Recently, a marathon held in Busan has been receiving strong protests from participants due to poor management. There are continued calls for a city-level investigation.
The website bulletin board of the ’21st Busan Marathon’ held in Daejeo-dong, Gangseo-gu, Busan on the 21st is flooded with protest messages demanding refunds.
They pointed out that the overall operation of the competition, including ‘water supply, vehicle control, restrooms, food, course distance, completion records, and storage of supplies’, was all messed up.
One participant who ran the half course said, “There was no water at the destination. “If the sun had been up, several people would have been taken away,” he explained. “There wasn’t a lot of food, and I was thirsty after eating some bread. When I asked for water, they told me to drink hot water.”
Also, “The intermediate water supply points were not appropriate, and traffic was not controlled. The existing park restrooms were not enough for 5,000 people to use them without installing additional restrooms. “It was not systematic as it was run by grandfathers, and the winners fought with the organizers over who was first and second.”
He then asked, “Where did all the money (paid for participation fee) go? Even the commemorative t-shirt was the worst piece of trash that could be worn anywhere. “This competition needs to be audited by Busan City,” he protested.
Another half course participant also said, “They said they would provide noodles, tofu kimchi, and makgeolli, but there was nothing at all. How can you tell someone who came from a run to drink hot water? “I paid 40,000 won for a commemorative T-shirt and didn’t sign up here,” he said angrily.
One participant said, “It said 5km, but when I checked my Apple Watch, it was actually 4km. Where did 1km go? Cars continued to drive along the road, and parents seemed busy avoiding their children’s cars. “The flow of money is questionable,” he criticized.
This competition consists of 5km, 10km, and half courses, and 5,000 participants were accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. The organizer is clearly stated as ‘Busan Metropolitan City Athletics Association’ and the organizer is ‘Busan Marathon Association’.
The organizer posted an apology on its website, saying, “We apologize for the inconvenience caused by problems with storage of goods, water, course, and records,” and added, “We made an irreparable mistake due to weather issues, internal communication problems, and mistakes.” “I feel deeply responsible,” he said.
Regarding the failure to prepare the promised food, he explained, “Due to the Rape Blossom Festival, we had no choice because the relevant organizations prohibited it,” and added, “We apologize for not replacing it with other content or notifying you properly in advance.”
In relation to this, the Busan Metropolitan City Athletics Federation said on its website, “The 21st Busan Marathon is a competition not related to the Busan Metropolitan City Athletics Federation.” “It is an unauthorized organization that has not received formal approval from .”
Park Tae-geun, Donga.com reporter [email protected]
