Half Marathon marshals face 'insane' day of abuse from motorists enraged at planned closures

Despite weeks of signs warning of road closures ahead of the Shrewsbury Half Marathon, volunteers manning the cones were met with a few unhappy drivers who apparently missed the memo.

For the first time this year, the route took runners through some of Shrewsbury's main routes, over the Welsh and English bridges, through Kingsland, Porthill, Coleham, The Quarry, Frankwell and the town centre.

The new route saw many main roads shut down between 7.45am and midday.

While many runners spoke of their excitement for the chance to run through the car-less town centre streets, some drivers weren't too happy with the planned diversions.

One of the volunteers, run director of Shrewsbury Park Run, Debbie Armstrong, shared tales of her "insane" day.

She said: "I love volunteering, I do it all the time - that's what runners do. But today was insane, beyond another level."

Over the morning, Debbie said she and the other volunteers faced several occurrences of verbal abuse from drivers infuriated by the diversion.

On one occasion, Debbie - who was manning the closure at Pengwern Road - said she was forced to stand in front of a car whose driver was insistent they were coming through the closure.

She said: "90 per cent of drivers were absolutely fine, we were getting the maps out to show them where to go, directing them to free parking and they were really thankful and went on their way.

"But the level of verbal abuse we had was insane - off the scale. I've been called every name under the sun today.

"One lady was coming through whether I stopped her or not. I stepped in front of her car and said 'If you're coming through you're running me over', and she came forward anyway.

"Then there was lots of fingers, lots of swearing - members of the public were shouting at her and urging her to calm down.

"I told her to take a breath and let us help her but she was so angry. I was really worried she'd get herself into an accident."

Debbie said other volunteers faced similar experiences at other closure points, with one fellow volunteer having plastic bottles thrown at her on Porthill.

"I've marshalled a fair few races in my time," Debbie said, "but today was off the scale. For the first time ever I thought I'd have to invest in a body cam - that's how weird it got."

Despite handling a day full of enraged drivers, Debbie was oozing enthusiasm for the event.

"It was great!" She said, "All the runners I spoke to back at the showground seemed to really enjoy it."

"I will volunteer again next year, even though my heart rate has gone up a few times this morning for various reasons, it's also been full of joy and enthusiasm for the runners. I love it.

"We can't let the stupidity of a few people put us off, you have to come out and support what's happening in your community."