Fears for 17,000 runners at Sydney Marathon with city hit by smoke haze and a heatwave on the way
- The event will take place this Sunday from 7:10 am
- Start time for a 42km event raising concerns about the heat
- City shrouded in smoke as forest fires burn back
Runners in this weekend’s Sydney Marathon have been warned of the high temperatures expected next weekend as the city is blanketed in a thick haze of smoke from burning bushfires.
The warmest weather since April will hit southeastern Australia in the coming days, with temperatures in the CBD and inland Sydney – where the marathon is taking place – expected to hit at least 28 degrees Celsius on Sunday, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
While the race has a staggered start from 5.45am for two shorter events, the main 42km race starts at 7.10am – meaning some competitors won’t finish until around 2pm and will have to run through the heat of the day.
A top coach has warned runners to be aware of the risk posed by the heat.
“My biggest training tip would be to reduce your effort by 10 percent, but I know people aren’t going to do that and that’s where you’re going to get people into trouble,” triathlon coach Danny Moore told the BBC. Daily telegram.
The 17,000 runners who will complete the 42 kilometer course through central Sydney on Sunday have been warned of the dangers of a heat wave (photo, participants of last year’s Sydney Marathon)
Some participants have told organizers to bring forward the 7.10am start time for the 42km event to ensure their safety (pictured, runners from last year’s race)
‘The contrast between not having any heat load at all and getting very hot without adaptation is going to cause problems.’
Moore added that those most at risk are the slower runners, who had likely trained less than their faster counterparts.
One concerned participant urged event organizers to change the race start time to take the heat into account.
“Bring back the start time to reduce the carnage of people dropping like flies in the heat,” they wrote on the Sydney Marathon Facebook page.
“What would make the most sense, and has been the case for years, would be to have the marathon start at 6 a.m. and the half marathon a little later, and not the other way around,” another runner added.
A top coach has warned runners should reduce their effort by 10 per cent to ensure their safety in the heat, but he fears they won’t
The race organizers emphasized that taking care of the health of the participants is their most important task.
“The safety and wellbeing of our competitors is our top priority, and we are working closely with stakeholders including the Rural Fire Service and the Bureau of Meteorology,” race director Wayne Larden said.
Organizers also told runners on Facebook that the start time of the 21km event had been moved to 6am to ensure all those runners are off the course by the time the longest event of the day starts, and to improve safety.
Police estimate a total of 42,000 people will take part in the five Sydney Marathon events on Sunday, including 17,000 in the 42km race. One of them has already predicted trouble for some of them because of the heat.
“I don’t think it’s going to be a comfortable run for the people who do show up,” runner Hany Yacoub told the publication.
Sydney’s smoke haze was so bad that the city was one of the five worst places in the world for air quality this week – but organizers have had some good news on that front
‘Training through the winter and then facing a warm race day is not really ideal and not favorable.’
The smoke haze hanging over Sydney since Monday has been so heavy that Thursday evening’s NRLW match between the Wests Tigers and Newcastle has been moved to the city’s west from its original site in Campbelltown, where more burns to reduce hazards are raising concerns .
Sydney had one of the five worst air quality ratings in the world on Wednesday as a result of the smoke, and residents have been urged to stay indoors where possible and limit physical activity outdoors.
However, the Rural Fire Service (RFS) has told marathon runners that the haze will have drastically reduced by race day.
“We have been in contact with RFS and the RFS has informed us that the major burns that caused the haze are over,” Larden said.
‘Their models show that air quality will improve dramatically on Friday and Saturday, and will be relatively good on Sunday. So from an air quality perspective it looks good.’