Marathon 2011 -alert-alert-alert-

HI guys, ive had receive this email form the london marathon organiser as you can read, im asking for guidance or advised in any measure that we can take to avoid any further danger during the ride,as this is a ride not a race, cancel this event if is required will be a big shame because of the behaviour of few riders, so any one willing to deal with this in a more Legal/formal way, as i open the thread but i dont feel that my english is good enough to deal with them, thanks.

mailto:sarahb@london-marathon.co.uk

This is the message:

Hi, I am Nick Bitel the Chief Executive of the London Marathon.

I have seen the postings about the proposed ride at the London Marathon and have a number of concerns.

The reason the roads are shut is that we have hundreds of volunteers working on the course setting up the water stations, putting out branding, placing timing mats and the such like. Cyclists racing along the roads can present some risk. Last year there were a number of reported incidents from our stewards and suppliers of cyclists racing and very nearly causing injuries.

The roads are also not entirely traffic free as our delivery trucks are also on the roads making deliveries of water, isotonic drinks, etc.

Our fist duty is for the safety of people working at and taking part in the Marathon. For instance 2 years ago riders went along Lower Thames Street when there were over 2,000 children lined up on the road for the start of the Mini Marathon. This was very dangerous.

Last year riders tried to go through the Finish when work was still being undertaken.

We are not anti-cyclist. You may not be aware that the London Marathon is in fact a great supporter of cycling in London. For instance, we are putting over £2 million into restoring the eastway cycle circuit at the Olympic Park along with creating user friendly BMX and trail facilities there post games. We have also given money in the past to help protect Herne Hill Velodrome and have already indicated that we would give further support in the future to ensure that this facility is restored to former greatness.

We would be happy to meet or discuss this over the phone but really feel that the ride as presently envisaged is not a good idea. Is it best to call you on your mobile that is listed on the site?

I can be reached at nickb@london-marathon.co.uk

Crumbs.

Cancel the ride.

rumbled. Maybe try and work out on "official" marathon ride, after the runners or something?

Agreed.

Maybe we could start an hour earlier and agree to be off the route by a set time...?

a 5.40 start would deter a whole load of people and would also defeat the purpose of the ride as a large quantity of the roads will still be open.
good that they donated towards HH though.

don't meet in person. It's a trap!

don't quit yet, but he has some valid points, (especially the kiddies)

try and do it officially so kind of arrangement could be agreed surely. maybe make it sign up like tweed run or something. maximum of 100 riders?

I'm especially worried about their fist duty

don't quit yet, but he has some valid points, (especially the kiddies)

try and do it officially so kind of arrangement could be agreed surely. maybe make it sign up like tweed run or something. maximum of 100 riders?

last year was fine with the kiddies, it seemed that they werent letting people down the mall just to be annoying as well. can anyone who actually made it down the mall verify if there was work going on or anything of the sort?
good ideas though, this is a great ride and i would be pretty bummed if we werent allowed to do it.

Arses.

You really should highlight the fact that it's not a race. Because it isn't, it's a ride. This should make a difference if we're not racing through the streets and maybe promise that we'll be careful?
longshot.

Also, I didn't make it down the mall. They told we couldn't, we said please, they say no, so we didn't.

There was no works or anything going on down the Mall. It was great fun to sprint down.

don't meet in person. It's a trap!

"Ride" the whole thing on google street-view.... That's how all LondonFGSS rides should be. Annonymous.

"as presently envisaged"

Why don't we promise to use fore and aft riders to ride a little ahead and check the route for dangers. Signal a slow down etc.

Certainly sounds like he's not closing the book on this.

There was no works or anything going on down the Mall. It was great fun to sprint down.

yeah, he's just bullshitting a bit, they weren't letting the second group down the mall for no reason at all.

If the mall is the problem could we do it without going down there?

If the mall is the problem could we do it without going down there?

we did last year.

I just received the same email + a little bit more:

Dear Mr Kitchen,

I see that you are the founder of the lfgss site and therefore I thought that you might be interested in the postings on the site which are encouraging people to rider along the route of the London Marathon before the race starts but at a time when we have hundreds of workers on the route and many vehicles.

http://www.lfgss.com/thread58008.html

This is the email that I want to send to Bearfoot who has proposed the event:-

Hi, I am Nick Bitel the Chief Executive of the London Marathon.

I have seen the postings about the proposed ride at the London Marathon and have a number of concerns.

