Marathon Running Excluded on Many Travel Insurance Policies

Moycullen1

I was reading a post on health insurance earlier when I remembered a shock I got earlier in the year when I discovered that a lot of travel insurance policies exclude participation in marathons. I usually rely on my credit card insurance when travelling but on my last overseas marathon I wasn't using my card so wouldn't have been covered. I set about getting a single trip travel policy but on inspecting the exclusions I saw that marathon running wasn't covered. As it happens I am an insurance broker so I asked one of my colleagues to get a list of the main companies operating in the travel insurance market and was really surprised to discover that a lot of them specifically exclude marathon participation. It is something everyone travelling abroad to compete in a marathon should investigate before they go. The exclusions are generally listed on the policy document but in some cases you might have to request a list of them.

plodder

Do they mean any injuries or ill health caused by running in a marathon are not covered. But, you'd still be covered for other things, like losing your baggage?

robinph

It would be injuries caused during the marathon running that would not be covered, the rest of the trip would be covered as per usual as far as baggage cover and things.

Krusty_Clown

My policy (from one of the more popular holiday insurance providers - ACE) excludes: racing of any kind (except for racing on foot). So seems ok.

Peckham

I checked my annual multi-trip policy, and it lists marathon running as a Grade 1 hazardous activity (automatically included in the policy). Other activities in Grade 1 include pony trekking, cricket and rounders!

Pisco Sour

Peckham wrote: »

I checked my annual multi-trip policy, and it lists marathon running as a Grade 1 hazardous activity (automatically included in the policy). Other activities in Grade 1 include pony trekking, cricket and rounders

HAHA, what a joke of a sport! Baseball with a tennis racket instead of a bat!

Condo131

For the past few years I've taken an annual policy from Blue Insurance, as recommended by a friend in the insurance business.

Because of the ho-ha in the previous posts, I've just checked the details:
Marathon Running is covered as "Hazardous Activities: Grade 1 - No Additional Charge", on an "incidental basis". "incidental basis" is defined as "happening on a casual or occasional basis"

robinph

04072511 wrote: »

HAHA, what a joke of a sport! Baseball with a tennis racket instead of a bat!

Never used tennis rackets for rounders when I was a kid.

Peckham

robinph wrote: »

Never used tennis rackets for rounders when I was a kid.

Difference #17589 between Ireland and England. A few weeks after I moved to England, our company's sports and social committee organised a rounders tournament. I was surprised when I noticed the lack of tennis rackets, and the difficulty hitting the ball with a two foot pole.

robinph

It's only a small step up in accuracy from a cricket bat to the baseball bat, but from tennis racket to basball bat is a whole other ball game.