When elections coincide with a large-scale race, one of the first questions any runner might ask is simple: why not hold the event on Saturday and avoid the problem?
The answer has to do, above all, with city logistics. An urban race requires much more than a clear route: it needs police, medical services, volunteers, municipal staff, public transport, cleaning and other services that allow streets to be closed for several hours.
Saturday Is Not an Easy Day Either
The main problem is that Saturday is one of the days with the highest commercial and leisure activity in cities. Traffic closures for a race can affect shops, restaurants, markets, the delivery of goods, and thousands of people who use the streets to get around or do their shopping.
The Saturday may have a lower availability of staff because these services also have to attend to the city’s ordinary activity.
In addition, a large race typically requires a significant deployment by the Local Police, Civil Protection and other municipal services. On Saturday there may be less availability of personnel because these services must also handle the city’s ordinary activity and other weekend events.
To this is added a particular circumstance in the case of elections: the Saturday is the day of reflection. Although this does not mean that legally any sports activity cannot be held, organizing a mass event that involves street closures and a major deployment of resources can be less straightforward on that day. Therefore, in some cases, the most practical solution has been to move the race to another weekend.
Seville, Córdoba and Elche-Alicante, on December 13
It is what has happened with some of the major events originally scheduled for November 29, the day of the general elections.
The Seville Half Marathon, the Córdoba Half Marathon and the Elche-Alicante International Marathon 42K have moved their respective celebrations to December 13.
In races with thousands of participants and urban routes, changing weekends allows to avoid the problem from the root: there is no need to reconcile traffic closures with access to polling stations or modify the usual security and mobility arrangements.
Not All Races Have the Same Problem
The situation changes when a race has a reduced impact on the city’s mobility. This is the case, for example, of the Cross Alcobendas–Community of Madrid, which takes place on a circuit and does not require closing streets of a large city for kilometers. Something similar happens with the 3 Days Trail Ibiza – Ultra Ibiza, where a large part of the activity takes place outside the major urban cores.
And there is also a third option: keeping the race on election day and adapting the organization. This is how the 103 Allianz Jean Bouin in Barcelona will proceed, preserving its celebration on November 29, with its 10K and 5K events and around 18,000-20,000 participants.
In short, there is no single solution for all races. For an urban and large-scale event, Saturday is not necessarily a better alternative than the election Sunday. In many cases, changing weekends is simply the easiest option for everyone.
