A ROAD had to be closed when runners in a half marathon left the official route.

Traffic management was in place on Portland Road during the Weymouth half-marathon on Sunday, but police were called in when the situation became ‘potentially very dangerous’.

Race director Alan Rose of Just Racing, said the event overall had been successful, but added: “We can always do things better and we always have a full debrief.”

Runners were directed to cross the road at Ferrybridge, running on the Chesil Beach side of Portland Road, then running around the Sailing Academy and back towards Weymouth.

Mr Rose said: “We have a lead cyclist who travels the route in front of the runners, as well as all the marshals and signs. The lead cyclist was brilliant, he is a local man and did everything correctly.

“I still don’t understand how it happened but some runners decided to run away from the course and on the road and others followed.”

Mr Rose said marshals were controlling the traffic flow and allowing some runners to cross in small groups while directing cars trying to get on and off Portland.

He added: “When the runners came onto the road it was potentially a very dangerous situation. The police asked our traffic management team to properly close the road until everything had been sorted out."

“As soon as it was safe to do so when the runners were back on the path we started letting drivers through.

Reports on social media stated that drivers had been swearing and verbally abusing the marshals, but Mr Rose said he was not aware of these reports.

Around 1,250 runners entered the second annual Weymouth half-marathon. The official charity partner of the event was Weldmar Hospicecare Trust, although runners were able to choose any charity to raise funds for.

Mr Rose said: “From our point of view, last year was the first time this event took place and we identified areas where it could be done better. We changed some things and there was definitely an improvement although clearly it did not solve it.”He added that at an event of this size there is ‘clearly an element of disruption’, but pointed to the fact that traffic management at Preston Beach Road was successful, with minimal effect on drivers.

“It is our intention to grow this event, to keep runners as safe as possible and make it a positive experience.”