Sir, – While sitting in backed-up, diverted traffic on the Merrion Road (near the 22-mile marker for the marathon) on Monday at 5pm, a full eight hours after the start of the race, I found myself idly wondering: how can it possibly take this long? According to the US National Institutes of Health, a brisk walking pace for women is about 3.4 mph. At that rate, you would comfortably complete a marathon in well under eight hours.
Why is it necessary to keep the roads closed for so long? With no disrespect to the elite athletes involved, if, after a certain point you are proceeding at a stately sub-walking pace, could you not just use the footpath and wait at the pedestrian crossings? If Pheidippides had been as slow, the Persians might have taken Athens after all, and the pre-history of the euro crisis might have evolved differently. – Yours, etc,