“Hot water for the person who ran”… Busan Marathon flooded with refund requests, what happened?

There is controversy surrounding a marathon held in Busan, with participants demanding refunds.

On the 24th, dozens of posts of protest from participants were posted on the ‘Busan Marathon’ website. Participants said, “There was no water at the destination,” “Hot water was given to the person running,” “Vehicle control was not done properly, so a car entered the running course,” “The course was different from the description, and there was a collision accident between participants,” “The rankings were not properly identified.” They complained about the overall operation of the competition, including “the equipment storage facilities were insufficient.”

Additionally, some participants raised issues with the participation fee management, saying, “Contrary to the organizer’s announcement that food would be provided, they only gave bread and soy milk.” “Isn’t food included in the participation fee? They are protesting, “Where did all that money go?”

The controversial marathon was held in Daejeo Ecological Park in Busan on the 21st, and the participation fee was 30,000 won for 5km, 35,000 won for 10km, and 40,000 won for the half marathon. Some participants are even demanding a refund of their participation fee.

In particular, the controversy grew as it became known that the host of this competition was an unauthorized private organization that was not officially registered with Busan City. Initially, it was reported that this competition would be hosted by related organizations such as Busan Metropolitan Athletics Federation, BNK Busan Bank, Busan Metropolitan City Sports Council, and Korea Athletics Federation.

Accordingly, the organizer, the Busan Marathon Association, issued an apology on its official website and said, “We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused to the participating athletes and officials due to issues with storage of supplies, water, course, and records.”

The organizer said, “We made an irreversible mistake in failing to provide bananas, chocolate, and water to the half participants due to weather issues, internal communication issues, and mistakes in this competition,” and added, “The tofu, kimchi, and makgeolli that were originally intended to be used were rapeseed.” There was nothing we could do as the related organizations banned it due to the flower festival. “We sincerely apologize for not being able to replace it with other content or provide prior notice.”

In addition, he added, “We will thoroughly understand and reflect on the problem and make thorough efforts and preparations to prevent it from happening again in the future. We apologize once again for causing much inconvenience.”