events not going ahead this year

three fairly big events local to me not going ahead this year - Newark HM, Mansfield MH and Nottingham Marathon. A real shame - espeically as I wanted to do all 3. Not really sure of the reasons for all three being cancelled, but the Mansfield website quotes 'costs of local traffic management' and I think the cost of closing roads figured in the decision not to run the Newark half.

Anyone else noticed local events disappearing?

On road races now cost a bloody fortune to organise and traffic management is the main reason.

We've lost a few events in Hampshire, though some have sort of come back with major "off-road" sections.

Our club race is still holding on due to the fact that we have the support of our village but the traffic management is still a major pain in the backside.

I suggest emailing your local MP, as races form a perfect part of "The Big Society" and anything which causes them to stop is surely bad!
I emailed Gorgeous George after the Whitley 10k and Antrobus Cabbage Canter were cancelled last year. The council have now changed the rules so they don't charge voluntary organisations and charities for closing "minor" roads. The Whitley 10k is on again this weekend.

A principal reason for the establishment of the Association of Running Clubs (ARC) was to ensure that the club organised races survived. Some race directors are threatening to walk away from their races due to increasing UKAthletics/Run Britain bureaucracy.

I would ask that before a race is cancelled that race directors consider the option of affiliating their club/organisation to ARC and holding their race under the auspices of ARC.

ARC's insurance has an excellent claims record and there is competition amongst insurers for the ARC account. The ARC account has just been renewed with no premium increase at all and no tightening of terms and conditions.  

"quite a few races in London not happening becuase of the bloody olympics"

How so?

Can certainly vouch for ARC, they are excellent to work with. 

England Athletics from whom most organisations/clubs get their race insurance implemented a document with several recommendations in it regarding H&S early last year.  Included was a recommendation for the need to close roads with max speed limits over a certain speed  (I think 30 or 40 mph) irrespective of the circumstances. 

We estimated that in our little area of Surreyshire we would lose at least half of the well established (and much loved) events if it was implemented to the letter.  

We walked away from UKA and now source our insurance elsewhere.  Many clubs have followed suit and it's gratifying to see many opt for the ARC option which allow races to go ahead with sensible precautions in place after a suitable and sufficient risk assessment has been carried out (which is all the Health and Safety exec. ask for after all).

Those seeking to licence an event with UKA/Run Britain after 1st April 2012 may well notice the newly issued Medical Guidelines that UKA licensed road races will have to comply with. These are 62 pages long and difficult to follow in places. They include a Matrix which sets out the required medical cover for various race distances. Failure to comply with these Guidelines could prejudice the event insurance cover.

Some have said that UKA is attempting to over regulate the sport and that they are not geared up to deal with the grass roots.

chubby bloke wrote (see)

I suggest emailing your local MP, as races form a perfect part of "The Big Society" and anything which causes them to stop is surely bad!
I emailed Gorgeous George after the Whitley 10k and Antrobus Cabbage Canter were cancelled last year. The council have now changed the rules so they don't charge voluntary organisations and charities for closing "minor" roads. The Whitley 10k is on again this weekend.

Do you know if the Cabbage Canter is returning as well? One of my favourite races and I want to do it as my first race after a long lay off with injury

It's not just the hoops you have to go through with councils, but a lot of venues now also insist on reams of paperwork and they've also cottoned on to the fact that they can charge a lot of money to rent the venue out, especially if they have triathlon potential as well. To give you an idea, the venue we use charges us £3500 just for a Saturday morning. If you then factor in getting your entries and chip timing done by a professional company, plus the fact everybody seems to want a fancy medal, a goody bag worth more than the cost of entry and a personal toilet then races are becoming very expensive to organise. A lot of clubs now are having to seriously think twice about whether they want to take the risk of making a big loss if for some reason the race doesn't fill up. I think this is one reason why we're seeing a proliferation of small trail races as their costs are significantly lower.