Marathon organizers spend over $230,000 getting athletes to London amid air travel chaos

Air chaos costs London Marathon organizers $230K

LONDON — London Marathon organizers have spent $230,940 — mostly on private planes — to get competitors to the British capital for Sunday’s race after plumes of volcanic ash led to unprecedented air-travel chaos.

The bulk of the bill was the nearly $170,000 spent chartering a jet to bring in athletes from Nairobi, Kenya, including defending champion Sammy Wanjiru.

Race director David Bedford says that “it’s been about making sure we maintain the quality of the event rather than bean-counting.”

British airspace reopened on Tuesday night, six days after flight paths were closed by ash spewing from a volcano in Iceland.