Despite the cold, wind and rain, the celebration of the World Half Marathon Championships Valencia 2018 held on March 24 was a success. Thousands of people took to the streets to give support to all the participants of this emotional event. I enjoyed watching the illusion with which 315 professional athletes and 14,000 popular runners ran. In total people from 87 countries.
The participation of thousands of people and the presence of thousands of spectators undoubtedly requires great logistics and planning.
Let’s review some fundamental aspects to start a marathon. First you have to choose a place, establishing a circuit as central as possible, and a date, according to the weather. Permits will be requested from the competent authority. An important aspect is that the marathon is accessible, this requires to study the market and propose realistic objectives. Next, a detailed budget of all costs must be prepared. Moreover, it is convenient and necessary to look for sponsors, both national and international, in exchange for advertising their products or brands.
It is essential to guarantee the safety of the participants and assistants. The day of the race will have civil liability insurance. Traffic must be controlled and there must be a health presence every 5 km of the route. The refreshment points will be located every 2.5 km with water, isotonic and from km 20 they must have gels and solid foods. But an essential organizational aspect is the management of the registrations of the runners; for this purpose, a platform can be hired to integrate the payment with full guarantee.
Finally, one a
spect to consider is the storage of the products until the day of the event. The refreshments and foodstuffs, the gifts, running bib, etc … are stored without unpacking and are organized with the number of runners in mind. The boxes or packages in which the products are donated are taken advantage of, since these will be stored for a short time.
If you take a look at this link, you will see the good planning of the event:
https://www.iaafvalencia2018.com/competition/official-programme/
The blog of Logistics at MGEPS at UPV 