There was chaos and confusion yesterday in Utrecht, as a signposting error meant that some runners were sent off course during the Utrecht marathon and they were running through residential areas and alongside traffic.
During the Utrecht marathon, confusing directions meant that around 2,000 runners who were running the quarter marathon were sent in the completely wrong direction, where they then ended up joining with the half marathon runners after a weird detour, NOS reports.
Runners in Utrecht be like…
According to NOS, the error was only realised when traffic controllers who were diverting cars away from the area, were met with the runners. This meant that the area was not completely safe as runners were running alongside traffic (I really could imagine the confusion if that was you running and suddenly you are met with cars and bicycles).
WoW, wat is dit bizar! Halve Marathon Utrecht komt langs ons huis, maar dit is niet de route! Gevolg: fietsers, automobilisten en bussen in de knel. Op het kruispunt loopt het verkeer vast. Wat ging hier mis? pic.twitter.com/kSCsoyM1Zj
— Miriam (@boekmama) May 12, 2019
The issue was resolved
Once they realised they then immediately to diverted people back onto a safer route and apologised. However, according to NOS, some runners ended up finishing completing much longer marathons and that much of the quarter-marathon route was empty. Some people who had trained for the quarter marathon ended up actually finishing a half marathon, so I guess as long as you made it, that would have been a surprising achievement. As a result, the results for the quarter marathon will not be published.
When you thought you’ve finished, but you’re still somehow only halfway…
Did you run in the Utrecht marathon? Let us know in the comments!
