Liverpool Marathon 2013 - Page 7 - Events

Hellywobs

10/02/2013 at 21:07

The Equality Act doesn't apply to everything and you can have female-only races. There's a guy who's spent about the last decade trying to do away with female-only Races for Life and hit a dead end when he tried to use the Equality Act.

Indeed in Glasgow there is a mens-only 10k and a highly successful ladies 10k (though Great Run are in charge of that one now). There is also a very successful ladies 10k in Dublin so I don't accept that ladies-only races are unwanted, though I do accept that other races may be more commercially worthwhile (though blue Santas - really? And I say that as an Everton supporter!)

Someone is starting a very expensive ladies-only 10k in Windsor so it will be interesting to see how that goes. And of course up until 2011 there was a large 5k for ladies in Hyde Park - not sure if that is returning this year.

I can understand why the guys get annoyed with female-only races but it's actually quite nice to win a race - and a lady will never win a mixed race or very very rarely. I often come within the top 5 ladies at my local parkrun, but will be 60th odd or lower overall. So although it may seem discriminatory, it does have its value for women.

Anyway, I hope for Liverpool that the marathon happens. I don't do marathons and the half marathon clashes with my local half in Fleet, but I hope to run a race in Liverpool/Merseyside at some point.

Dave Muller

10/02/2013 at 23:06

I don't understand all the issues here and there's probabaly more to this than meets the eye, but at face value I can't understand what the Council is up to wanting to finsh the race elsewhere. A potentially iconic finish in an iconic location. It's what attracts people (and runners) to the city. Imagine if London, New York, Boston, Berlin etc etc all finished on the outskirts of the city.

Never been to Liverpool, but was planning on running the Marathon (good reviews and good atmosphere) and bringing the family up with me. Seems to me to be a significant loss of revenue for local businesses. Can only wonder what the locals think.

So looks like it might be Dublin again then. They don't seem to have a problem closing their streets in the city centre.

Runnin man

11/02/2013 at 09:49

Well it looks like Eindhoven might be the answer, big marathon 10,000 runners, traffic free, same day and nice place and cheaper

AlanRothwell

11/02/2013 at 12:09

I've submiited a revised waterfront road use proposal to LCC yesterday and await a reply. My solution allows for uniteruppted access to the waterfront on the city side for vehicles with runners using the opposite side. Seems a perfectly workable solution to me and if offered the opportunity to discuss last Wednesday then it may not have been neccessary to cancel the event. We were not given that option.

Hope springs eternal...

Runnin man

11/02/2013 at 13:14

Good old Plan B

tppp

11/02/2013 at 15:24

to be fair it does pretty much shut down the entire centre of the city for a full day.

Loved running it in 2012 though, hope you can resolve the problems and get a route agreed.

cougie

pirate

11/02/2013 at 15:44

London manages to shut down for their marathon and plenty of other occasions ?

There are plenty of ways to get into town even with the road closures.

LIVERBIRD

pirate

11/02/2013 at 16:18

Nick, Liverpool attracts millions of tourists every year. It has been European capital of culture and is an extremely vibrant, exciting city with a rich heritage and an extremely important place in history. Without wishing to give you a history lesson you're clearly not interested in because you seem to have made up your mind about the place, you should probably come and see what all the fuss is about. I handed bibs out last year to people who had travelled from all over the WORLD to run the marathon and had chosen it BECAUSE it was in Liverpool.

Dave The Ex- Spartan pirate

pirate

11/02/2013 at 16:39

Good to see the Echo advertising the Chester marathon on the same page as they report the Liverpool marathon cancellation

cidermonkey

11/02/2013 at 16:41

Liz & Phil don't moan about the London Marathon finishing in their street......

AlanRothwell

11/02/2013 at 16:43

Advertising generates revenue and subject matter is irrelevant. Good on Chester to seize the moment. I would do the same if the roles were reversed.

cougie

pirate

11/02/2013 at 16:55

The echo website also had an advert for snickers.
I guess it must be activated by some kind of marathon tag ?

Nick Windsor 4

11/02/2013 at 17:29

Liverbird I have been on many occasions, and have worked there, experiencing the local atmosphere and personality, so am content with what I have seen and what I know about it. I'm sure many people visit, I suppose if I had not been there the things to hear about it may attract me. Mind you I once went to Rotterdam

LIVERBIRD

pirate

11/02/2013 at 17:38

It has its problems, same as anywhere. But if you've not worked there in a while, you might be surprised at what it's like now. I think it's evolving at breakneck speed. It has the fastest growing economy outside of London now. And we can still afford to buy houses in the North west.

Nick Windsor 4

11/02/2013 at 19:13

I'm from the north west, and I'm sure you're very attached to Liverpool and I wouldn't deny you that, I would simply say people in Liverpool are great to others from there but my experience of their attitudes to those not from Liverpool is bad by other city standards. Go to Newcastle that has problems but give me the Geordie mentality any day

Judith Cook

11/02/2013 at 19:53

Is there any chance of the race being re-instated if the council agree to the new propostion for The Strand? Wanted to do this last year, but being a Preston girl opted for the Guild races instead. Well it is only 'once every 20 years'. Was looking forward to the Liverpool marathon this year but may have to go Chester way if this is definitely a no go.

Edited: 11/02/2013 at 19:53

Keep Left

11/02/2013 at 22:08

"I'm from the North West" perhaps says it all. So am I. I'm from that part of the NW where anti-Scouse sentiment at least borders on racism. But I've always found Scousers warm and friendly; and never felt an outsider. It's hard to objectively compare cities; experiences vary dependent on whether you work there, study there, live there, who you know there etc. But for me, Liverpool and its people/culture are great.

Warkie

12/02/2013 at 07:01

Keep Left wrote (see)

"I'm from the North West" perhaps says it all. So am I. I'm from that part of the NW where anti-Scouse sentiment at least borders on racism. But I've always found Scousers warm and friendly; and never felt an outsider. It's hard to objectively compare cities; experiences vary dependent on whether you work there, study there, live there, who you know there etc. But for me, Liverpool and its people/culture are great.

Couldn't agree more,but then again I married a Scouser

Nick Windsor 4

12/02/2013 at 07:07

I'm still married to a scouser, but that doesn't change what I see or what my opinions are. I also see that people generally have a poor opinion, I think it's based on experience and the scouse population could learn from how others see them

GilllieS

12/02/2013 at 07:54

As someone who doesn't usually get involved in social media, I have read with interest the various comments here. I would question whether or not Nick Windsor actually works for the council, as he seems to have done a very good job of deflecting the reason for this forum, sniping at the people of Liverpool wont get the Marathon back.

If Alan and his team did not request a route change the blame can only come from the city council but then I notice that there is a meeting suggested by Joe Anderson, the mayor, to thrash out the difficulties.

When is that meeting, surely it must be soon as people will start to look elsewhere.