Marathons and fundraising walks/runs are a wonderful new
trend. Marathons are a chance for competition, while walks/runs raise awareness
and money. Both of these activities require a great deal of crowd management
and safety to be done correctly.
So, how do you manage large crowds of runners, staff, and
onlookers? It’s not easy and requires a lot of planning. Marathon runners are
going to be physically fit, but this strenuous event can be dangerous if the
right procedures aren’t in place. For a fundraising walk, it is likely all your
participants won’t be in perfect physical condition and may push themselves too
far. Not to mention re-routing traffic and having a location for onlookers.
The first step you have to consider is the disruption that
will occur in the community. Ensure that proper detours are in place to
re-route traffic on the day of your event. It’s also nice to alert local
residents of the event with some sort of flyer. Trust us, this will cause
significantly less confusion the day of your event, which means less headaches
for you.
With roads blocked off though, how do you get participants
to the event site? You’ll need a designated route and parking zone, or some
sort of shuttle service. You need to close not only the roads of the event, but
the roads nearby to ensure there are no accidents. This can make travel to the
event difficult, so make sure you have clear instructions and accommodations.
The biggest challenge is handling the crowds on the day of
the event, and keeping everyone safe. A great way to do this is to break down
each area into different zones. These zones can be as big or small as you want;
a new one every block, every five blocks, every ten…whatever you need. This way
you can have staff dedicated to each zone to watch for issues with the
participants, keep onlookers in their designated areas, and make sure no
non-event traffic is making it through.
And make sure you have enough water and cooling stations! It
will be a logistical nightmare if you choose to have only several throughout
the course, as it will cause backups and make it unsafe for other participants.
Proper planning will make your next event a huge success.
Follow these guidelines, and people will be talking about your event for all
the right reasons.
