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Marathon organisers admit water check flaw

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Published Date: 04 June 2009
By EMILY PYKETT
ORGANISERS of the Edinburgh Marathon have admitted that simple stock-taking measures could have helped them deal better with the theft of thousands of bottles of water.
Chief executive Geoff Sims yesterday personally put up a reward of £5,000 for information leading to the conviction of anyone responsible for the theft of 6,804 300ml bottles of Strathmore water and 4,040 Lucozade Energy gels.

Officials only realised the items were stolen from the route near Lyars Road, Longniddry, in the early hours of Sunday, as volunteers mounted a clean-up at the end of the race, when packaging and palettes were found stuffed under hedgerows.

The loss led to runners branding the race "shambolic" as vital supplies had to be rushed in under police escort after water stations ran dry in soaring temperatures.

Neil Kilgour, the race director, said yesterday that volunteers manning water stations were not told how many water bottle and energy gels they had on hand, and therefore could not check if any had gone missing.

"There was no basic stock check, that was a basic flaw in our system.

"Without a doubt the discovery of the theft would have taken place earlier," he said.





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  • Last Updated: 03 June 2009 9:29 PM
  • Source: The Scotsman
  • Location: Edinburgh
  • Related Topics: Edinburgh Marathon
 
1

dba,

Haymarket 04/06/2009 07:31:18
In the middle of the hottest days of the years so far the organisers felt it would be safe to leave thousands of bottles of water by the roadsie UNGUARDED?

COME ON -it's NOT rocket science...runners were put at risk from serious dehydration and THAT'S SIMPLY NOT GOOD ENOUGH!
2

Kate,

Zurich 04/06/2009 07:32:22
"Without a doubt the discovery of the theft would have taken place earlier," he said

Actually, whithout a doubt, this theft should never have been allowed to occur at all if the organisers had not left the supplies unattended! That's not stock taking, that's just plain common sense...
3

Graham29,

04/06/2009 09:16:20
Come on guys. Are you seriously expecting us to believe that 7000 bottles went missing from one station and that noone noticed this until after the race? There were 9,000 runners on the road at any one time. If the organisers had allowed 2 bottles per runner per station(which they clearly didn't, as the first station apparently ran out with several thousand runners still to pass though), this would have meant that out of 18,000 bottles, more than a third were missing. If they allowed little over one per person, say 10,000 per station, then about two-thirds of the bottles would have gone missing. Surely someone would have noticed if they were asked to man a water station with virtually no water on it!

The organisers had planned to offer the minimum service they could possibly get away with within the regulations (ie. one water stop every 3 miles) and appear to have calculated their levels of water to save every penny possible (which is disappointing given that this is the most expensive race I have ever come across at about £40 to enter). If you do that, and the slightest thing goes wrong, you have no margin for error and you're going to be putting lives at risk. The theft raises more questions about the organisers capability to handle an event this size than it answers.
4

GP73,

Scotland 04/06/2009 11:04:32
Let's put things in perspective!
What kind of person steals marathon water & gels?
To me, this is a bigger crime than "lack of common sense" or "inventory check flaw".
5

LizR80,

Kent 04/06/2009 11:26:50
This was the 3rd time I've run the Edinburgh marathon. I started in the red zone & by the time I got to the 1st water station at 3 miles it had run dry. This happened twice more through the course.

Each year we get a chance to offer feedback & every time both I & other runners I know who have taken part (many more than me) comment that more water stations are needed. Graham29 has a good point - it is the most expensive marathon I've entered and regardless of 'theft' there is never enough water. If you do the sums, even with 6000 bottles missing, that leaves 1.5 bottles per runner per water station. Something needs to be looked at seriously.

Aside from that I would like to add that the camaraderie of the runners on Sunday was the best I have ever seen. We were running in extremely tough circumstances & the support from spectators, residents and fellow runners was amazing. I would like to thank the people who lived in a house in Port Seaton who were bringing out huge crates of water, the man in a landrover at 19ish miles offering us water and a cyclist who was collecting all the half full water bottles he could find & giving them out to us. Without you I'm sure many more would not have made it to the end.

I hope something is done for next year, Edinburgh is a fantastic place & the marathon could be great.
6

Tom90,

Cambo 04/06/2009 13:09:56
After all the water shortages I was just glad they had enough medals at the end.

I ran past some crazy girl that wouldn't stop shouting about them having enough of them...

 

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