The three basics to organize a successful marathon.
At a seminar on organizing marathons on 31 August in Hyderabad, we heard from many organizers, including Mr. Mike Nishi, organizer of the Chicago Marathon; a Thailand marathon organizer; and leading organizers of India’s gold-label races. The presentation that stood out was Mr. Nishi’s, a Japanese national born and raised in America. He explained that, as a marathon organizer, he measures success by serving his 3 stakeholders: athletes, volunteers, and spectators. He went on to explain the various steps they have taken at the Bank of America Chicago Marathon.
Since that day, as a follower of long-distance running and an ex-national athletics champion, I have been eager to see the results for the spectators, because I firmly believe they are a key stakeholder in organizing any competition. What I saw was the result of the work Nishi and his team put in place.
There were 55,000 runners, quality racing, and 1.7 million spectators. This was what I call a complete event organization. In India, I have seen national and international athletics, but there has been no attention paid, for the last 57 years of my involvement, to bringing spectators to the arena or taking the sport to the people, as done in the Diamond League by hosting an event in a mall or in Zurich near the most populated metro station.
India needs to pay attention to this detail in the state, national, and international athletics events it organizes. Instead of spending crores on the competition, start budgeting for steps to make your sport popular. Looking forward to some movement in that direction.
