 Crowd Planning Case Study: The Great North Run
The
Great North Run is the world’s biggest half-marathon, with 50,000
entrants participating each year. 
For the
runners the hard bit is the race itself, but for Nova International -
the specialist sports marketing agency that organises the event – one of
the challenges is to safely assemble the entrants before the Run.
The race
begins in a section of motorway, which is bounded on either side by
steep embankments.
Nigel
Gough, Operations Director for Nova International, contacted Simon
Ancliffe at Evacuation Strategies for expert help in organising the
start area. “We worked with Simon before at the Great Manchester Run,
and thought Simon could help us here to improve control and safety at
the start area.
The most
cost-effective solution for us was to work through a workshop together
and develop a framework for me to organise the layout of the start in
2006. I am happy to say that this was a success and will be the basis
for out future plans for this Run.”
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About
the Great North Run
The
world’s biggest half marathon The BUPA Great North Run celebrates its
25th anniversary this year (2006).
Since it first began way back in June 1981 642,221 people have crossed
the finish line at South Shields.
The
event is broadcast live on the BBC from 9.30am and covers the race for
four hours.
The
course record was broken last year by the first Ethiopian winner of the
Great North Run Dejene Berhanu in 59 minutes and 37 seconds, slashing 21
seconds off the previous record set in 2002 by Paul Kosgei.
A
total of 8,027,758 miles have been run since the race began, that’s
about 308 times around the world.
For more information on the Great North Run and other Great Runs, visit
http://www.greatrun.org/ |
