Gelana vs Cassidy

6 watchers

Naomi P Apr 2013 11:07am, 22 Apr 2013 11,021 posts	0 Naomi P It didn't look like there was room for the wheelchair athletes to pass to the right of the women, away from the water station. And wouldn't they be using the water station too? I dunno, a lot of them had camelbacks or similar on the back of their chairs. Starting them before the elite women seems safest, but I'm not sure how that fits in with broadcasting expectations.
Phil70 Apr 2013 11:10am, 22 Apr 2013 119 posts	0 Phil70 At first glance it seemed that Gelana cut across Cassidy. Elite or not, sometimes it is best just to check your pace slightly because everyone gets other runners doing this to them at water stations. Some grab drinks at the first table then inexplicably slow down or stop in front of you, etc. Two [non-racing style wheelchairs] came past me around 22 miles, weaving around those who were tiring. Even these could very easily have could heels/calves of runners causing a nasty accident.
Curly45 Apr 2013 11:17am, 22 Apr 2013 1,747 posts	0 Curly45 My view is they should be set off first, but as the person coming from behind at much greater speed its his fault. They shouldn't be trying to pass on the inside at a drinks station. Remember she only has one drink per station so its likely she tried to wait but was about to miss her drink hence the veering into the table. It was nice to see one of the other women share her drink as Galena didn't get hers. Also that's her marathon done for the year probably, he can race the next majors (a number of the wheelchair athletes do all of them which is partly why their prize money is less than the runners who can do 1-2 a year).
Nelly Apr 2013 11:41am, 22 Apr 2013 888 posts	0 Nelly I agree the chairs should be set off first, but to blame Cassidy is in my opinion wrong. If you view this video you can see a chair go through 1-2 seconds before Gelana veers across two other runners and then in front of Cassidy, leaving him no time to react and nowhere to go but into her/the barrier. All the other women seemed to react when the first chair passes except Gelana. And this video also supports Naomi's theory that there was limited room to the right of the women to pass away from the water station. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrRArQcgLG0
Naomi P Apr 2013 11:59am, 22 Apr 2013 11,023 posts	0 Naomi P It also looked like she cut up the runner immediately to her left, it was a full on swerve across the road. Not trying to blame anyone, just what I saw.
Anj Apr 2013 12:03pm, 22 Apr 2013 5,411 posts	0 Anj It does make you wonder, if the wheelchairs weren't going for drinks, why they would overtake on the inside like that knowing that they were doing so at a drink stop and should expect the runners to be cutting in. From that clip I don't think I saw any wheelchair athletes grab any drinks.....
Mave Apr 2013 1:11pm, 22 Apr 2013 817 posts	0 Mave Wow, watching that puts a whole new take on it. Just shows that having them both on the course at the same time is a mental idea. Why on earth the wheelchairs were cutting in between the runners and the drinks station is beyond me. But, with the runners spread across the road, they couldn't easily go right either. They simply have to change the order of start and screw the broadcasting plan.
Battlecat Apr 2013 1:24pm, 22 Apr 2013 3,020 posts	0 Battlecat The wheelchair athlete who competes at Valentines completed his first London Marathon today. He first came to parkrun after watching VLM 2 years ago and was inspired to take part. His first 5k was around 40 minutes, now he has a race chair and goes sub-18. He does occasional disability events but he's also raced at Silverstone Half and a few others this year - possibly Tunbridge Wells half? He finds out what races allow chairs and does the ones he can.
Fellrunning Apr 2013 1:36pm, 22 Apr 2013 817 posts	0 Fellrunning The obvious thing would be to have some sort of marshalling signal aka the "blue flags" in motor racing to signal to runners that the faster wheelchairs are around and they should watch out. Its a difficult one though, and such incidents are remarkably rare. Its harder to change course/stop a wheelchair at full chat than it is for a runner to make a minor adjustment. I wouldn't put the blame on the runner though. A "racing incident" I'd say.
rosehip Apr 2013 1:45pm, 22 Apr 2013 1,593 posts	0 rosehip I ran a fair way close to a whealchair guy - in purple, Darren?? who was both clapped and cheared by runners and spectators and sworn at by a few of the former he wasn't really in their way or anything -disgraceful.