A marathon-race war has been raging this week with the organisers of the Galway City Marathon in one corner of the ring and Galway City Council and representatives in the other.
The battle was sparked following an announcement this week by the Galway City Marathon organisers that this year’s marathon, half-marathon, and mini-marathon which had been scheduled for August 28 next has been cancelled, pointing the finger of blame at the local authority and representatives, in particular former city mayor Cllr Michael Crowe, for a lack of support and placing numerous obstacles in the event’s path.
However Galway City Council and Cllr Crowe have established a united front, hitting back at the accusations which have been described as unfair, disappointing, and misleading adding that every possible effort was made to help organisers prepare an adequate, professional, and complete traffic management plan to avoid the “chaos” experienced in the 2010 event, that organisers failed to come up with such a plan, and that the blame for the cancellation of the event lies with the organisers, not the council.
In a statement issued on its website on Tuesday, Galway City Marathon said: “We are forced to cancel the marathon at this late stage, mindful of the disruption to participants’ travel plans, because our undertaking has effectively been targeted by Galway city representatives, who, rather than facilitate the Galway City Marathon, have acted to undermine and obstruct us.”
Acknowledging that such sporting events require “forward planning” the organisers went on to state that the date for the event was agreed with Galway city council officials more than one year ago and then confirmed in February of this year. In an attempt to adhere to requirements and to avoid the kind of traffic problems experienced in the second circuit of the 2010 event, organisers changed the start/finish location from Galway Harbour and reduced the marathon from two circuits to a single circuit with a short, rolling, road closure in order to minimise traffic disruption. Sword Security experts were also arranged to marshall the 2011 route.
The statement also states that they were informed by a council transportation engineer on April 8 that the dates, together with the revised start/finish locations in 2011, “cannot be accommodated by the city council”, that the Ironman 70.3 Galway - which takes place on September 4 - “is effectively taking over Salthill during the week after” the Galway City Marathon event, and that this is the reason “why the date, together with the start/finish locations are a problem”. Organisers, who stress that there is no conflict with the Ironman event, added that they were of the view that these issues had been resolved following a meeting on May 5, 2011, in which the director of services reconfirmed the date and courses as being available.
In response Galway City Council spokesperson Gary McMahon flatly denied that the council, in any way, undermined the organisers of the Galway City Marathon, adding that the local authority has a proven history in supporting and working with organisers of many events from the Galway Races to the Macnas Parade, nearly-weekly charity walks and fun-runs, right up to major international events such as Ironman 70.3 and that all organisers of all events must ensure that certain criteria have been met. Mr McMahon said that engineers with the council’s transport and infrastructure department have worked tirelessly with the marathon organisers who unfortunately were not able to arrange all that was required.
“We were keen to learn the lessons from last year’s inaugural event particularly in respect of the traffic management and marshalling issues that arose. Galway City Council works to ensure the safety of participants and others in the city; that stakeholders are adequately informed of proposed disruption and that adequate traffic management plans are in place to ensure that the city as a whole can continue to function while events are under way. The council has a statutory obligation, with regards the closure of roads, under the Roads Act.
“The council is not being overly bureaucratic. The senior engineer has to ensure safety requirements and that the traffic management plan takes into account all elements. The date of May 5 was in the context of discussions, where the dates and the course was agreed, however, the organisers had to come back with the vital ingredients for a traffic management plan. A lot of support was given in trying to come up with an adequate traffic management plan. Unfortunately they were not able to come back with an adequate plan, it was only one page with reference to marshalling, that is not enough.
“The organisers informed the council on July 22 that they were not going ahead with the marathon and half-marathon, only the mini-marathon. The council cancelled nothing, the organisers cancelled it, and it was only yesterday [Tuesday] that we became aware that the entire event was being cancelled. At no point did the council undermine the organisers of the event. The Galway City Marathon is a major event which is not in competition with Ironman. It is unfortunate that they were unable to arrange all that was required. I am hoping that in the future a marathon can be organised in Galway, it would be a welcome addition to the menu of events in the city,” said Mr McMahon.
Criticism was also directed at Cllr Crowe with marathon organisers claiming he has been an Ironman supporter and referring to a motion put in for a council meeting on May 16 which urged the council to “examine the option of taking over the responsibility of organising, operating, and running of a marathon in Galway city”. Organisers also slammed the council for not giving financial support for an event which attracted more than 2,000 athletes last year.
Cllr Crowe hit back by saying: “I have been a supporter of both events. I’m of the view that a marathon should be on our calendar annually. In my role as mayor I helped launch the 2010 event and I was genuinely delighted. It was only when the event took place that I became unhappy with the organisation on the day. Last year was chaotic with traffic management issues all day. There was no proper plan in place, and some of the marshals were very very young. Many residents and business owners weren’t happy, and some businesses who supported the event were disappointed with the numbers which participated, which was 2,000, it was meant to be 4,000. That was my difficulty with it, and this year I wondered was there going to be a plan in place to avoid the same pitfalls.
“This year I asked the council to take more control, to own and operate it like it is done in Cork, however the council officials said that it was not possible because of the economic climate. The council worked with the organisers early on to put in place a traffic management plan which ticks all the boxes but they did not provide that, they just were not able to meet the criteria to hold an event of that magnitude. Several attempts were made to get that from them. There is no one to blame bar the organisers themselves.