The reason the roads are shut is that we have hundreds of volunteers working on the course setting up the water stations, putting out branding, placing timing mats and the such like. Cyclists racing along the roads can present some risk. Last year there were a number of reported incidents from our stewards and suppliers of cyclists racing and very nearly causing injuries.

The roads are also not entirely traffic free as our delivery trucks are also on the roads making deliveries of water, isotonic drinks, etc.

Our first duty is for the safety of people working at and taking part in the Marathon. For instance 2 years ago riders went along Lower Thames Street when there were over 2,000 children lined up on the road for the start of the Mini Marathon. This was very dangerous.

Last year riders tried to go through the Finish when work was still being undertaken.

We are not anti-cyclist. You may not be aware that the London Marathon is in fact a great supporter of cycling in London. For instance, we are putting over £2 million into restoring the eastway cycle circuit at the Olympic Park along with creating user friendly BMX and trail facilities there post games. We have also given money in the past to help protect Herne Hill Velodrome and have already indicated that we would give further support in the future to ensure that this facility is restored to former greatness.

We would be happy to meet or discuss this over the phone but really feel that the ride as presently envisaged is not a good idea. Is it best to call you on your mobile that is listed on the site?

I can be reached at nickb@london-marathon.co.uk

Having seen what happened last year we do not think that this is an event that should be encouraged on the forum and would ask that the thread be removed. As my email would say, we are one of the largest funders of cycling facilities in London and this is not way to encourage us to further our support.

Regards,

Nick Bitel

Registered Office: Kestrel House, 111 Heath Road, Twickenham, Middlesex. TW1 4AH. Registered in England No. 1528489. The London Marathon Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of the London Marathon Charitable Trust Ltd. Registered Charity No. 283813

What I would say right now as obvious:

1) You cannot go after the runners... some take all day to do the marathon, and the day after is just another day.

2) The roads are closed by police and local authority permission, if the police ask you to stop and leave the route and you decline then they would be well within their rights to arrest you (you do realise you have to obey any reasonable instruction given to you by an officer, right?).

3) If you try and go before the road closures, then you'd need to do so very very early, and to aim to complete before the rolling road closures start. There are also permanent (overnight and day in advance) closures at The Mall, so you can't cross the finish line.

4) It's extremely unlikely that they would allow us to ride 'with permission', as they really do have to think first and foremost of the safety of their volunteer workers and others (they pay a bomb for their insurance and you only get such insurance by doing everything you can to protect those insured... which means not letting us ride through them).

My proposal would be that if people still want to do the route, to do it at a time that the roads are not closed... either the day before, or as a midnight ride the night before.

Otherwise, to cancel.

But really... let's just do it the night before... like we would if it were a bridges ride.

There would be no volunteers around, and the roads would be open at that time... so it would be fine.

It' certainly isn't a closed book.

I think we should enter a dialogue with the guy, in the spirit of co-operation, and see if we can get some kind of agreement to suit both parties.

I would be majorly bummed if this ride didn't go ahead, and to be honest I would probably give it a stab anyway.

Nuts, from what Velocio has received it sounds like the book is closing.

a bridges-esque ride is a good idea i think.

Ha. I fucking told you. You shouldn't have even started a thread now, let alone three months before. DUH!

We are not anti-cyclist. You may not be aware that the London Marathon is in fact a great supporter of cycling in London. For instance, we are putting over £2 million into restoring the eastway cycle circuit at the Olympic Park along with creating user friendly BMX and trail facilities there post games. We have also given money in the past to help protect Herne Hill Velodrome and have already indicated that we would give further support in the future to ensure that this facility is restored to former greatness.

Not discussing the situation would be like shooting oneself in the foot...
Any form of guerilla tactics will be just plain silly.

OK... So I've responded to Nick, acknowledged his points and pointed him this way so that he can see the debate (as Bearfoot made it public), and take part if necessary.

I've emphasised that we only ever started this because of the opportunity to ride through London on empty streets... to enjoy riding knowing that we were safe and free on the roads... and how ironic it is that we are now the safety risk to the volunteers. A side effect of the popularity of riding on closed streets.

I do think we should shift it to a Bridges style night ride the night before... perhaps starting at 8pm or something so that we can stand a good chance of grabbing a cold drink at the end of the ride :)

ORLY?

That sounds a little threatening, no?

They have the money, cyclists have... fuck all.