Racing on Remembrance Sunday

[Deleted User] · November 2004

I just contacted the local police to ok arrangements for our 10k on Sunday. They said everything was fine, but the local churches and British Legion may be having a Remembrance Parade on the same day, and the guy organising that thought it was wrong we were having a road race on the same day.

I hadn't really thought of it as being bad form due to:-

1. Today is Remembrance Day to me - the anniversary of the day WW1 finished. We had the 2 mins silence in school.

2. Life generally carrying on as normal that day.

3. Races taking place on other significant days - Good Friday, Easter Sunday etc.

Anyone else come across this?

Jj · November 2004

You're absolutely right, BR - remembrance day is today. Sunday's services are on Sunday coz it's conveniently close to the 11th and people can do their thing without disrupting a work day.

The Sodbury Slog's on Sunday.

[wibble]

[Deleted User] · November 2004

I can't see a problem with it either, so long as you're not running through the middle of a remembrance day parade. The parades only happen on a sunday close to the 11th due to the fact that most of it is connected with the church. The silence etc is all done on the 11th.

Redhead · November 2004

Quite agree BR.

Today is Remembrance day - 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. As Jj points out, the churches hold their own services on the Sunday following this day. I would have been running the Bexhill 1/2 on Sunday if I wasn't injured :-(

Nessie · November 2004

Unless the route conflicts with a parade, perhaps?

I could see it might be a disturbance to the veterans if you all ran past while they were laying their wreathes (sp?), but if it at a different time/place, I can't see that it is bad form.

After all, our freedom to do such things is part of what those we remember died for.

cougie · November 2004

Oh those parades do get everywhere. I normally get caught in them when I'm out cycling. Worst one was when I was mountainbiking in North Wales, came hurtling down into town, brakes squealing like mad, only to find myself in the middle of the silence. Ooops.

Jj · November 2004

heeheehee Cougie.

shouldn't laugh, but...

I am.

[Deleted User] · November 2004

No, there is no clash between the race route and the parade. We were mindful of that.

Another thought - I don't see football or rugby matches being cancelled.

Redhead · November 2004

They had to change the start time of the Bexhill 1/2 to 12pm (originally 10am) because the race passes the cenotaph.

[Deleted User] · November 2004

My club has a race called the 'Rememberance Sunday 10'.

Would be kind of a problem if we had to move it. The race starts at 11:02 after observing the 2 minutes silence, no danger of bumping into a parade since it is entirely on country lanes.

I see no problem with it, they certainly don't close the shops or as BR points out any other sports.

McGoohan · November 2004

Will all the Spar/All-Days type corner shops close on Sunday? Will the trains and buses all stop running? Would it be wrong to go to the swimming pool on Sunday morning?

It's ridiculous that someone completely unconnected with your event should impose their own idea of what constitutes a right or a wrong activity on Sunday. Run on, BR.

cougie · November 2004

I suppose it's obvious that the organiser of the Remembrance Parade isn't gonna be that keen on races on the Sunday. He is kinda biased.

McGoohan · November 2004

Fair enough cougie, but what would he be keen on?

The (Original) Boy Wonder · November 2004

Sodbury Slog certainly used to have a couple of minutes silence before the start which seemed like a nice respectful thing to do.

Cougie - wasn't Blaenau Festiniog by any chance? A few years ago a group of us ran off the hills into town and into the parade - don't remember any bikers though. Perhaps they're just used to it by now - but it did explain why we thought we could hear a band whilst high on the hills, which had previously been put down to hallucination!

cougie · November 2004

Erm, Remembrance Parades McGoohan ??

Boy Wonder - noo, Llangollen, but the descent into Blaenau is good too. Sooo pretty up there on the tops.

[Deleted User] · November 2004

when i used to play football we played every rememberance day for years we stopped the game at 11 am then recently we had the 2 mins silence before kick off so basically i personally cant see a problem with this as long as there is some kind of recognition of rememberance sunday

RunningCommentary · November 2004

Humph has stolen my thunder a bit but I was going to suggest that you could have actually called it the Remembrance Sunday 10K, and run the race as a commemoration. It's not illogical at all, as you often hear people repeat that slogan: "I run in memory of those who can't", or "I run because I can" or similar. A race is a great celebration of life, and what better way to remember the fallen?

Might be worth bearing in mind if repeating it next year.

Good luck with the race.

[Deleted User] · November 2004

Only problem with the 2 minutes silence before the start of the Sodbury Slog is that you can get awfully cold in 2 minutes.

[Deleted User] · November 2004

Good idea RC.

Unfortunatley race start time is 10.30 am, and I'll be hopefully past the 5 mile marker at 11am - I promise not to say anything for 2 mins:-)

[Deleted User] · November 2004

asi was trying to say the last few years we had the silence at just before 10:30 kick off

[Deleted User] · November 2004

The fact that you've made sure the race doesn't interfere with the parade shows that you've thought about the sensitivity of the day. I personally don't see any problem with it.

The most disgraceful minute's silence I've ever witnessed was this year's GNR effort for the people who died in the school siege in Beslan. I don't blame the vast numbers of the crowd who weren't silent - they probably never heard the announcement - but I certainly wasn't impressed with the DJ who announced the whole thing like he was introducing the Number 1 on Top of the Pops. A bit of sombre decorum might have been more appropriate. And then he played music for the minute's silence.

[Deleted User] · November 2004

The worst minute's silence I remember was for Sir Matt Busby at Elland Road when the crowd booed all the way through, not even a minority of the crowd either. Gordon Strachan (then a Leeds player) went ballistic and I have to be honest I felt ashamed to be a Leeds fan that day.

[Deleted User] · November 2004

Anyway BR, wont you be finished in time to observe the silence anyway?

:-)

[Deleted User] · November 2004

I don't see a problem unless it actually clashes with a route for the remembrance parade.

I think the race should have a minutes silence before the though, whatever the time, I did a cancer research 10k race and they did a 1 minute silence for cancer sufferers/victims, can't see why this can't be done for remembrance day.

[Deleted User] · November 2004

Our home XC league race is on Sunday, with the start at 2 mins past 11, after the silence. It gets bloody cold standing still in shorts and vest, but it was never meant to be comfortable was it?

Of course, today is remembrance day - we had the two inutes silence at school, and , as usual, the kids were brilliant and thoughtful.

[Deleted User] · November 2004

As a Falklands veteran I'm positively in favour of Remberance Sunday being a day when sporting events of all types can take place. A celebration of youth and vigour if you like. Those we remember were, in the main, both young and vigerous - what else would they have been doing on such a day ??

Observe a short silence before the start, invite competitors to pin a poppy to their running vests (if they wish)- but by all means the race should go ahead.

BR by all means copy this to your objector.

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