I love the Beirut Marathon and everything it stands for. I look forward to it every year and I try to promote it in the best way possible as I truly believe it’s a great sporting event that all Lebanese should take part in. It takes a lot of time, effort and dedication to organize successful marathons one year after the other and to attract more people, and the Beirut Marathon Association has managed to do all that and more. Moreover, BMA’s president May El-Khalil is an inspiration to many in Lebanon and around the world and she is one of the key reasons behind Beirut Marathon’s success and I highly respect and admire this lady.
The Beirut Marathon is a peace run and running can have a positive impact on individuals and ultimately on communities and countries, which is why we should embrace it and fully support it.
If you are wondering why I am saying all that, it is because I’ve been hearing and reading some negative comments regarding the Beirut Marathon and how it’s a useless event that puts money in the BMA’s pockets which is completely wrong and absurd. I even overheard someone say in a cafe today that running for causes is stupid. It’s quite weird to hear people say such things, knowing that everything that the Beirut Marathon stands for and promotes is for the benefit of all the Lebanese. The participants are running for unity, fun, glory, achievement, promoting wellness and healthy living, for causes and charitable organizations and more importantly for the benefit of Lebanon and all the Lebanese. Every year, we have new causes to run for, inspiring runners to look up to and new challenges to overcome.
The Beirut Marathon is something we should be proud of and take part in or at least encourage if we don’t like to run or even walk.
There is no doubt that the Beirut Marathon is a lovely event that brings lots of joy to us, but i must share this sad experience.
This Saturday night, my friends and I were in Mar Mikhael. At about 2 am, we left to go back home. Driving out of the street of pubs we almost crash into 4 workers who were gluing some kind of stickers on the road for the marathon, which was going to go on the next morning. They were working in the middle of the dark street, if one of the workers did not wave a very, VERY dim light at us, seconds before we reached them, we wouldn’t have seen them. Luckily no one got hurt.
Sadly, at about 3 am one of our friends who was with us that night told us that his friend had an accident. His friend was also in Mar Mikhael and he didn’t see the working men, who were doing some finishing touches for the marathon IN THE DARK. To dodge the workers on the floor, he moved away, crashed into another vehicle and his car completely flipped. The guy is fine, and that’s a blessing. His car is wrecked.
I just am very disappointed with the marathon organizers’ CARELESS behavior that could have resulted in the death of a young man.
@justsayin thank you for pointing out this comment. We have shared this with logistics team to check how this could have happened.
We know for a fact that we communicated road closure of this area. Road safety is major to us and we never take it lightly.
We will come back to you with the right breakdown of how this happened.
Thank you again,
Safa Salem
Beirut Marathon
@Justsayin After checking with logistics department and race department We received the following.
” Due to the heavy logistics behind organizing a mass running event, we outsource a number of functions to companies and contractors for time constraints. The third party is always accompanied by a Beirut Marathon personnel on ground.
We truly apologize for the inconvenience this issue has caused. Road Safety is what BMA advocates for and for this to never occur again we just issued an order doubling the number of reflective jackets, signs and banners for upcoming races. We will also make sure to distribute the necessary items to all 3rd parties involved in the make of the marathon.
Thank you for raising this crucial matter to our attention”
Kindest Regards,
What’s done is done but thank you for your concern.
I really wish this doesn’t happen again in the coming years for the sake of everyone’s safety.
i run evry year in beirut marathon and i found that s the only way to run with fun in lebanon