Bangkok Midnight Marathon 2020 bans foreigners

[Guderian]

They're missing a trick here. They should welcome farangs but charge them a very large fee to enter. Kind of like a Thailand Elite marathon, lol. 

[cooked]

2 hours ago, geisha said:

Do your own marathons!
 

Many of us have had to do just that since March. 

[Matzzon]

I think a Thai is going to win. You know, that short legged guy to the right in last years go at the title.

[VMKW]

5 hours ago, johng said:

Yes other Marathons have said no to foreigners too there was news about it the other day

 

I won't be entering...always remember what happened to the original "Marathon Man"

Is it safe?

[trucking]

Imagine taking part in that marathon and then afterwards half a dozen people test positive for covid. Panic stations.

 

Inadvertently doing us a favor . Won't be blaming us afterwards.

[Meat Pie 47]

5 hours ago, Heppinger said:

i didn't think muslims were into marathons

Most Marathon runners are from African countries which are to be known Muslim countries

[Heppinger]

51 minutes ago, Meat Pie 47 said:

Most Marathon runners are from African countries which are to be known Muslim countries

 

54 minutes ago, Meat Pie 47 said:

Most Marathon runners are from African countries which are to be known Muslim countries

not by choice i'm sure.

[Heppinger]

7 hours ago, VMKW said:

It is simply called Racism.

They are excluding every nationality, are you suggesting they hold racist attitudes towards every nationality other then Thai?  Or would it be more logical to suggest that they have decided not to include foreigners to promote national unity and pride.  You must be jealous, depressed and bitter to suggest this is racist.  Just because you don't have a nation of your own to feel proud of doesn't mean you should cry racism every time Thai's show their pride in nationalism. 

[Chelseafan]

7 hours ago, from the home of CC said:

don't blame them a bit -  when you look at the irresponsible actions and predictable outcomes of dealing with the virus in other countries foreigners have Thais concerned and if other nations hadn't of acted so stupid there would probably be reduced fear..  

 

I don't blame the Thais, I blame the blatant Xenophobia and racism from the top which permutates downwards. Whilst its fair to say governments around the world could have acted quicker (hindsight is a great thing) Thailand got lucky with the limited amount of cases at the beginning, that's all.

 

You also have to question their figures.

UK have tested 258,000 per 1mill of population

Thailand have tested 10,731 per 1mill of population

 

Testing in such low numbers probably means that detection is also low

 

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

 

I would love to see if Thailands average death rate has increased over the past 3-4 months as that would show a much better picture.

 

 

 

Edited August 7, 2020 by Chelseafan

[Jingthing]

4 hours ago, trucking said:

Imagine taking part in that marathon and then afterwards half a dozen people test positive for covid. Panic stations.

 

Inadvertently doing us a favor . Won't be blaming us afterwards.

You make a good point.

 

It's irrational though to ban expats. Banning people coming in for such events is obviously justified.

 

They could have used such events to help promote the idea of expat tourism being touted by a government agency here.

 

Expat runners could get a special branding of EXPAT.

 

It would have helped educate the Thai public of the disease risk difference between expats and tourists.

 

Of course we do have our own expat ethnic events we can cling to -- MARATHON viewing of t.v. series!

[Why Me]

Like a guy above said they probably decided to ban foreign runners to avoid issues entering Thailand and then things got muddled in translation. I am not sure what the Bkk marathon prize money or appearance fee is but lots of top athletes make a living traveling from race to race.

[ExpatOilWorker]

Marathon???

They are just 21k and 10k runs.

 

[ExpatOilWorker]

It is all just a misunderstanding ????

 

[Heppinger]

6 hours ago, Chelseafan said:

 

I don't blame the Thais, I blame the blatant Xenophobia and racism from the top which permutates downwards. Whilst its fair to say governments around the world could have acted quicker (hindsight is a great thing) Thailand got lucky with the limited amount of cases at the beginning, that's all.

 

You also have to question their figures.

UK have tested 258,000 per 1mill of population

Thailand have tested 10,731 per 1mill of population

 

Testing in such low numbers probably means that detection is also low

 

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

 

I would love to see if Thailands average death rate has increased over the past 3-4 months as that would show a much better picture.

 

 

 

For someone that doesn't seem 100% sure that low testing rates equates to low detection rates, you probably shouldn't be using words like xenophobia and racism.  It's only confusing to demoralized westerners, but i will try to explain it to you.  The Thai Government would like a Thai national to win the marathon to promote unity, pride and nationalism, excluding ALL foreigners assures this.  Thai's understand the simple fact that unity, and not diversity, is a nations strength.

[Chelseafan]

6 minutes ago, Heppinger said:

For someone that doesn't seem 100% sure that low testing rates equates to low detection rates, you probably shouldn't be using words like xenophobia and racism.  It's only confusing to demoralized westerners, but i will try to explain it to you.  The Thai Government would like a Thai national to win the marathon to promote unity, pride and nationalism, excluding ALL foreigners assures this.  Thai's understand the simple fact that unity, and not diversity, is a nations strength.

Oh don't you worry, I'm 100% sure that low testing rates equals low detections rates, as for Xenophobia, look no further than the trash that comes from the mouth of a certain Mr Charnvirakul. But yes, I got it first time.

 

[Chassa]

Can Thais run that far without a motorbike ( aka - Thai leg extensions)?

