2018 BATH HALF MARATHON CANCELLED AS CITY EXPERIENCES SEVERE WEATHER

Following a further meeting this afternoon with Bath & North East Somerset Council, the Police and other agencies, the Bath Half Marathon organisers have announced with deep regret that unfortunately the race on Sunday will not now go ahead.

 The City of Bath was affected by heavy snowfall yesterday afternoon and evening, with further snow and freezing temperatures forecast to continue through to Sunday.

Andrew Taylor, Race Director of Bath Half Marathon said;  “Runner, spectator and volunteer safety is paramount for us and with the current road and pavement conditions cannot guarantee safety underfoot.  In addition, due to conditions on the national highways network, a number of our key contractors and suppliers are unable to guarantee delivery of critical services on Sunday.

“We have been hoping for the best all week, and up until yesterday morning we’d still not had any snow in Bath.  But yesterday’s snowfall, the forecast outlook, and the impact on available resources due to the Major Incident declared last night by the Police, plus loss of critical contractors and suppliers, and freezing conditions forecast for participants and volunteer has left us with no option but to cancel the event.  This is not a decision we have made lightly, we are experienced organisers and we have never had to cancel the event before, so as you can imagine we are as devastated as the runners that we have had to make this decision. 

 “We feel really sorry for all the runners that have trained and fundraised for their charities.

 “Sadly, it is not possible to simply postpone the race to a future date.  A big 'closed road' participation event such as ours can't be easily re-scheduled, it is not like re-booking a spectator event in a fixed venue.  To re-schedule we would need to re-run stakeholder consultations, road closures, public notice periods, re-book specialist contractors and volunteers which takes a huge amount of forward planning to organise.  Also any new date might not suit participants who have specifically prepared for 4 March.

 “We will be offering all registered entrants a full refund on their race entry.  There is no need for runners to contact us to request a refund and we will endeavour to process refunds as soon as we possibly can. Please bear with us while we work with our registration providers to get an automated refund process in place.  A further announcement updating runners on the status and timing of refunds will be issued next week.”

Councillor Bob Goodman, Cabinet member for Development and Neighbourhoods, at Bath & North East Somerset Council said  “We understand the organisers of the Bath Half Marathon have made the decision to cancel the race following advice from safety officers and the police. While the race is an important and valued fixture in the city’s calendar of events, the safety of runners, visitors and volunteers has to be the number one priority. The current weather forecast is for further snow, going into the weekend. This means advice from police and highways agencies is still the same  - please keep off the roads unless it is an essential journey. The organiser’s decision sensibly avoids also putting additional pressures on stretched services such  as the council’s gritting team, the police and the NHS and this allows them to continue to focus on maintaining essential services across the whole of the area during the severe weather.”