Manchester Marathon 2012 lost property

[Deleted User]

Bloody fuck! What was going on with that baggage tent. Way too small and definitely understaffed. I saw car keys and clothes trodden into the mud. People shaking violently with cold, wearing their race kit. A disappointing end to a very cold race.

Thought I'd put together a list of stuff that people have lost and maybe owners can be reunited with their gear.

I've lost a (fake) Tommy Hilfiger jacket. It's navy blue with mustard coloured lining, half zip and hood. Small ladies size. If found, I'd really like it back and would happily pay for postage if you've picked it up by mistake.

Thanks,
Lorraine.

Andy Lythgoe

Great shame to end a race like that, I gave up looking for my bag after 30 minutes in the freezing cold after I was told it was outside of the tent, in no particular order. I am not bothered about the clothes in the bag but my bloody phone was in my tracksuit pocket !!! HTC wildfire if anyone has found it

Steve Duffy 2

Wow! What a race! I have never been so wet or so cold in all my life! But came home in 3hrs 36mins 1sec (gun time) and 3hrs 35mins 35secs by my watch. A new PB by over 40 minutes, so I am absolutely chuffed to bits with that. The weather was dreadful - between miles 15 and 23 were particularly grim - but the support from the locals was 1st rate.

The baggage area was absolutely awful. Not only were the bags in no order, but there seemed to be a complete disregard for them. They appeared to be just in one huge heap. I hope everyone gets their stuff back.

But in spite of the cold, I absolutely loved it. It's been brilliant checking here each day to see how everyone's preparations have been going.

Roll on Dublin in October! Bit warmer though please!!

[Deleted User]

Lost track suit bottoms, my train ticket home and a fiver.

Found nothing.

Rick Anderson

I managed to find my bag in the end but when i did it was empty!

It only had a blue altura jacket & some other stuff in it but my phone was in the jacket.

Not a great phone but has pictures of my daughters on it.

Hope most people get re-united with all lost stuff

[Deleted User]

The baggage was a disgrace and a kick in the teeth after running in those conditions. I was with a girl who was nearly hyperthermic as my husband looked for her bag for an hour. she had to go home without it as she couldn't wait any longer.

My bag had been opened, clothes trodden on and a blue felt phone cover, a present from my daughter with £10 in was gone and had been at the bottom of the bag.

I would imagine a lot of people suffered from the cold waiting for their bags.

Hope everyone finds their stuff.

15West

you can all join me in venting your frustration on event review page...http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/events/ratingsall.asp?sp=&v=8&ugn=11405&en=64405

(not sure if link will work)

[Deleted User]

I would write to the race officials about this. When I ran a marathon I had a lot of stuff in my bag, change of clothes, recovery drinks, phone and keys. If these got missing I would have been livid to say the least. What a lack of respect for the competitors. I know that race officials take the RW ratings seriously, I would write about this loud and clear so it will not be allowed to happen again. It's a disgrace from what you've written. I ran one half in pouring rain and freezing wind and can only relate to your discomfort, I shuffled to the car with a cup of tea fater about 20 minutes of walking from the finish where all my change of clothes was and it took me good 30 minutes in full blast heating to regain my body temperature. Shame on the organisers, lack of respect for runners.

[Deleted User]

I lost an Usdaw carrier bag (white and red with yellow writing) containing a Ronhill waterproof jacket and trousers - black with purple trim - size 8. It was inside my kitbag.

[Deleted User]

Never again will I run a race organised by these people. Shocking.

[Deleted User]

I read race reviews and am horrified. What utter shambles. Would never run this even if they paid me. Shame so many people got disappointed.

cougie

I have done a couple of their events that were very well run. The reports of the baggage chaos does sound diabolical. Things going missing from inside kit bags ?? I've never heard the like.

[Deleted User]

I lost a pair of dark blue jeans and an old pair of Converse.

I think it's a massive shame that the baggage pick-up was such an unmitigated disaster. The rest of the race (as far as I saw, anyway) was pretty well organised. This will cast a shadow over what was otherwise a great day, despite the weather.

[Deleted User]

Cougie, at the expo, we were told that only the goody bag would be accepted at the bag drop. These were small, plastic drawstring bags that everyone had crammed full with warm clothes and the drawstring didn't stay pulled shut in many cases so the contents just burst out everywhere.

Half the disaster could have been avoided if they hadn't insisted on these bags. 5000 identical too small bags that didn't stay shut!! I really despair!

