The 2019 Belfast City Marathon was changed this year to a Sunday fixture which resulted in a 60% jump in numbers. The event wasn't without its problems though as the course was found to be 0.3 miles or almost 470 metres too long.
The organisers blamed the lead car and human error and Belfast City Marathon organisers have apologised after admitting that Sunday's course was 0.3 miles longer than it should have been.
A new route was introduced this year in the hope that people could run faster times.
The course measurer John Glover in his defence was quoted as saying that runners had been taken off the measured route twice which resulted in an extra 469 metre.
A statement from Belfast Marathon chairman David Seaton blamed "human error".
The race organisers that the they were in the "process of adjusting runners' times to reflect the correct distance". This is unlikely to fix the problem though and may well just compound it.
Event chairman David Seaton in a statement said..."I can understand if you have been aiming for a sub three-hour marathon time and because of the mistake you have ended up being just outside three hours on the clock, that you are going to be annoyed.
It's a hiccup that we obviously could have done without. But I don't think it should overshadow what was a very successful day with the numbers up significantly because of the new Sunday date.
People have been coming up to us congratulating us on the day and saying it was a great event with the spectator number also well up on previous years."
I didn't do the Belfast marathon, but the very least you would expect is an accurately measured course. 0.3 of a mile is huge in the context of trying to do a PB or simply being able to 'get around' in one piece.
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