Sent: 14 January 2008 22:53
Subject: Leeds Half Marathon Protest Run Wednesday 16 January

Last week, Mark Hetherington cribbed a section from V S Update to include in his Abbey Runners Weekly update

Now I’ll let Mark tell you about the event taking place this Wednesday 6:30pm outside the Civic Hall

Please can as many Striders as possible be there – a small turnout will have completely the opposite effect from what we want.

Please pass on this message to those you know don’t regularly read email.

There is still a good chance to resurrect the Leeds Half Marathon this year.

See you there

Bob

P.S. Current non-runners who have previously run Leeds Half are very welcome to walk or just stand (I think I may be in that category due to a bad cold)

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From: Mark Hetherington [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: 14 January 2008 15:41
Subject: Weekly Update (Part 1)
Importance: High

Dear all,

1. Leeds Half Marathon Protest: As most of you will be aware, the council has unilaterally decided to cancel the 2008 Leeds Half Marathon. Not surprisingly, this has made a lot of people very angry. Bob Jackson and I are involved in the campaign to try and force the council to reverse this decision. Can I ask all Abbey Runners to consider registering their objections by contacting the council and the YEP and by turning up at Wednesday’s planned protest (see below)?

To contact the Council, or YEP, or Runners World, go here and follow the links: http://www.valleystriders.org.uk/saveleedshalf.htm

I have copied the details of a protest planned for this Wednesday from a post on the Runners World forum. Bob Jackson and I are co-ordinating this:

I have just been talking to Bob Jackson and we have come up with a plan! There is a full meeting of Leeds City Council at the Civic Hall this Wednesday (Jan 16th). The meeting starts at 1.30pm and is scheduled to end at around 7 - 7.30pm.

We are proposing that all runners who wish to protest about the cancellation of the Leeds Half Marathon should turn up (in running gear) at 6.30pm. We will then run continuously round the Civic Hall in the manner of Red Indians (sorry, 'Native Americans') circling a wagon train until the councillors emerge, when we will take the opportunity to make our feelings clear to them in no uncertain terms. Obviously, it would be helpful to be able to wave 'Save The Leeds Half' placards around at this point, so if you have time to make any before Wednesday, please bring them along.

 We will notify the YEP about this planned protest, just in case they fancy coming along and photographing the fun and games. Clearly, this type of protest is much more effective if there are several hundred irate runners present, rather than just a couple of dozen, so please let as many of your fellow runners as possible know about this.

The more runners that get to hear about this the better, so please feel free to cut and paste the above and send it on to any fellow runners, or club contacts, that you know. If you want to know more, or have any comments or suggestions to make, please contact me.

Cheers, Mark