This is York Marathon’s 10th anniversary, and many of us have been helping with the baggage handling at this event for a good few years now, However, this year there were a few minor(?) differences.
Firstly, this was probably the coldest morning we have ever had for the event. In the past, we have had rains, winds and occasionally sun, but this time the temperature on my car at 6,45am was reading 2˚ C (some even reported temperatures as low as -0.5 C), although the compensation was a beautiful sunrise and almost unbroken sunshine for the rest of the day.
Secondly, due to a misunderstanding about the car parking, we were asked (told?) to park at the Innovation Centre, over half a mile from we were operating – a bit of a shock to the system at 7 o’clock in the morning! That will be fixed for next year, I am assured.
Finally, probably the most dramatic difference was that, because of the cold, runners left it very late to remove outer garments and hand in their luggage. This meant that at about 9am we were hit by a veritable tsunami of baggage; there was no time to put items in order, so once the marathon had departed we were faced with a) trying to get round the huge piles of luggage, and b) put them into place. My team worked with a will and an hour later we were able to have a pleasant break sitting in the sun with drinks various. But it was certainly hard work!
The afternoon team are always very dependent on the accuracy of the morning shift’s sorting skills, and happily the afternoon was very straightforward with very few misplaced items and virtually no queuing. I only noticed a very few instances of, for example, Bag 2860 being sorted as Bag 2680; given the number of bags involved, the accuracy is very impressive and, I’m sure, impresses the runners.
This means that over the last few months Rotary has assisted at the York 10K, the York Kids’ Triathlon and now the York Marathon, raising almost £1000 for our Charities Fund. A goodly result – very well done and a big thank you to everyone who has helped in any way!
PE Mike
