King Charles has been urged to intervene in the Glasgow Commonwealth Games to have a key trace reinstated. A group of former runners and politicians have written an open letter to the monarch in a bid to have the marathon included in the 2026 event.
Organisers have announced the next edition of the games will be a stripped-back version after the Australian state of Victoria pulled out as host. Scotland’s biggest city, which welcomed the games in 2014, stepped in to take over hosting duties.
Among the events to not survive the chop was the marathon, seen by many as the ultimate challenge in athletics. The group, led by former Labour MP and marathon runner Dennis Canavan, want Charles to contact games organisers “in an effort to persuade them to include the Marathon in the list of events”.
Among those to put their name to the letter are former first minister Henry McLeish, former Glasgow lord provost Alex Mosson, shamed former sports minister Michael Matheson and Glasgow MSPs Paul Sweeney and James Dornan, who is ironically known for his hatred of the royal family.
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It calls on the King to “show a lead in the hope that others will follow” as Head of the Commonwealth and Patron of the Commonwealth Games Federation. It states: “The Marathon has always been part of the Commonwealth Games and the re-instatement of such a prestigious event in the next Commonwealth Games would be a massive opportunity to showcase the city of Glasgow to a multi-million international TV audience with potential economic, social and cultural benefits for Glasgow, Scotland and the Commonwealth.
“What is required now is for people with vision and ambition to stand up and, like Marathon runners, rise to the challenge instead of giving up in the face of adversity.” The letter describes the decision to leave out the 26-mile race as “inexplicable” and claims “no accurate detailed costing seems to have been done and no effort seems to have been made to find alternative funding such as sponsorship for the Marathon”.
Australia’s Michael Chelley celebrates winning the men’s marathon at the 2014 games in Glasgow
(Image: Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
The signatories believe the King’s support could attract sponsorship that would allow the racme to proceed. It had previously indicated that the cost of closing off streets was the reason for the marathon not taking place.
The 2014 marathon route took runners in a circular loop from Glasgow Green through the city’s southside parks like Bellahouston and Pollok Country Park. Australian Michael Shelley won the men’s race in a time of 2:11:15 while Philomena Cheyech from Kenya took home gold in the women’s event in a time of 2:26:45.
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