Couple running half marathon in memory of baby daughter left feeling 'intimidated' by marshals
A Cannock couple said they felt intimidated by marshals and not good enough as they ran a half marathon in memory of their baby daughter.
Ian Rowlands, 37, and Ruth Rowlands, 34, took part in the Great Birmingham Run last Sunday a half marathon around the city centre.
The couple - who were running to raise money in memory of their daughter Elsie, who died last year at just five days old - said they felt intimidated by marshals trying to force them to stop their run early as they were at the back of the group.
Ian said: "Around the seven-mile mark we were caught up by marshals in their vehicles and they were following a group of around 50 people.
"I had stopped to get a drink but saw them telling people that we were behind where we should be.
"But the website stated that there was a cut-off time of six hours for the run, and this was over halfway of the 13 or so miles and only two hours in, so in our opinion we were well within the time limit.
"My wife was very upset at this as it was like they were getting us to quit and some people had, and it created an unnecessary pressure on us.
"It made my wife feel like giving up and not good enough, but I went back to the marshals and asked if they could back off, and they did by around 20/30 metres but they were still behind us all the way to the end - it was really intimidating and it did not help at all."
A spokesperson from the Great Run Company apologised to the couple after being made aware that some participants "did not have what we feel to be a true Great Run experience".
They said: "At Great Run we are committed to providing the same running experience for everyone, regardless of their level of experience and we’re disappointed that this wasn’t the case for Ruth and Ian.
"We are privileged to have the support of our location partners, that allow us to stage events on closed roads. We believe this does provide a better experience for our runners, however this also means we need to adhere to strict timescales to r-open the roads as agreed.
"The cut-off time for runners is a 17-minute-per-mile pace, unfortunately on this occasion, Ruth and Ian were outside of this limit. We need runners to be clear of the course for a significant period of time to ensure the roads are cleansed and safe for road users before they are reopened, so the reopening times do not tally with the cut-off pace.
"It is the job of our bike marshals to ensure runners meet this cut-off pace and provide options for finishing the race if they’re unable to do that on the day. However, they should provide those options in a professional way and Ruth and Ian should have been given the option to continue on the footpaths if necessary, so we will be holding a refresher session for all bike marshals on that process.
"We are continually inspired by the perseverance and determination of all of our runners, particularly our final runners who have put in such a monumental effort to get across the line. Our team were there on site to cheer Ruth over the line and celebrate her achievement. We’ve reached out to Ruth and Ian to offer them and their party free places in next year’s event, we truly hope to see them back on the start line next year."
Ian and Ruth were raising money for their campaign that they set up in memory of their daughter, Elsie, who died last year just five days after being born.
The couple were told during the 20-week scan that Elsie's heart was hard to view and later found out via a cardiologist at Birmingham Children's Hospital that she hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), a condition that effectively meant she had half a heart,
The family were told their daughter would need three open heart surgeries, with the first being within a week of being born and the second at six months, before a third and final procedure at two to three years old.
Elsie sadly did not make it to the first surgery and passed away aged just five days.
The couple said that after the funeral they had people wanting to donate money and so they decided to split the donations between Birmingham Children's Hospital and the charity Little Hearts Matter.
As part of the donation to the hospital, they decided to create survival kit boxes for parents and babies, and called it the Elsie Box.
The Elsie Box is a giftbox which includes nappies, babygrows, handmade socks, a hat and mittens, as well as little essentials for parents, as Ian and Ruth said the parents spend so much time on the hospital wards, they need the help to get little things such as shower gels, all which helps them get through the days stuck on the ward.
Sharing about the Elsie Box, Ian added: "We know what it is like for parents that are on the hospital wards, and so we wanted to do our bit to help and we created 50 boxes which have all been donated, and now we have received over £5,000 in donations, and so we will be continuing to do this for a number of years."
Anyone wanting to get involved in the cause can find out all the details on their Facebook page.
