Imagine this, you’ve signed up for a mass participation endurance event that’s really going to test your physical and psychological limits. You’ve committed to the training, continually got up before the sun makes an appearance in the morning and endured the cold, dark British mornings to fit your sessions in around a busy working schedule. You’re feeling fit and injury free, but the days running up to the challenge are filled with doubt and worry, you’re unsure whether things will go smoothly on the big day. Once you cross that start line, everything is forgotten and you’ve only one job to do. Everything goes perfectly, a culmination of months of hard training, commitment and often compromise. You cross the finish line and expect the experience to reflect these efforts and commitment, but the finish line is empty, quiet and void of emotion. The last part of this long journey, tainted by a poor finish line experience which makes you doubt why you ever signed up to the challenge in the first place.
As sports event managers it’s very easy to be swept away with the organisation of the event, getting lost in logistics, paperwork and running orders. Because of this we often don’t take the time to reflect upon the participant journey and how much of a commitment entering a mass participation event of any level can be. As organisers, the finish line is our opportunity to thank and celebrate people’s efforts.
Here are a few ways you can make an unforgettable finish line experience for your event.
1) Refer to people by name on the finish line
The easiest way to make a person’s day is to congratulate them by name as they cross the finish line and it’s easily done. Timing is something that has been around for years, it’s put in place to offer individual and accurate times for participants or for welfare purposes on more remote or exposed routes. But usually, this technology means a live feed is automatically created as people cross the finish line. Using information from the event participant database means the individuals name, nickname and fundraising story can easily be filtered into the live feed. Ask your timing technician, they’ll normally be able to provide a tablet which can be accessed anywhere on the event site.
2) Build atmosphere through the entire day
Finish line supporters and their enthusiasm tends to peak towards the start of the day and the atmosphere will twiddle as the flow of finishers reduces. For this reason, it’s key to engage spectators on the finish line and give them a reason to be around for the entire day. Below are just a few ideas on how to build and maintain atmosphere:
· Hire the right people to MC and make sure they are comfortable with engaging the audience
· Dictate the atmosphere with the tempo of music played
· Keep refreshment, alcohol and food options immediately available at the finish line
· Keep toilets close by
· Consider giving away clappers, bangers or bells to finishers
· Offer shelter and seating in case of wet or hot weather
· Build a volunteer team to engage spectators
3) Build finish line support into your charity relationships
This one is simple, charities are always looking for places to cheers, have a presence and support their runners. Instead of creating on course cheer stations, compress this energy into the finish line area to maximise its impact. You can also bank on charity support to stay right until the last finisher and it’s this person that will appreciate and remember the support the most.
4) Branding is key to a pro finish line experience
Want to give your finishers an experience that feels like that of the pros, kill two birds with one stone by maximising your branding space in the finish line. This can include flags, branding of barriers, the gantry and any branding presence on the floor of the finish line. Making the most of this space gets your sponsor the exposure they are looking for but also helps to create that pro finish line experience.
5) Organise your venue to make the finish line a key highlight
Make sure your venue is organised in a way that makes the finish line a highlight or a centre piece. It becomes very difficult to maintain a spectator crowd when the finish line is disassociated with the venue and all the facilities that spectators will require are situated a long way away.
6) Introduce technology to take things to a new level
Providers are creating more and more ways to deliver engaging and unique finish line experience. This is the time to think outside the box and make sure your event has a unique selling point. From big screens, experiential finish lines and audio/visual shows, anything goes, because people are always looking for that new and exciting experience.
Thanks for reading this blog by All About Sports Events. If you need help bringing your finish line to life or would just like a chat, please feel to get in touch directly (hello@allaboutsportsevents.co.uk).
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