Shiva

I lost a pair of gore tex waterproof trousers and my race finisher t shirt. Thankfully I kept my car key and my valuables were in the car. It was disgraceful!

E mmy

In other races they make you tie the drawstring together to make sure that you don't lose anything. I relly feel for those who lost stuff at the bag drop off - that's definitely not acceptable. Complaints on the event page should awaken the interest of the Race director and hopefully get you an answer?

[Deleted User]

photos are up!!

http://www.marathon-photos.com

chris jones 78

I lost a black Saloman running jacket out of my bag, which I found randomly dumped outside the tent after an hour of searching...

[Deleted User]

From the organiser's website:

Greater Manchester Marathon statement about the baggage area

We, the organisers of the Greater Manchester Marathon, would like to make a statement to all the runners apologising for the baggage area.

We want to issue an official apology about the baggage area at the Greater Manchester Marathon 2012 and apologise hugely to all our runners who experienced issues with their baggage drop off or retrieval. We understand how important this area is and after investigation into what happened we have instantly put amendments in place for the 2013 race.

Although some elements of the baggage area disruption were beyond our control we take full responsibility for correction of the system for the 2013 race.

We have the remaining bags that we have taken from the race finish and shall be posting these to runners as soon as possible. Also, if you have any individual items missing please let us know [b]via email[/b] This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it as all lost property left on site was collected.

We understand the harsh weather conditions added to the discomfort of the waiting time for baggage drop off or retrieval and this highlighted further that a quicker system needs to be in place no matter what the weather conditions but particularly for speed in unusual ones.

I wonder why they can't take full responsibility?

cougie

The London marathon uses identical drawstring kitbags

Ive used them ten times with no problems - everyone puts a knot in the cord though - this didn't happen here I guess ?

The Silent Assassin

Hi Cougie.

 I know what you mean about London using identical bags, the problem with Manchester was at London you are given a particular truck to leave your bag on which is linked to your number, at Manchester they just put your bag with everyone else's in no order at all

cougie

Doh !!

Bet they won't make that mistake again.

They do need to allow for a big space to sort out that many bags. I think Liverpool marathon used an empty car park to have them all sorted out.

jonah8

Cougie- They were a different design from London, the string at London was at the top of the bag which you could pull together

The one yesterday was pulled from the bottom to the top which you couldn't tie, only pull tight.

cougie

Double doh !!

Bad planning there eh ?

[Deleted User]

It's now Wednesday and can now say I enjoyed Sunday, many thanks to the people involved and special thanks to the people who came out to support on such a shitty day, I found my black rucksack amongst the sea of white expo bags with no trouble. At no time did anyone say "you must use the white bags" they told me I could. Anyone who left valuables in these things that were impossible to close then you need your subnormal heads examining. Stop the whingeing and learn a lesson from it.

Green Pete

I took along my Nike rucksack, took over an hour to find it. Never been so cold in my life, thought i was gonna collapse in the tent, finally found my bag with the number tag gone, covered in mud and opened outside the tent. Nothing was missing and other than a squashed Double Decker choccy bar nothing was broken either.

My friends spent the entire time looking for me and even went into the medical tent to see if i was in there.

Would like to know what happened to the Army guys who took my bag when i first got there?? 

Maxpower North West

I was told by a marshall that they had been sworn at by some understandably miffed runners and the commanding officer decided that this was unacceptable (which it is) and took the decision to take them off the site.

As this is only second hand I am not able to confirm if that is the truth but it seemd a reasonable explaination when told to me.

[Deleted User]

Richard: I'd left an old pair of jogging bottoms, an old running top, my train ticket home and a fiver in my bag. Nothing "valuable" as such but them going missing meant I had to hang around in and to get back to Sale in soaked running gear while hypothermia crept up on me.

I'm glad everything worked out OK for you and your black bag (and that seems your main concern in the whole shambles as well) but others wern't so lucky.

[Deleted User]

I found my phone etc after going back for a second time (thank god I found my keys on the first attempt - although it took close to an hour). That said there was a lot in the lost property including more phones. Worth checking. They only recognised it thanks to my description that it was wrapped in a dog poo bag. It has been in another bag within the white drawstring but that all went t&ts up. Lesson - dog poo bags may be the way forward....

As for not leaving valuables. No option and never had an issue in the 000's of races I've done. Left the rembrandt at home though NW