Tel Aviv marathon postponed due to hot weather
03/12/2013 19:58
Temperatures are projected to reach 36 degrees Celsius in Tel Aviv on Friday, prompting Health Ministry warning.
Tel Aviv Marathon 2012 Photo: Courtesy Filizer Communications
The full Tel Aviv Marathon has been postponed by a week to March 22 due to the
scorching weather expected on its original date this coming
Friday.
Temperatures are projected to reach 36 degrees Celsius in Tel
Aviv on Friday, and following a warning by the Health Ministry, the marathon
organizers on Tuesday announced the postponement of the 42.195-kilometer
race.
The other events scheduled for Friday, including the half marathon
and 10K races as well as other festivities across town, will still go ahead.
However, the races have been brought forward to the earlier and cooler hours of
the morning, with the half marathon to get underway between 5:45-6 a.m. and the
10K to start between 6:45-7:15 a.m. Due to the changes, the roads previously
scheduled to be closed until 1 p.m. will be open to the public from 10
a.m.
The Health Ministry on Tuesday had advised the Tel Aviv Municipality
to halve the length of its Friday marathon and require runners to finish the
race by 8:30 a.m. due to the expected searing heat. The ministry’s Danny Moran,
a physiologist and expert on healthy lifestyle, said that anyone who runs more
than 21 km. after that time is at risk of fainting or suffering from
hyperthermia, which can be life-threatening. In addition, runners from around
the world pouring in to Tel Aviv to participate are not necessarily used to
running in such weather.
Temperatures before 8 a.m. will be below 30
degrees, but after 8:30 will rise to 31-32, and by noon, could escalate to 36
degrees, Moran continued. The ministry cannot cancel the marathon by edict but
only recommended that it be shortened and completed early; anyone who becomes
ill as a result of racing could easily sue the organizers.
The Tel Aviv
Marathon is one of the largest races in Israel. An estimated 35,000 people were
expected to participate in the various races before the organizers decided to
push it off.
Last year, the Jerusalem Marathon had the opposite problem,
as participants ran through hail and rain in freezing temperatures.