5 Tips For Organising Marathons

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If you’re thinking about becoming involved in holding a marathon, chances are you haven’t yet considered all of the aspects involved. While marathon planning and management isn’t highly difficult, it will require a decent amount of research, networking, and sheer effort from the event organiser(s). As you’d expect, there will be more work involved if the event is larger, but since the goal is usually to maximise runner participation and attendance numbers, you should welcome the challenge of creating a fairly popular marathon rather than aiming for a smaller turnout for the sake of simplicity. With that said, here are some tips you can use to organise the best marathon possible:

1. Build an Email List

Although more intensive promotion will be needed down the road, a good initial step to take when gauging the potential size of the marathon is to compile a list of potential runners’ email addresses or social media accounts. That way you’ll have a pool of core participants that will help you spread awareness of the marathon via word of mouth. When building your contacts list, it would be a good idea to use an email verifier to keep the list free of any invalid or inaccurate addresses – check the following link for more information.

2. Start with a Budget

Cost is an issue that many people don’t initially consider when planning to hold a marathon. The exact price will vary depending on the location, town/city, and other factors, but usually the cheapest option is to pick a rural destination. However, the trade-in is that you’ll probably get more people showing up to the marathon if it takes place within city limits. Once you have a preliminary list of contacts to serve as your starting base for the event promotion, the first step should be setting a definitive budget.

3. Choose a New Location or Course

Choosing the location will perhaps be the most important step. You want your course to be appropriate for the skill level of the runners that will be in attendance, free of excessive traffic or other obstacles, and set along roads and paths that provide plenty of extra space for pedestrians. If this isn’t your first go-round, then you might consider changing the location if the event didn’t perform as expected the previous year.

4. Use a Variety of Promotional Methods

Once you’ve got the time, date, location, budget, and core group of contacts lined up, it’s time to go full force with the promotional aspect of the project. The best way to increase the number of runners is to start promoting the event months in advance. There are various ways to promote the event, from traditional marketing to online advertising, or even promotional products. You can also consider getting digital signage for the event, inform people about the event through a digital display. Look for digital signage companies that can equip screens with the content you need to display, that is, promoting the marathon. Place the digital signage near a park or gym, any place where people who would be interested in the marathon are likely to visit. You should also look for other means. Every marathon runner will need water so why not consider Custom Water bottles as a promo method? You could have all the necessary details on the label and create a unique advertising tactic.

5. Discuss it with the Necessary Parties and Authorities

Finally, don’t forget that you shouldn’t commit or invest in anything until you’ve cleared the marathon with the appropriate agencies and authorities. Contacting the city hall and making the event organiser’s contact information publicly available is a good way to prevent any miscommunication regulatory or PR mishaps.

Don’t Forget to Clean Up Afterwards!

In closing, it’s imperative that you have a group of people to help you with clean up after the marathon is over. Failing to fully clean up could cause the event to be looked down upon by the community and/or create the possibility of receiving fines or having the marathon discontinued in the future.