Marathon organisers admit water check flaw

Published on Wednesday 3 June 2009 22:04

ORGANISERS of the Edinburgh Marathon have admitted that simple stock-taking measures could have helped them deal better with the theft of thousands of bottles of water.

Chief executive Geoff Sims yesterday personally put up a reward of 5,000 for information leading to the conviction of anyone responsible for the theft of 6,804 300ml bottles of Strathmore water and 4,040 Lucozade Energy gels.

Officials only realised the items were stolen from the route near Lyars Road, Longniddry, in the early hours of Sunday, as volunteers mounted a clean-up at the end of the race, when packaging and palettes were found stuffed under hedgerows.

The loss led to runners branding the race "shambolic" as vital supplies had to be rushed in under police escort after water stations ran dry in soaring temperatures.

Neil Kilgour, the race director, said yesterday that volunteers manning water stations were not told how many water bottle and energy gels they had on hand, and therefore could not check if any had gone missing.

"There was no basic stock check, that was a basic flaw in our system.

"Without a doubt the discovery of the theft would have taken place earlier," he said.