At the end of the Alloa Half Marathon, as I watched the finish line for Iain TwinBikeRun to arrive, a male runner in a black t-shirt, fell to the ground. He tried to get back up but as he struggled onto his knees the strength left his legs and he fell again. He looked exhausted, dazed and ready to give up. Two men jumped the barriers and grabbed him under the arms and hauled him up. They tried to walk him along the final 20m to the finish line but his feet wouldn’t move, his legs gage way and he fell back to the ground. A medic then jumped the barrier and ran over to help and all I could think was:

“If I collapse, I want everyone to know that I don’t want to get to the finish line, I want a medically trained professional to check me out fist. CPR first, medal second. That’s my philosophy.”

There should be a box to tick on medial forms for races that tells organisers that you don’t want to be a hero or a star of an inspirational TikTok video. You just want a check-up and the all clear. Times don’t matter, you can finish later. Just give me a couple of aspirin, enough water to frighten Noah and a banana for sustenance. 

I appreciate the spectators were doing the guy a favour. They must have thought he needed help to complete the race. But if you need help to complete a race, you also need help to see a doctor and, you know, priorities suggest medic first, podium second. 

I suspect he was just running to fast as he wanted to be first to get to the toilet. There’s over 1500 runners but as far as we could see there were only 10 Portaloos for everyone, which is not nearly enough. That’s why I think he was running to try and avoid the queue at the end. 

The race was well organised and well supported with many people offering jelly babies and sweets around the course. There’s also plenty of water stations including one with just half a mile to go. I only saw one person use it, and then to just pour the water over themselves rather than drink it. I could only think there was a queue for showers too and he was just getting a head start.