Boston Marathon and the impacts on the overall event industry

April 15, 2013 was meant to be a day when 27 000 people were to challenge themselves and run the Boston Marathon. A marathon race that is known as “the people’s race” and as Matt Pearce from the LA Times describes it “you run with a herd through a series of towns around Boston and finish downtown to the cheers of a jubilant mob.” But on April 15, 2013, 5 633 runners were unable to cross the finish line as two explosions took place within 12 seconds from each other near the finish line, leaving 3 people dead and over 260 people injured. The bombings were classified as a terrorist attack. Unfortunately, this is not the first time a sporting event has been the target for such attacks. In 1972 at the MunichGames, the Palestine militant group Black September took the Israeli national team hostage. After a 16 hour stand-off, 11 athletes and coaches and 1 police officer had died.

These events, that are meant to be a celebration of achievements and pride for their countries, can often be target for such attacks as there is already existing media coverage, most often on an international or at least national level. With the extremist groups such as IS rising, it forces event managers and organisations to re-evaluate their safety measures to keep both participants and spectators safe of any potential threat.

To ensure the safety at the Boston Marathon in 2014 significant safety changes were made. 80 000 steel barriers were erected to separate the estimated 1 million spectators from the 35 755 runners and 3 500 police officers were patrolling the marathon route. The spectators were also limited to watch the race from only 40 checkpoints where metal detectors, sniffer dogs and bag checks were in place. Both spectators and runners were asked to use clear bags for their belongings and the runner’s were not allowed to bring any belongings with them on the bus from the finish line to the start other than fanny packs, energy belts or bottles of water of less than 1 litre. Kurt N. Schwartz, Massachusetts public safety director said that they were looking for “the right balance between safety and security and ensuring that we maintain the traditional character and feel of the Boston Marathon." But the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings did not just change crowd safety procedures for any future Boston Marathon but had significant impacts on other marathons around the world and their safety measures.

(Source: Source: Nancy Stone, Chicago Tribune)

The Chicago Marathon in 2013 gave out clear plastic bags for runners to carry any food or clothing in, runners also had to go through one of three security check points before entering the starting line area. Any non-form fitted costume as well as any costume covering the face was not allowed to be worn by the runners. Spectators were also subject to random inspections of backpacks and crowd control barriers were in place to stop spectators from running alongside the runners. These safety measures that were introduced in 2013 in the after match of the Boston 2013 bombings were still in place during the Chicago Marathon 2014. But the question remains, will these marathon organisers ever be able to decrease the safety measures? And if not, how will this alter the participant experience, the support and the festive atmosphere that a marathon normal creates? Despite the organiser’s attempts to keep the feel and tradition of the marathons, surely, it cannot be the same for the runners, surely running past armed military officers such as pictured, does not create a festive, fun and motivating atmosphere?

The criticism does not lie within the safety measures that the organisers are forced to implement. The criticism lies with the fact that political issues are being opinionated towards innocent people through drastic measures, turning something that is meant to be a celebratory achievement in to something of nightmares. The criticism lies with the people that are aiming at destroying lives of innocent people at an event which is meant to bring to together and unify runners, spectators, volunteers and organisers in one festive, inspiring and proud moment.

The one thing that we can do as event managers, organisers, volunteers or participants is to continue to take part in it, to continue to enjoy it and try our best to adapt to the changes in safety measures and hope that the increasing threats from extremist groups do not force an end to mass participation sporting events as we know them. Throughout my three years at University my goal was always to enter in to the mass participation sport event industry and the issue of terrorism would have been a key issue for me to consider. However, very recently I was offered a job which is more within the tourism industry with only a small element of occasional fundraising events so for my future role terrorism is no longer something that I need to consider on a day to day basis. Nevertheless, it is a key issue for event managers that are in the industry of mass sporting events.