London Marathon chiefs probe 'horrific' treatment of slowest runners called 'fat' and told to 'hurry up'

Organisers of the London Marathon today launched an investigation into an official pacer’s claims that slower runners were treated “horrifically” during the race.

Event director Hugh Brasher said he was “very sorry” to hear that athletes at the back of the field were told to “hurry up” and called “fat” by contractors hired to clean up the streets.

They also reported being hit by chemical spray used to remove temporary road markings with at least one participant apparently receiving burns.

Volunteer pacer Liz Ayres, who was asked to complete the 26.2 mile course in seven and a half hours, said a number of the runners around her were in tears.

She told the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme that the back markers were abused by marshalls and workers involved in the clean up operation.

This included comments such as: “If you weren’t so fat, you could run,” and: “This is a race, not a walk.”

Ms Ayres said she would “rather the race was cancelled than people being spoken to like that. I had runners that were crying - ones saying they were going to go home and quit.”

She added: “The six and a half hour pacer said she experienced this, too. If you look at the timings of people who finished, that means about 1,000 people were affected. That’s almost one in every 40 runners.”

She also said that many of the water stations were closed when she reached them, and she was blocked from crossing Tower Bridge - one of the highlights of the course - by sewage collection lorries.

One woman, Sarah Benjafield-Clarke, told the programme that her GP had confirmed a blister she developed during the race had was the result of a chemical burn.

This was the first year that organisers laid on volunteers to run at slower than six hour pace to make the event more inclusive.

The pacers are used to help other athletes complete their runs in their target time. Around 200 runners finished the course in seven and a half hours or more.

Mr Brasher said: “We work hard to provide the best possible experience for every runner in the London Marathon and we were very sorry to hear about the experience of Elizabeth and a small number of other runners on Sunday.

“A senior member of our team called Elizabeth yesterday to find out more and we are now looking into this in detail as part of a full investigation.

“We’ll be talking to the people involved to find out what happened and we’ll also be contacting the runners who were in the group being paced by Elizabeth.”