Bath Half-Marathon: Runner misses event due to delayed train

Libby Jackson said she trained for six months for the Bath Half-Marathon, only to miss the race due to train delays

A runner has described her frustration at missing a half-marathon because of delayed trains.

Libby Jackson, from Swindon, had been training for six months for the Bath Half-Marathon but said train cancellations meant she, along with other runners, missed the race.

"They knew that spectators and participants would be relying on them to get there," said Ms Jackson.

Network Rail said it was sorry for the disruption that passengers faced.

The comment was made jointly with Great Western Railway (GWR).

The railway operator had advertised that it would be putting on extra trains for the event.

Jonathan Escalante-Phillips and Phillipa Williams won the men's and women's races

Ms Jackson said passengers were told that the delays in Swindon were down to overrunning engineering works and that she ended up not travelling to Bath at all after it became clear she would miss the race.

She added: "I planned my journey out, as advised by the Bath Half. I know that parking down in Bath is terrible, so I decided to take the train.

"I'd done all my homework and checked the trains were running. I got to the station and found out the engineering works were overrunning and that the first two trains had been cancelled.

"We all stood there and we waited for another hour while this train was coming. The train arrived and it didn't move.

"The most frustrating thing was that GWR knew that this was happening and made no effort to do anything about it, as far as I could tell, or certainly to tell people."

About 9,300 runners took part in the 41st Bath Half-Marathon

Network Rail has apologised to passengers affected by the delays.

"One of our engineering trains broke down in the Swindon area following overnight work on the line and despite the best efforts of the team, was unable to be fixed on site.

"The train was eventually able to be moved to the sidings so that the line could reopen shortly before 10am," a spokesperson said.

Some 9,300 runners took to the streets of Bath for the city's 41st half-marathon, with the event watched by thousands along the 13.1 mile (21km) route.

Race director Andrew Taylor described it as a "fantastic" event after "some turbulent times in recent years with the pandemic".

Next year, the event will return to its pre-Covid date of March and race entry is open.

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