The organisers of the Waterside Half Marathon have urged motorists to expect some delays in and around the city on the morning of Sunday September 3rd.
The 40th edition of the event will see around 2,000 runners complete the 13.1 mile course and a number of traffic restrictions and temporary speed limites are planned to facilitate them.
Runners will leave Ebrington Square at 9.30am and will finish back there from 10.40am until 1pm.
Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council, Councillor Patricia Logue, urged all those attending and members of the public who will be in the vicinity of the route to familiarise themselves with the arrangements.
“Excitement is growing around the city for the 40th edition of the Waterside Half Marathon and it’s great to see so many people out preparing around the streets and greenways of our City and District,” she said.
“With an amended route this year and a record field expected we would encourage everyone to heed the guidance of Council’s events staff to ensure that disruption is kept to a minimum.
“I want to thank everyone in advance for their co-operation and wish all the runners well in pursuing their personal goals.”
The route travels along the following roads and greenways and traffic may be affected: Limavady Road to St Columb’s Road ( just after Ebrington entrance), St Columb’s Road, Waterside Greenway, Strathfoyle Greenway, Strathfoyle Village via Stradowen Drive, Temple Road, A2 Dual Carriageway (southbound), Foyle Bridge (eastbound), Lower Culmore Road, Bay Road, Pennyburn Roundabout, Strand Road (citybound) Queens Quay Roundabout, Queens Quay, Harbour Square Roundabout, Foyle Embankment, Foyleside Roundabout, Foyle Road to Lower Deck Craigavon Bridge and back along the Greenway over the Peace bridge to finish.
To ensure the safety of runners, spectators and other road users, it will be necessary to introduce temporary traffic restrictions for a short time.
These have been carefully selected by event organisers Derry City and Strabane District Council in consultation with the PSNI and Roads Service to minimise delay and inconvenience.
Around the course there will be road and lane closures on St Columbs Road, the A2, Madams Bank Road / Foyle Bridge and Strand Road, Foyle Embankment, the Peace Bridge and Craigavon Bridge lower deck, the full details of which are on the event website at www.derrystrabane.com/subsites/waterside-half-marathon/traffic-and-travel
There will also be temporary 30mph speed limits on the Madams Bank Road lane 2 eastbound from Culmore Roundabout and Caw Roundabout and the A2 Clooney Road lane 2 northwest bound from Caw Roundabout to 50 metres northeast of its junction with Temple Road.
“Unfortunately some disruption is inevitable but in order to minimise this and to avoid delays we would urge people to avoid travelling the affected route during the event,” said Festival and Events Manager at Council, Jacqueline Whoriskey.
“If you have to travel on Sunday morning, please follow the signed diversions and allow some extra time for your journey – police and race marshals will be there to provide advice.
“If you live along one of the roads on the route, if possible park your vehicle off road for the duration of the race and if you live off one of the main roads affected, please be careful exiting and co-operate with the police and marshals.
“If you want to use the greenway areas, perhaps you could avoid the peak period for runners which will be from approximately 9.30am to 1pm.
“We’d appreciate if people can bear with us, enjoy the event and remember that disruptions to normal traffic will only be for a very short time.”
The Peace Bridge will close to pedestrian traffic from 10am – 1pm and as the event is on a Sunday morning it may be prudent to allow extra time to reach church services on time.
Derry City and Strabane District Council apologise for any inconvenience caused and will make every effort to minimise any disruption.
The Waterside Half Marathon is sold out, for race information including pack collection, race instructions and a map of the route visit: derrystrabane.com/whm
For further information, please contact the Events Team on 02871 253253 or email: [email protected]
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