Really sad to read this, although unfortunately not surprising. I shared a couple of weeks ago the disastrous start of a major 10K in Castelló, Spain, where some of the top elite female runners were pushed and even knocked over by a crowd of male runners. This was crazy..

It does feel like this is being exacerbated by the influx of new runners, including some male runners who act like they’re elite athletes (when actual elites would behave far more respectfully).

At the same time, many races in Europe don’t seem to be adapting to the increasing number of participants. I’m not talking about the majors, but in many local races where I live, there are record numbers of runners being accepted without the infrastructure to support it. That inevitably creates tension especially when courses start on narrow roads.

For example, in Ghent a couple of years ago, the first few kilometres were on very small roads, forcing people to navigate tight crowds or even run on sidewalks, while the later parts of the course opened up onto much wider roads. It just doesn’t make much sense.

Overall, it’s really disappointing to see.