Runner dies at Bristol Half-Marathon...

There was a piece on the BBC News website a few days ago about the Bristol Half-Marathon in the west of England in which a male runner died during the event. It doesn't go into the exact cause but it might be no harm to remind beginners new to running that if anyone has any doubts and are beginning to exercise on a regular basis then they should first get checked out by their doctor.

The Bristol Half-Marathon itself seems like it was a major event with approximatively 10,000 runners taking part. However, it seems it had other problems as well in that the type of timing chips that they used were liable to fall off if the weather was poor. It shows the value of a back-up system just in case something goes wrong.

"Runners are timed by ankle-worn microchips and sensors around the course, but more than 900 runners did not get an official time in 2010 after these fell off. Speaking then, organisers said it was believed the chips had fallen off due to the bad weather around the course. Race officials had to check video recordings at the start and finish to verify their timings. Some of the elite runners also lost their chips but their times were being measured by stop watch.
The first Bristol Half Marathon was held in 1989 when it attracted 10,000 runners. In 2010, more than 16,400 people signed up with 11,166 starting the race."

The original piece on the BBC News website can be seen HERE