Dear Editor, Following the brilliant organisational success of Sunday’s World Half Marathon race around our city, successfully getting more than 10,000 competitors back to the city centre safely, I was astounded to read in the Daily Telegraph the dreadfully negative reporting of such a world-class event.

They chose to devote a full page to a report on a charity race in the London Royal Parks, the winner covering the half marathon distance in 1hr 9mins 3secs, a time that would have hardly been inside the top 100 places in our Birmingham race.

The London-based Telegraph chose to cover our race with a story about three athletes being stuck in a Rep Theatre lift, USA athlete Dathan Ritzenhein describing it as “like being in the black hole of Calcutta”. Yet he still finished third in the men’s race after his “ordeal”, in exactly one hour, his best time. Another lift “prisoner”, Kenya’s Mary Keitany, won the ladies’ race and broke Paula Radcliffe’s course record by 11 seconds.

I now realise just where the “North of Luton” expression originates from.

Talk about Southern bias ignoring a race to crown the World Half Marathon champion, whizzing around our fantastic city in 59 minutes for more than 13 miles. Instead, the London Telegraph chose to cover a London “fun run”. Presumably London’s lifts never get stuck?

Mike Kelly

Kings Heath