TIMING
Birmingham Half Marathon
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O
rganising a mass participation sporting event can Four races were run: the elite women’s, the elite men’s A
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involve years of meticulous planning by armies of and the wheelchair race for the IAAF, as well as the Birming-
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people. Running concurrently on 11 October, the ham Half Marathon, which received 12,500 entries.
: M
A
Birmingham Half Marathon and the International Associa- Kath Hudson talks to Birmingham City Council’s race di-
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K S
tion of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Half Marathon attracted rector, the marketing and events manager for the official
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E
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200 elite athletes and thousands of other enthusiastic timing partner Seiko and the head of competitions and in-
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runners to take to the streets of Birmingham. ternational relations at UK Athletics
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Julie Burden: Race director for Birmingham Half Marathon and the IAAF Half Marathon.
M
y main responsibilities are look- and finish gantries and the barriers up, timing company, also arrive on Saturday,
ing after the athletes while as well as to sort out the water stations, so we have to make sure their needs are
they’re running, ensuring the as each world athlete has a specific drink met, including providing their power.
course is laid out properly, taking care of at each one. Road closures start at 7pm A massive medical programme is put
health and safety issues and the traffic in place, involving the West Midlands
arrangements and making sure all the
With the extra race, we
Ambulance Service and St John’s Ambu-
anti-doping measures are in place. lance – 80 or 90 medics go out on the
The week running up to the event is a
were expecting upwards
course. We have ambulances and para-
challenging one: we have the grade one
of 60,000 spectators
medics at the end and also work with
course measurer in to check the course the fire service and the police to ensure
through the night on Tuesday and on Fri- on some of the lesser roads, but get crowd safety. Last year 50,000 people
day evening we put the blue line down going in earnest at midnight. lined the route. With having an extra
for the athletes to follow. We work day The CIS screens, which give results for race this year, we were expecting there
and night on Saturday to get the start the whole of the race and Seiko, the to be upwards of 60,000 spectators.
Issue 4 2009 © cybertrek 2009 Read Sports Management online
sportsmanagement.co.uk/digital 55
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