Latest news with #sportsevent
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
MLS NEXT game takes place in Austin
Major League Soccer's All-Star week is in full swing across Austin. On Monday, the MLS NEXT game took place with 44 of the best youth prospects from the U.S. and Canada went against each other.
Times
14-07-2025
- Sport
- Times
Runners demand refunds after being sent the wrong way
It was scorching in Dundee on Sunday. So hot was it that organisers of the city's annual half-marathon feared some runners would not manage the full 13 miles. As it happens, none of them did. At the very beginning of the race, a marshal accidentally sent competitors the wrong way, cutting the course short by more than a mile. As he headed for the finishing line, one competitor, Allan Penman, thought that despite the unseasonable weather he had set a new personal best. Only afterwards did he learn of the routing error. 'It is basic logistics and the wrong way should have been marked off,' Penman, 58, from Kirkcaldy in Fife, told The Dundee Courier. 'It wasn't done on purpose, but there should have been safeguards in place. I thought this was going to be my third half-marathon, but I'm still stuck on two. 'I was injured before last year's event, so I'm still to complete the Dundee half-marathon. I would like an explanation as how it possibly happened. It seemed to go wrong in the first few hundred metres, which seems ridiculous.' Penman's wife, Marie, was even more critical, saying the mistake made Dundee 'look a bit of a joke in serious running circles'. About 670 people took part in the race, which is branded the Half-Dram and costs more than £20 to enter. Some runners are now demanding refunds. The route began at Camperdown Park in the west of the city and followed the Tay east all the way to the suburb of Broughty Ferry. It is understood a steward at the park got mixed up. Some internet jokers have offered their own solutions. One Facebook user said the 1.1 missing miles should be added to next year's race. Not all competitors were angry with the organiser, Eventfull Management, however. One runner, Michael Craik, wrote on Facebook: 'I get the fault, overall, lands on the organising party but no organisation can mitigate for human error. 'It's a lesson learnt. They have run this race for a few years with no errors but the one time one of the volunteer marshals makes a mistake, all hell breaks loose.' He added: 'I ran the race. I'm not too bitter about it simply because humans make errors. I know next year this error won't be repeated.' Nicholas Kydd, director of Eventfull Management, said he had apologised over a megaphone as runners crossed the finishing line. He added: 'An unfortunate mistake near the beginning of the event resulted in the race being 1.1 miles shorter than the marked 13.1-mile route. 'Our biggest worry before the race had been the hot weather, and two people needed medical assistance.' Kydd said the route had been marked correctly. Earlier this year a prankster baffled dozens of runners in a 10k in Linn Park, Glasgow, by ripping down route markers. Organisers said this 'pettiness' had put competitors in danger, moving them away from first aiders.
