Runners 'frustrated' as half marathon cut a mile short

Runners have been left "frustrated" after a half marathon event in Dundee was cut more than a mile short.

The Half DRAM on Sunday began at Camperdown Park in the city and finished at the Barnhill Rock Gardens in Broughty Ferry.

Organisers Eventfull Management apologised and said two stewards had misdirected the runners.

As a result 1.1 miles (1.8km) were cut from the half marathon distance of 13.1 miles (21.1km).

Runners told BBC Scotland News that the mistake happened early on in the race, with some people running beyond the finish line to make up for the lost distance.

Organiser Nicholas Kydd said about 700 people took part in the race across the city.

Scotland experienced temperatures as high as 30C (86F) on Sunday while Dundee peaked at just over 23C (73.4).

Thomas Mills entered the Half DRAM as his first official running event.

He had walked the route in the days leading up to the event and noticed it was different when he checked the path afterwards.

Thomas said he initially thought that stewards had misdirected the runners or the front runners had ran the wrong way by mistake.

He said: "When we saw the signs saying we had run one mile and then two miles, everyone around me said it didn't sound right because we'd only ran a few hundred metres.

"People have been training for months to run that distance, so to find that it wasn't quite long enough was frustrating.

"People were running lengths of Broughty Ferry to make up the distance which wasn't good."

But despite the mistake, he said the event was still a "really good day out" and he would be signing up for it next year.

Ryan Cruikshanks told BBC Scotland News that the error was "slightly frustrating" as he was on track for a personal best time for the half marathon.

He said: "I think most realised it was going to be short once we hit Broughty Ferry.

"I know some had it in them to run back to complete the full distance but I wasn't one of those.

"Everything else was amazing considering the conditions."

Eventfull Management runs other events, including the Monikie Triathlon on Saturday and the Arbroath Half Marathon in September.

Organiser Nicholas Kydd said runners - who had paid £22 to enter - had been misdirected by stewards within the first 300m of the course.

He added: "As it only became apparent to myself what had actually happened a few miles into the course, it was then impossible to rectify the situation.

"I would like to clarify that the official Half DRAM 2025 route was accurately measured, shared with all runners in advance and fully signposted and stewarded on race day.

"Unfortunately isolated human errors by two stewards at a key point on the course meant all runners were inadvertently directed off the intended path."

He said affected runners would be offered a 50% discount to take part in the Half BraemarAthon in September, as well as discounted entry to Dundee's Half DRAM in 2026.

The Great Scottish Run in Glasgow, the country's biggest mass participation race, experienced course measurement issues in 2016 and, again, in 2022 when it was about 150m short.

The most recent error meant Commonwealth 10,000m champion Eilish McColgan's 10k course record was invalidated.

Organisers apologised and the course was re-measured in 2023 to ensure it was correct.