Fears for 17,000 runners at Sydney Marathon with city hit by smoke haze and a heatwave on the way

Runners in this weekend’s Sydney Marathon have been warned of expected high temperatures this weekend as the city is blanketed in a thick haze of smoke from bushfires.

The hottest weather since April is expected to hit southeast Australia in the coming days, with Sydney’s CBD and inner-east Sydney – where the marathon takes place – expected to reach at least 28C on Sunday, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

While the race features staggered starts from 5:45 a.m. for two shorter events, the main 42km race begins at 7:10 a.m., meaning some competitors won’t finish until around 2:00 p.m. and will have to run in the heat of the day.

A top coach has warned runners they must be aware of the risk posed by the heat.

“My biggest training tip would be to reduce your effort by 10 percent, but I know people won’t do that and that’s where you’re going to cause people problems,” the triathlon coach said Danny Moore. Today’s telegraph.

Some participants asked organizers to advance the start time of the 42 km event to 7:10 a.m. to ensure their safety (photo, runners from last year’s race).

“The contrast between the absence of thermal constraint and the fact of being very hot without adaptation will pose problems.”

Moore added that those most at risk are slower runners, who have likely trained less than their faster counterparts.

One concerned participant urged event organizers to change the race start time to account for the heat.

“Return the start time to reduce the carnage of people dropping like flies in the heat please,” they wrote on the Sydney Marathon Facebook page.

“What would make the most sense, and has been for years, would be for the marathon to start at 6 a.m. and the half marathon a little later, not the other way around,” added another runner.

A top coach has warned runners should reduce their effort by 10% to stay safe in the heat – but he fears they won’t.

Race organizers stressed that ensuring the health of participants was their most important task.

“The safety and wellbeing of our participants is our top priority and we are working closely with stakeholders including the Rural Fire Brigade and the Bureau of Meteorology,” said race director Wayne Larden.

Organizers also informed runners on Facebook that the start time for the 21km event had been moved to 6 a.m. to ensure all those runners were off the course by the time the shorter event began. throughout the day, in order to improve safety.

Police estimate a total of 42,000 people will take part in the five events of the Sydney Marathon on Sunday, including 17,000 in the 42km race – and one of them suggests difficulties for some of them in due to the heat.

“I don’t think it’s going to be a comfortable race for the people who show up,” runner Hany Yacoub told the publication.

Sydney’s smoke has been so bad that the city was this week one of the five worst places in the world for air quality – but organizers had some good news on that front.

“Training during the winter and then going into a hot day of racing isn’t really ideal and it’s not supportive.”

The smoke haze that has lingered over Sydney since Monday is so severe that the NRLW match between the Wests Tigers and Newcastle on Thursday night was moved to the city’s central west from its original venue in Campbelltown, where more The risk of burning is worrying.

On Wednesday, Sydney had one of the five worst air quality ratings in the world due to smoke, and residents were urged to stay indoors as much as possible and limit outdoor physical activity .

However, the Rural Fire Service (RFS) has told marathon runners that haze will be significantly reduced on race day.

“We contacted RFS and they informed us that the major burns causing the haze were over,” Larden said.

“Their modeling shows that air quality will improve significantly by Friday and Saturday, and will be relatively good on Sunday. So from an air quality perspective, things are looking good.