Manchester Marathon measure short 2013 - 2015

Anyone who ran the Manchester marathon in 2013, 2014 or 2015 will be disappointed to know there was an error in measuring the course. Consequently Power of Ten has readjusted the results for those years to read SHORT MARATHON!

I have run this in those years and put down the slightly short reading down to a few sharp bends etc. Now this re measurement (correct for 2016) explains the hasty last minute move of the finish to Old Trafford Cricket Ground.

Read the AUKCM statement here

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Comments

  • 15West15West ✭✭✭

    No wonder it was popular.

  • legend777legend777 ✭✭✭

    Nooo! Marathon PB and only sub 4 hour time is from there in 2015.

    Odd how it took so long to be discovered especially as I believe the majority of runners clocked it 0.1 or 0.2 short in previous years. 

    Very little about the confirmation on forums / news articles etc considering the statement was 3 days ago.

  • it took a while to be discovered because it was a certified measurement, but despite all the checks it turned out that there was an error in the calibration of the measuring wheel.  They wouldn't re-measure simply on the basis of a handful of runners saying their GPS measured short - there are lots of reasons why GPS measurements would be over or under.

    Unfortunately I doubt you're the only one whose only 'milestone' time turned out to be on a short course.

  • Another embarrassment for the organisers. I wonder what they will say about this?

    I agree about all the PB's recorded there in these doubtful years, that it is a shame they have been rescinded by Power of 10. 3 years of it being short is a bad error in my opinion especially a big city marathon. Do you think they will have their Best marathon of the year award taken back now it wasn;t a full marathon?

    I'm glad this year I ran a PB of 03.03.03 on the full course, but leaves a dark cloud over this marathon. There were lots of issues this year with the traffic management (lack of), baggade queues at the end (2 hours wait) and now this. A PR disaster!

  • 15West15West ✭✭✭

    The Flattest, Fastest, Friendliest and Shortest Marathon in the UK.

  • I ran the Greater Manchester Marathon in 2014 and suspected something was amiss as my Garmin was also short - and its always slightly over at other marathons.

    I continued to have doubts about the authenticity of the distance after learning  many runners had raised  doubts in 2015. And then when I saw the race start had been moved this year you didnt need to be Miss Marple to realise there had been a cock-up.

    Luckily for me it wasnt my pb - but it is my second best time.

    I feel cheated and very angry that a major marathon like this could allow something so unacceptable to happen for three years.

    After seeing the story on BBC Sport this afternoon  I rang the organisers but the lady I spoke to was unaware of it. I am awaiting a call back.

  • Really mad about this. Ran a PB by 11 mins and now it means next to nothing. It's rare you get a good build up and that was my smoothest build up out of the 8 marathons I've done. Gutted.

     

  • Well, now it's been confirmed does that mean I get my entrance fee back? After all they didn't deliver on the advertised marathon. This was also my PB run by some 14 minutes.
  • My parkrun PB was also found to be on a short course at Hove Park. The first 2 years results on Power of 10 have a (SC) next to them. Luckily the organisers have given me a full refund.

  • senidMsenidM ✭✭✭
    My sympathy to all the runners whose times have now been cancelled, your PBs, qualifying times are now just wasted effort.



    Wonder how many GFAs for this Sundays little race were run at Manchester, just as well this only surfaced now I suppose.



    Having looked at the reviews for Manchester, and those for Brighton, only confilrms my prejudice re Big City Marathons, they're more concerned with the cash register than the needs of the runners.



    This one says it all, 3 years before they paid attention to the runners and actually checked the course!
  • beat my pb by 40 mins to go sub 4 for first time. said i would never run another after realising my body not meant to run marathons! i was injured for two months after with patella tendonitis. i will get over it i am sure but shockingly bad it ran for 3 years without being picked up

  • Waaah I did 3.29.12 which made me very happy as I wanted sub 3.30! Luckily I ran 3.30.31 at Nottingham in September too so not far off bit I'm still cross. Bugger it. By the time I weaved in and out and ran to the drinks stations on the other side of the road I'm sure I made up the missing 380m!
  • As a good will gesture they should at least offer everyone who was affected free entrance to the marathon when the time suits us.
  • To be fair to the organisers, it's not their fault. It is the fault of AUKCM who were using faulty equipment. The organisers were relying on the official certification from an external independent body.

  • We didn't pay our entrance fee to AUKCM we paid it to the race organisers in good faith. So it is they who must soften our huge disappointment with the offer of some kind of compensation. They cannot hide behind AUKCM by passing the buck.

  • I've also lost a 15 min PB, a BQ time and my only sub 4 marathon. Gutted is not the word, particularly finding out1 year after the event!
  • It would seem fairer for Power of 10 to make an adjustment to everyone's times rather than delete them?
  • skottyskotty ✭✭✭
    Alastair Simpson wrote (see)
    As a good will gesture they should at least offer everyone who was affected free entrance to the marathon when the time suits us.

    why?

    did you not get to run?

    perhaps they'll be generous and offer a 1% refund for the missing yards.

  • Maybe you should keep your infantile remarks to yourself Skotty - a lot of people are hurting very deeply

  • skottyskotty ✭✭✭

    It is rather infantile to think it merits a full refund or free entry to a future race.

  • Hurting very deeply ? It's a hobby. Nobody died. The measurement went wrong.

    In a week nobody will remember the story and if you think less of your achievements for the sake of 380 meters.....



    Man up. Run another.
  • NICOLE Woods 2 wrote (see)
    It would seem fairer for Power of 10 to make an adjustment to everyone's times rather than delete them?

    Power of 10 just reports results, they're not going to make up a time based on a guess at what you might have run over a different distance.

    They haven't deleted the results from Po10, they're still there but the race distance is marked as SHORTMar rather than Mar.  Over the years they've got quite a few races marked as either short or NAD (not actual distance, where the organiser says that the length of a race is approximate).

    Maybe they should do you a 0.99 Marathon finishers shirt.  It might not make up for the disappointment but at least it would be unique.

  • My take on things: http://seeph.co.uk/running/losing-a-manchester-marathon/



    tl:dr - it's another messup for Manchester (even if it's not directly the fault of the organisers) which I find a shame and feel sorry for everyone it's affected worse than me.
  • CSMLFCCSMLFC ✭✭✭
    As a matter of interest what did people's Garmins measure it as being?



    Not been a good couple of weeks for the Manchester organisers has it. I'd be tempted to postpone next years and come back stronger than ever in 2018.
  • 25.99 for me, just assumed it was natural GPS discrepancy though at the time.
  • Dave928Dave928 ✭✭✭

    My garmin measured it 265m short in 2013 and 325m short in 2014. Assumed also it was just random fluctuations, though nearly every other measured race I've done has been just over.

  • Every marathon GPS I have seen has been long...I can't believe that it wasn't queries with the organisers after the first time....they could at least have done a remeasure for the second year to make sure...

  • Manchester organisers seem to have been a bit arrogant not to follow up on a lot of people measuring it coming up short,

    But hurting deeply??? Obviously this comes in a week when you were devastated by Victoria Wood dying. Why do people use such emotive terms for what is basically hmmpph! 

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