Listening to the Mark Patterson show on Radio Foyle earlier and hearing plans of a proposed Marathon section across the Peace Bridge, my first thought was to Tweet a caution quoting the warning on the Albert (Chelsea) Bridge in London.

Soldiers from Chelsea Barracks when crossing the Bridge had a sign dating from 1973 warning marching ranks to break step while crossing. Bearing in mind that the runners will include men women and children, the thought crossed by mind as to what effect 2,000 marathon runners pounding across Derry’s Peace Bridge might have?

Without sounding too much of a Jonah - and ignorant of the construction logistics of the Peace Bridge, I believe the following, based on notes from Wikipedia, is worth repeating:

As a comparison, the Millennium Bridge, officially known as the London Millennium Footbridge, is a

steel suspension bridge for pedestrians crossing the Thames in London. Construction of the bridge began in 1998 and opened on 10 June 2000.

Londoners nicknamed the bridge the "Wobbly Bridge" after participants in a charity walk to open the bridge felt an unexpected and, for some, uncomfortable swaying motion.

The bridge's movements were caused by a 'positive feedback' phenomenon, known as synchronous lateral excitation. The natural sway motion of people walking caused small sideways
oscillations in the bridge, which in turn caused people on the bridge to sway in step, increasing the amplitude of the bridge oscillations and continually reinforcing the effect. Unexpected lateral vibration caused the bridge to be closed on 12 June 2000 for modifications. After two days of limited access the bridge was closed for almost two years while modifications were made to eliminate the wobble entirely.

The wobble was attributed to an under-researched phenomenon whereby pedestrians crossing a bridge that has a lateral sway have an unconscious tendency to match their footsteps to the sway, thereby exacerbating the sway. The tendency of a suspension bridge to sway when troops march over it in step was well known, which is why troops are required to break step when crossing such a bridge. On the day of opening the bridge was crossed by 90,000 people, with up to 2,000 on the bridge at any one time.

Any bridge with lateral frequency modes of less than 1.3 Hz, and sufficiently low mass, could witness the same phenomenon with sufficient pedestrian loading. The greater the number of people, the greater the amplitude of the vibrations.

Other bridges which have seen similar problems include:
Birmingham NEC Link bridge: Groves Suspension Bridge, Chester and Auckland Harbour Road Bridge. mgs31may13wds424

Derry wails

I give up. Will someone explain to me how funding works in Northern Ireland.
It seems that in the North East of the Province, money can be found for virtually anything while the historic City of Derry, neglected by decades of Stormont misrule, is left behind like “Little Orphan Annie”
Even the gaily coloured tourist train running about the City is advertising - NOT the forthcoming Derry/Londonderry UK City of Culture - but NI2012 “Our time, our place”
Talking about NI2012, has the Northern Ireland tourist board decided the ancient Walls of Derry are not worth mentioning in their current World-wide TV advertising?
Mind you, I enjoyed the glimpse of the Halloween revellers!
While local community and voluntary groups warn that people in Northern Ireland - especially the poor - will be badly hit by the benefits shake-up, the Executive can pledge £25 million to improve Windsor Park in a scheme which will also benefit the GAA and rugby.
And what about the millions spent on the Titanic centre: £200 million allocated to the construction of a golf course in Bushmills, yet more millions spent on the Causeway Centre and for good measure another £1.5 Million has been allocated to a Titanic dry dock scheme!
But back to Derry/Londonderry, so soon after the ‘Lost and Found‘ debacle when we learned the huge ‘City People’ work of art from Foyle Street - demolished in the 1990’s - had been destroyed and lost without trace, a member of the public found ‘The Judo Players’ yet another work of art by a world renowned artist, in the Derry City Council dump!
Where’s this going? Sorry, I digress, all this exciting news gets to me.
“WOMAD festival bound for Derry” that was the headline on Tuesday 19 April 2011. Derry will host one of world music’s biggest events during its year as city of Culture.
The Deputy first minister Martin McGuiness accompanied by the Mayor of the City proudly announced: “This will bring the world to our city and we can tell our story to a global audience. Do not underestimate the importance of this announcement. This is great news for this city, the country and for the promoters of the City of Culture.”
Chris Smith Director of WOMAD said ‘WOMAD are delighted to be working towards taking part in the celebrations of Derry as the first UK city of culture. We very much look forward to bringing the World to Derry but more importantly working with the organisers to take Derry to the World.”
The BBC on their daily blog had “ Womad BOOKED for Derry…”
Almost one year on BBC Foyle and The West has a different take on the story;
Doubt over Derry WOMAD festival. The group behind plans to bring the WOMAD festival to Londonderry in 2013 have said they cannot guarantee the event will take place. Eddie Kerr, the former director of SEEDS, said only the city's Culture Company could give that assurance.
　
In response, the Culture Company, despite their statement that they had external consultants national and international, went on to say that a sub-group had considered a feasibility study from WOMAD as a result of which the Culture Company, as sole funders, found that the financial risk was too high.
This in itself raises a few questions: Just when did the Culture Company (a) know the full situation and (b) when did the sub-group reach their conclusion. Why did the Company not make the situation clear when the Deputy First Minister had announced the event almost a year ago?
Am I being Macavellian (perish the thought) to think that maybe WOMAD was left dangling until the Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann Fleadh, a cheaper option, was all sewn up?
But then I have to ask: Is the UK Derry/Londonderry City of Culture meant to be a money-making scheme or a publicity vehicle for the City and Northern Ireland? Methinks both the Fleadh and Womad would be an asset to the Culture Year.
Trite as it sounds - we have to speculate to accumulate, even if the profit from Womad was nil, surely the long term gains should be enough to justify someone sticking their neck out?
For the purpose of balance according to Google:
Who or what is WOMAD?
Womad, an acronymn for World of Music, Arts and Dance – say their aim is to create awareness of the worth and potential of a multi-cultural society celebrates its 30th anniversary with this year.
Conceived by Genesis singer Peter Gabriel in 1982, the first ever Womad took place at the Royal Bath & West showground in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, and included: Echo & the Bunnymen, the Drummers of Burundi, Don Cherry, Simple Minds, Suns of Arqa and the Chieftans.
Since 1982, the organisation has hosted more than 160 events in 27 countries world-wide from Sicily to Seattle, Adelaide to Abu Dhabi.
mgs7/3mmxi800wds