The Bristol Marathon. Just a false start?

So, as Dave has said below, it looks like we were going to have a Bristol Marathon this year but now we’re not.

I know a bit of what has gone on, and I have my thoughts about the rights and wrongs of it.

If you want to see a marathon event in Bristol, what do you do? Go and ask Bristol City Council, or do it yourself?

If you go to Bristol City Council and ask, then life is going to get complicated: If BCC organise it, it will probably be big, heavily organised, expensive, slow to happen, corporate, and have to fit into the model of all “city marathons”. Not very exciting if you want to have fun being involved and make it something a bit different and special.

So, you decide to go for a DIY job, keep it personal, cheap, idiosyncratic - a bit more “of the people” - creative, remarkable, something with that unique “people upward” flavour, like Stokes Croft’s PRSC, or Banksy, Massive Attack, or something.

You announce it, making your best effort to inspire people, and get a sudden and huge response. Newspapers and TV channels get excited.

So how would the council react? Well, they would probably freak out I imagine. Especially coming off the back of organising a huge half marathon and heading into another intense period of prep for more running events.

On the one hand I don’t see what the big deal is. Races of about 100 people are run in Bristol on a regular basis. Club runs happen on a regular basis. Hardly anyone notices. If a few people just got together in the morning, went for a run, then met up afterwards, who has the right to stop them?

But I guess once you say you are organising an event, I guess the Council can’t ignore it, and they are bound to feel obliged to “monitor” things and ensure the public are protected and suddenly it all gets complicated.

I guess it turns out there are only two ways to run a marathon in Bristol:

1. Don’t ask, don’t tell, and just do it.
2. Go the whole hog, close roads, get sponsors, charge money etc.

There has been a fair degree of criticism levelled at the mavericks, on their BristolMarathon Facebook page, but hey, worse things happen at sea.

I think what has happened is in all a Good Thing. It has demonstrated that there is enough enthusiasm to justify an event. I think it has shown that such an event deserves to be supported by Bristol City Council, and possibly other councils that have jurisdiction over the route.

The downside is probably that it will have to be pretty big, cost money, require corporate sponsorship, involve disruption. In the BBC report, it is suggested it won’t have enough support. Enough support for what?

For the council, the practical solution is probably to run it at the same time as the half marathon - just do the loop twice. Yes, I guess that is what might have to happen. Good, but somehow not very exciting. I think it needs something extra to capture the imagination. Mine at least.

Other than that I’d love to see a naughty little event that no one knew about and didn’t cause anyone too much trouble.

But I’m not going to criticise anyone because I don’t plan to run a marathon, and I don’t have time to organise anything. I admire anyone who makes it happen - maverick or BCC.

However, here’s what I’d like to see:

I’d like to see a special small marathon event organised for when the Kenyan athletic team is staying here in the run up to the 2012 Olympics. They will be preparing at Bristol’s Kip Keino athletics track. Invite each local club to put up a couple of runners of each gender, invite some wheelies, and allow a number of other affiliated and non-affiliated runners to take part. Have the Kenyans award the medals, a big party, and make make Bristol look like a fun, creative, and healthy place that can make things happen - the Bristol we want the world to know us for.

Surely that is a great idea? Surely that could be made to happen?

A Bristol athlete in Kenya

Steve Mitchell, one of Bristol & West AC’s runners, was invited to a training camp out in Kenya by Kip Keino, and he has just arrived and made his first post to a blog that will document his experience. Follow his exploits and enjoy a vicarious break from our grey winter: Steve’s Kenya Training Diary.

Bristol will be the base for the Kenyans when they come over for the Olympics in 2012. Exciting.

Kip Keino to open new track in Bristol

After many many years of languishing in the athletics hinterland, Bristol is finally getting some decent athletics facilities with the upgrade of the track and facilities at Filton WISE (and also upgrading at the City Academy).

The name of the new facility at WISE? Kip Keino Athletics Stadium - to be opened by none other than the man himself on Tuesday 2nd Novemeber - next week!. Kip is a record-breaking middle distance Olympic and Commonwealth gold medallist from the 60s and 70s, and is now Chairman of the Kenyan Olympic Committee.

The most exciting thing about all of this is that the Kenyan athletic team will be using the facilities when they come over for the Olympics in 2012.

Read more about the stadium opening on the Bristol & West AC site here.