Outcry after organizers add accidentally 8km to Bangkok half marathon

[from the home of CC]

wife brought home a measuring cup, 4ozs is actually 2 ozs so maybe they do use a different scale 55555

[Siammodels]

Ha Ha Thais thats worth a extra bowl of Som Tum

And we are to trust you

[ggt]

Are these Thai math teachers going to be the same folks that will now be teaching Thais English? Heaven help these poor people...the future looks bleak indeed...

Like I have said before...double check the figures on any transaction where you are involved...especially real estate...they make "errors" where they stand to gain thousands of baht...and when exposed...just say sorry and act as if it is no big deal...(they also appear to be pissed that you took the time to go through their disclosure form with a calculator in hand)

They compute financial transactions...just like they do their marathons...runners and buyers...beware...

[tuanku]

Committed runners will always go the extra mile!

[teatree]

Surely the organisers deserve a nomination for the very competitve award category of "Incompetence of the Year" at the 'Dumbos'.

[bannork]

What a bunch of whingers, both the runners and the TV armchair critics.

Anyone who is foolish enough to pay to run through the streets of Bangkok at any time, day or night, deserves to have a extra mileage added on to test their sanity.

If they had had the patience to wait till 5.00 am, none of this would have happened, they could have taken the bus and then a kilometre here or there would have been nothing.

[HomeinThailand]

The headline in ThaiVisa reads: Outcry after organizers add accidentally 8km to Bangkok half marathon

The linked article's headline: Outcry after organizers accidentally add 7km to Bangkok half marathon

Just curious as to which it is, 7 or 8km???

[puukao]

I am on the planning committee......we got so much money to run by certain stores that Billy Bob never measured the course.....we figured nobody would know.....it was good money!!!

mai bpen rai....

I also tried to get on the Olympic committee but made the 100 meters 100 feet......they got mad....

boy....i flew to the moon recently and they were off by 2,873 miles!!!! or a lot of kms!!!

[arrowsdawdle]

Thai kilometers are different, just like Thai electricity.

[arrowsdawdle]

I'm assuming it was only non Thais that had to run the extra K's

Thais can actually run? Watched a building burning down near Thong Lor once and the Thais moving valuables out of the flaming edifice strolled casually. When a bus driver stops a bus for a waving passenger that passenger will invariably take as long as possible to stroll to the courteous driver's bus. Give a Thai pedestrian a little courtesy and they will slow walk just to pay you back. Even on a soccer pitch they move at the speed of a new bottle of ketchup.

[cookee68]

Somebody forgot to take their calculator to work, silly person

[FredNL]

It is and it always will be a third world country.

One of my friends in Europe posted this message to me. It is going viral on Facebook and many news websites. Another loss of face...

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+

I posted this yesterday in another threat about intelligent and green buildings:

Intelligence & Thailand

Yesterday afternoon: I bought 2 donuts @ 15 ฿. I gave the girl (a 20y old student) a 50 ฿ note. (Saturday)

It took her about 10 minutes to find out that the batteries of her calculator were really dead and that she didn't have any spare batteries in the drawers she was searching in.

She was planning to return me the 50 ฿ note when her best friend, that was wearing a university uniform,

had a splendid idea and suggested her to use the calculator on her friend's new iPhone 6S.

She just didn't want to believe a farang telling her, that 2 times 15 ฿ was 30 ฿ and she had to give me 20 ฿ as change, as her english wasn't that terrible.

After another 2 minutes I finally received my 20 ฿ note as change.

So how intelligent will the buildings be if the designers and builders have a low IQ ?

And how green will the buildings be without green paint?

Edited November 16, 2015 by FredNL

[canopy]

True story. I went to a marathon in northern Thailand. The event was to start at 5am so having to get up at 4am is not usual or pleasant thing to do but everyone did it. Everyone was lined up and ready to go and then an announcement came: the race would be delayed because...drum roll...it was still dark. Unbelievable, what? They decided the best thing to do was make everyone stand there at the starting line shivering with nothing to do and never knowing exactly when they would start which turned out to be 6:30 when it was full on daylight.

[selftaopath]

So typically Thai e.g. wait wait wait then incompetence/ get it wrong, blame someone for the "non error." lol ahhhhhhhhhhhh how a/b appearance which is so so so important to Thais?

[BritTim]

The BBC has an article up covering this fiasco: http://www.bbc.com/sport/athletics/34834990

One quote from someone who has obviously not spent much time in Thailand, or ever tried to get a refund here:

Still waiting for any kind of apology or explanation. Extremely disappointed. Instead of the satisfaction of crossing a finish line I ended the race in the back of a taxi after 23km when my legs gave out. I want my money back!

[arunsakda]

Detail of a course properly mapped by a competent measurer for certification purposes.

A 8km variance is unthinkable. Perhaps we can get out act together Should we choose to bid for 2028 Olympics.

Edited November 17, 2015 by arunsakda

[Bluespunk]

The BBC has an article up covering this fiasco: http://www.bbc.com/sport/athletics/34834990

One quote from someone who has obviously not spent much time in Thailand, or ever tried to get a refund here:

Still waiting for any kind of apology or explanation. Extremely disappointed. Instead of the satisfaction of crossing a finish line I ended the race in the back of a taxi after 23km when my legs gave out. I want my money back!

Quite a mocking tone to the BBC report as well.

Rightly so.

[eliotness]

i fail to see the issue, it is not often you get more that you paid for.

It seems they actually raised the price this year, so mileage wise same same.

[Somtamnication]

You can't make this stuff up!!!

[singa-traz]

Detail of a course properly mapped by a competent measurer for certification purposes.

A 8km variance is unthinkable. Perhaps we can get out act together Should we choose to bid for 2028 Olympics.

The course was properly mapped. what happened is that the u-turn on the highway was done at the wrong location, but the signs were at the correct place.

Who was responsible to open the divider between the two roads? That is the question.

[Reigntax]

"Standard Chartered BKK Marathon is a world standard athlete sporting event..."

,...but this is how the distances are probably measured:

they ask a motocy taxi driver to drive the course and then they check his odometer,...so far so good, however, now the math problem starts...

time for BKK to bid for the Olympic Games, another world standard sporting event.

Yes, imagine the Olympic Games.

Stadiums would be 50% complete.

No athletes can wear red colours

Tennis played on a triangular court.

The 93m, 75 inches hurdles

High jump measured in metric one side, imperial the other.

The olympic swimming pool would be round, an unused dolphinarium. You swim around 5 times.

Tickets would be sold by street vendors at a mark up with the lucky numbers already taken.

the shooting events held in Issan with moving targets in red shirts.

Cycling events will have RTP checkpoints where you will be stopped for commissions in order to proceed.

No bats necessary for the ping pong events. Its ping pong Thai style.

Equestrian events will use buffalos instead.

Gold, silver and bronze amulets will replace medal and will be fake, just Chinese copies as all the gold and silver disappeared at the foundary.

The winners will be announced by fortune tellers prior to the events.

The opening theme will be " hello, welcome, ATM is over there" and the closing "bye bye hansome men, come back soon, miss you, love you long time".

[baneko]

A South African lad offshore said to me he wanted to do one of the 'high endurance long marathons'. ☺