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Thieves run off with 6,000 water bottles for marathon

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Published Date: 03 June 2009
THOUSANDS of bottles of water meant for runners taking part in the Edinburgh Marathon were stolen before the event.
Organisers said they reported the theft of more than 6,000 water bottles from two stations that left participants without adequate supplies during the race on Sunday. The theft is thought to have taken place in the early hours before the race started, but the report was officially made to Lothian and Borders Police only yesterday.

The bottles were said to be taken from two water stations at the furthest point of the marathon course in Gosford. Police and support vehicles were organised to replenish supplies when it was discovered the stations had been left dry for 40 minutes.

Lothian and Borders Police said yesterday: "We can confirm that we are looking into a report of the theft of a large quantity of liquid items, and further inquiries are ongoing."

The Edinburgh Marathon's race director, Neil Kilgour, said:

"We are furious that someone would steal water and energy gels from marathon runners on a hot day."





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  • Last Updated: 03 June 2009 12:12 AM
  • Source: The Scotsman
  • Location: Edinburgh
  • Related Topics: Edinburgh Marathon
 
1

dba,

HAYMARKET 03/06/2009 06:48:52
This story beggars description.

1;Why were the hydration items not delivered to each site when there were personnel/volunteers to supervise and guard the items?
2: From what I have read in the Scotsman's and Evening News pages - the ORGANISERs seem to have been both (a) in denial and (b) seriously less than professional in their thinking and/or conduct.
3: WELL DONE all those who took part - you deserved much better than this - time for a change in the organising structure!
2

Graham29,

03/06/2009 08:58:27
There are one or two things about this story which irritate me. Firstly, the organisers are quoted in several papers, basically branding people who complained about a lack of water as liars, and insisting that there was no such shortage on the day. Despite this, they yesterday backpedalled and came out with this allegation of theft. If this theft did occur, how did it take until yesterday for this to be realised, and for the organisers to change their minds and admit that all those thousandas of people complaining that their races had been ruined by a lackl of water supply weren't actually lying?

The main point however is that this alleged theft does not fully account for the fiasco that was the Edinburgh marathon. So 6,800 bottles went missing. That's about half a bottle (or 125ml), per runner, which would probably not have made the blindest bit of difference. This still wouldn't have been enough. Also, the organisers have not offered any explanation for the reports that the first water station was dry by the time about half the runners had passed through. Finally, the race director in his statement claims that 10,000 bottles were left at the end of the race. What does this show? It is all very well to demonstrate that you had lots of surplus water, but all this does is demonstrate that there was a massive failure to ensure that it was made available at the places where runners need it.

In essence, the organisers should not be allowed to use this alleged theft to deflect questions about serious failures to comply with UK athletics regulations on the provision of water. The theft at best offers only a partial explanation for why a potentially fatal health and safety failure occurred, and questions still remain.
3

stmonan,

London 03/06/2009 09:59:08
Perhaps if the organisers spent less time on the day itself churning out press releases about how wonderful the whole thing was and more time organising the event and dealing with fairly predictable contingencies that came up on the day itself, it would have gone a lot better.

These things are never perfect and the lack of water was a serious problem but a more honest appraisal of the difficulties by those responsible rather than self-aggrandising spin would perhaps have made the runners a lot more understanding. Depending on what you read there were anywhere between 11,000 and 17,000 participants but only 8,300 timed finishes. That tells its own story about how successful it was.
4

L,

Edinburgh 03/06/2009 11:34:13
Someone stole the water - aye right. Excuses excuses.
5

Douglas,

Bathgate 03/06/2009 12:59:57
The police time being devoted to this crime suggests the water was donated by Fred Goodwin.

 

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