Marathon Baggage Handling 2026
On approaching the marathon baggage tent at Heslington just as dawn is breaking, there is always a feeling of “the calm before the storm”. Very few people about, and very little action.
However, it doesn’t take long for that to change: initially, just a trickle of runners leaving their baggage, which gradually changes to a steady stream, and at around 9:10 becomes a total flood! By the time most of the runners have headed off to the start line, we intrepid baggage handlers are totally engulfed in massive piles of rucksacks, bags of various shapes and sizes, and in a number of cases, large suitcases.
Luckily, because even the best marathon runners take over two hours to complete the 26 or so miles, there is a window of opportunity to get all the baggage into order. How successfully this is done is absolutely critical to what follows for the rest of the day. We were looking after bags numbered from just over 7000 to about 10,500: any bag not placed close to the correct position is unlikely to be found in a hurry. So despite the large quantity of bags, accuracy is absolutely critical.
That task done, we had about an hour of relative peace before the first returner appeared. Generally, it never fails to amaze us how fresh and matter of fact these amazingly speedy athletes are. Gradually the returning numbers increase, and that’s the nerve-racking time – will we be able to find the right bags? Well, very happily, with just a couple of exceptions, the right bags were quickly returned to the right athletes, without any queues building up. We were joined in the afternoon by a number of York University students, who were not only accurate in finding the relevant bag, but amazingly speedy as well. Watching the process in the afternoon, it reminded me a lot of bees or perhaps ants speeding on their tasks.
To get more idea of the process of baggage handling click on to the link below to watch an Instagram Reel of baggage handling in process:
So – job well done; hard work and (for me at least) pretty exhausting, but as we trudged back to our car (the car park we were allocated was almost a mile away!), we were satisfied that we had again carried out our tasks well. My very grateful thanks to my Rotary colleagues, and to other Friends Of Rotary, all of whom worked extremely hard and with very good humour. Each year, I wonder if we will do it again next year, not forgetting that some of us are not exactly in the first flush of youth, but as long as people are mad enough to keep volunteering, I suppose we will!
Mike Hay
October 2026
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