 

The marathon is a long-distance race with an official distance of 42.195 kilometres, usually run as a road race. The event was instituted in commemoration of the fabled run of the Greek soldier Pheidippides, a messenger from the Battle of Marathon to Athens, who reported the victory. Wikipedia

[Trujillo]

"Imagine taking part in that marathon and then afterwards half a dozen people test positive for covid. Panic stations."

 

No reason to talk about impossibilities. The virus doesn't hide under a bushel for 77 days (as of today). That's 5.5 14 day cycles. Thailand is virus free. Everyone who is in Thailand has either been here since the lockdown of the borders or has been quarantined after returning. By "everyone" I mean humans, and that means "foreigners" AND Thais. 

(By the way, why are we wearing masks now? Since no one is infected, no one can pass the virus, and that's the alleged reason masks have usefulness.)

 

The Thais operating the marathon are ignoramuses. Period. 

[rvaviator]

14 hours ago, DirtyHarry55 said:

Oh no maybe we have to organize an Xpat Marathon in protest

Yea reminds me of the last time I went the dentist in hear eeeeaaach!!

Do you feel safe ??

[Heppinger]

14 minutes ago, Chelseafan said:

Oh don't you worry, I'm 100% sure that low testing rates equals low detections rates, as for Xenophobia, look no further than the trash that comes from the mouth of a certain Mr Charnvirakul. But yes, I got it first time.

 

His comments weren't even close to xenophobic, he's one politician that lost face and got upset.  For a Brit to be throwing loaded terms around, especially when your own Government is waging a campaign of aggressive discrimination against it's indigenous population, amuses me.  The very definition of Stockholm syndrome which is ironic considering Sweden is in the same sinking ship as you. 

[brimacthai]

Just wondering if they mean all foreigners, or just westerner foreigners? Asking for a friend.

[animatic]

15 hours ago, from the home of CC said:

don't blame them a bit -  when you look at the irresponsible actions and predictable outcomes of dealing with the virus in other countries foreigners have Thais concerned and if other nations hadn't of acted so stupid there would probably be reduced fear..  

Well other than the fact all foreigners  who could run in this race are already IN THAILAND, so are ;

 

a) Healthy because they are not exposed to those people in other countries

 

b) Mostly in compliance with Thailand’s working anti-Covid actions. If not without some grumbling.

 

c) If you haven’t left and returned, so how can you have the disease? Returning Thais are the only cases happening in country. None are foreigners presently in Thailand.

 

d) Blaming ‘dirty foreigners’ like the Dep Pm / Heath Minister has repeatedly tried, doesn’t mean they have COVID, it just plays well politically, since ‘no one else is every as good as a Thai’ including their blood relatives living in the surrounding countries.
 

So they must be spreading the disease ‘since no thai would do that’. Of course trump certainly plays into their hands to make this attitude seem logical to some.
 

Sociological Country Building in a crossroads culture usually must be pointedly nationalistic, long after that ‘ubër nationalism’ is no longer needed to create one new people from many others. Can’t back down or seem unpatriotic, etc.
 

The race committee is just reacting to the political winds and isolationist Instincts of the political class that either can not go against the nationalist undertow, or delight in using it for controlling power.

Edited August 8, 2020 by animatic

[yellowboat]

The Thai government has its hand out looking for foreign investment while it participates in treating foreigners within Thailand poorly.   My attitude with Thailand is kept to a small number of people that exude all that is good about Thailand.   Because of things like this, I have no interest in expanding in Thailand or ever living there again.    

[animatic]

Different day, same old ...

Edited August 8, 2020 by animatic

[thailand49]

XENOPHOBIC?  NO WELCOME TO THE LAND OF PREJUDICE AND RACISM NOT THE LAND OF SMILE!

 

The country has been locked down due to the Virus but want foreigners to return and bail their economy out.  The country has for centuries been locked down by their mental midget leaders let it stay close and let them die in their own mental virus.

[Crusader]

No other explanation required...it is RACISM.  Thousands of Thais have been allowed back into the country of late - not foreigners.  

[TEFLKrabi]

15 hours ago, herfiehandbag said:

I expect the original thinking was not to accept entries from foreigners living outside Thailand. As ever that thinking has become muddled up, and someone somewhere has thought that it applies to all non Thais. The decision won't be reversed, loss of face you see.

 

Whilst there is xenophobia present amongst some here, and it will certainly play its part in the "upper echelons" accepting these sorts of rulings, I don't think that this reflects deeply ingrained racism; more the inchoate nature of so much decision making here.

FYI the decision has now been reversed. But.... foreigners have a later date to register which means they miss out on the ‘early bird’ discount. Two tier pricing in all but name, but it’s good to see the decision changed. 

[kwak250]

I used to do Marathons all the time

At least 1 a day

Never liked them after they changed their name to Snickers.

[berrec]

16 hours ago, Thaiwrath said:

And they wan't tourists to come back in their droves, yet continue with their xenophobic comments ?

unbelievable !

New Flash!

 

All new tourist arrivals into Thailand for for 2020, "NO FOREIGNERS ALLOWED" 

 

Let's see how that works out for you TAT. 

[farangroby]

[Boomer6969]

9 minutes ago, farangroby said:

This proves what I thought from the beginning: there has been a wide acceptance of face masks in Thailand because they obliterate the loss of face. 

 

Wear a mask, use the word "misunderstanding" and everystink will be fine.

Edited August 8, 2020 by Boomer6969