Exclusive: London Marathon runners yet to receive instructions about how to defer entry
London Marathon runners were on Tuesday facing being denied a place at a future race after not receiving instructions about how to defer their entry, Telegraph Sport can reveal.
Tens of thousands of entrants for this year’s postponed marathon were due to receive an email on September 1 containing a link to an online form to secure a spot at next year’s event or those in either 2022 or 2023.
But, ahead of Friday’s 5pm deadline for a response, a number of them have complained that they have not received the email, which is currently the only way to obtain a deferred place.
Telegraph Sport has also been told that organisers have failed to respond to increasingly-desperate pleas for assistance, with the race helpline unmanned due to the furloughing of staff and runners having received no response when using the online contact form on the London Marathon website.
Organisers acknowledged on the race’s official Facebook page on September 1 that there had been “an issue” with a number of emails sent to race participants but that they hoped to have it “resolved” the following day.
Runners were subsequently urged to check their “junk/spam mail” but the Facebook page has since been inundated with posts from those who claim to have received nothing.
One of those affected, Nicky Pavitt, told Telegraph Sport she had received no emails from organisers since April and that she had used the contact form both before and on September 1 to alert them to the problem.
Fearing “hundreds” if not “thousands” of other runners had been impacted, she added: “Their approach to sorting this out has been extremely poor and inadequate with no indication they might push the deadline back ahead of opening places up to a ballot in early October.
“While we appreciate it’s a difficult situation, it feels like elite runners are getting a huge amount of focus and everyday runners are being neglected.”
Facebook posts about the issue included users who claimed to have had no response to multiple emails and contact-form submissions.
A second branded the situation a “total shambles”, with another posting: “This has been one stressful & mentally challenging marathon without even running it.”
Apologising for the problems, a London Marathon spokeswoman said: “Something like 54,000 people had places in the marathon, so it’s been a massive operation.
“We have sent out the email, we sent out a reminder and we are sending a third reminder today [on Tuesday].”
Claiming organisers were awaiting responses from a “relatively low number” ahead of Friday’s deferral deadline, she added: “Our helpdesk has dealt with probably 3,000 enquiries, for a multitude of reasons. Just contact us and we will sort it out.
“There is no issue here apart from just dealing with the number of people we’re dealing with and the various glitches that always happen when you’re dealing with people.”
As forecast by the Telegraph Sport, this year’s mass-participation London Marathon was effectively cancelled last month due to the coronavirus crisis, while next year’s entire event was moved from April until October.
The 2020 elite men, women and wheelchair races will take place on Sunday, October 4, in a secure biosphere in St James’s Park, with other entrants invited to run the same distance ‘virtually’ from home or a course of their choice.
Those who enter the ‘Virtual London Marathon’ are still entitled to claim a deferred place at a future race up until 2023.
