Race start/finish

Where an event site is the start/finish point for a marathon or other race, additional considerations come into play. The site must be positioned at a place where the surrounding roads, pathways and tracks will be available and accepted as the route for the race.

Your site plan will have to allow for the safe departure of runners or cyclists at a mass start and be available for an extended period as an access point on return to the site. The finishers will be stretched out as competitors attain different paces due to different levels of fitness and different ages and abilities.

It is likely that vehicles, such as those listed below, will be included in the race order:

• pace car,
• timing car displaying time elapsed since the start,
• draft-buster motorcycles (for a cycle race),
• mobile judges and stewards,
• first aid patrols,
• marshals transport.

Your arrangements at the entrance and exit gates will then have to include vehicle and competitor access, which introduces risks! You will have had to risk assess the hazards and have designed a process that will easily and safely separate competitors from returning judges, stewards and first aid patrols, while still maintaining crowd safety at the gates.

There are also implications for sign posting (Chapter 16), permissions (Chapter 17), radio communications (Chapter 19), staffing (Chapter 20), and emergency and normal procedures (Chapter 24).