiddling their thumbs. Some in disgust decided to run the half marathon anyway. However, the organisers were not even competent at canceling the race by failing to properly announce to all of the entrants that the race had indeed been cancelled so over half the entrants followed the lead of those at the front and ran the race, relying on the good people of Sheffield to provide them with water enroute.
The incompetent organisers of the Sheffield half marathon subsequently released a statement that they had been let down by the water supplier but had tried to source water from local super markets on the day but that they were unable to obtain enough water, though the runners on the day saw no evidence of this i.e. there was no sign of any water being provided by the organisers.
Today it was revealed on BBC Look North that the reason the water never turned up on the day was because the organisers had fail to make payment as per terms of the contract.
"Water Direct said that they did not receive payment in advance and as a result did not deliver water for Sundays race" - BBC Look North
"In light of their failure to pay us in accordance with the terms of booking, we had been trying to work with the organisers on a coordinated media response that would try and save them from the embarrassment of having to disclose the issues around payment. Despite those efforts, representatives from the organising committee have decided to make comments on the radio, prompting us to respond with our own revised statement." - Water Direct MD Keith Silcock
This therefore implies gross incompetence by the organisers, that despite this latest revelation continue to refuse to do the decent thing and refund all of the runners of the average entry fee of £25 each, with an estimated total of some £105,000. Instead the organisers state that if they refunded all of the runners then they would not be in a position to organise another marathon next year. Well, after this years incompetence no one in Sheffield really wants them to organise next year's half marathon, instead it should be left to someone far more competent who can actually deliver a race that starts!
If I was a paying runner I would request a refund in writing and warn that failure to comply would result in a small claims court action for a full refund PLUS travel costs incurred in traveling to a waste of time non-event that has done huge damage to Sheffield's reputation.
To re-iterate neither the organisers, nor the water supplier should play any role in organising next years half marathon for they are both playing pass the buck and have both contributed to turning Sheffield into a national laughing stock.
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Nadeem Walayat
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