Head Start

On April 15, 2013, two homemade bombs planted by brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tarnaev exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. In the devastation that ensued, three innocent people lost their lives, while 281 others were injured, in what was, and still remains, the biggest ever terrorist incident suffered by a mass-participation sporting event.

In the midst of all this, Boston Marathon race director, Dave McGillivray, and his team, working alongside emergency services, had to deal with a situation never before encountered by a race management team, while working under huge stress and personal risk to help runners with very little concrete information to go on on what had happened and what might be around the corner.

Today with Dave’s help, we’re going to be revisiting those remarkable events that took place 10 years ago that brought the horrors of terrorism into endurance events and forever changed the security protocols major mass-participation races around the globe have had to contend with ever since.

We’re going to be going over the dramatic minutes and hours following the bomb explosions at the 2013 Boston Marathon, the response of the race management team, lessons learned from dealing with uncertainty when every second counts, as well as look at the aftermath of those events on security measures for the 2014 race and other races around the world, the impact these measures have had on race experience, and the legacy of the 2013 bombings on Boston Marathon and beyond.

In this episode:

• The amazing story of the Boston Marathon, the world's oldest annual marathon
• Contingency planning and emergency protocols prior to 2013
• The calm before the storm: going into the 2013 event in an upbeat mood following a near-canceled 2012 race
• Scrambling for answers and loved ones after the bombs went off
• Setting priorities in the immediate aftermath of the bombing
• Stopping the race and redirecting runners
• Working alongside and coordinating with emergency services
• The importance of team training, planning and efficient communication in handling unforeseen emergencies
• Improvising in the face of uncertainty
• The impact of the bombing on runners, race staff and the city of Boston
• Increasing security measures at the aftermath of the 2013 race
• The effect of additional security measures on the race experience, race banditing
• The legacy of the 2013 bombing on event operations and the "new normal"

Links:

• Boston Athletic Association - https://www.baa.org/
• DMSE Sports - https://www.dmsesports.com/
• Dave McGillivray Finish Strong Foundation - https://www.davemcgillivrayfoundation.org/

Thanks to RunSignup for supporting quality content for race directors by sponsoring this episode. More than 28,000 in-person, virtual, and hybrid events use RunSignup's free and integrated solution to save time, grow their events, and raise more. If you'd like to learn more about RunSignup's all-in-one technology solution for endurance and fundraising events visit runsignup.com.

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