London Marathon 2019
We supported The London Marathon company’s safe delivery of the start site of the race for the third consecutive year, working year on year to introduce expert measures to improve the experience of running the event.
The size of the site, the route through central London, 40,000 participants, fans, tight time-lines for the installation and removal of temporary infrastructure all combine to make this a complex event.
Adam Blaxter was TESS’ trusted pace setter for this event, working with race start director James Taylor to consider site design and logistical considerations.
Our strategic delivery involves arriving for the build on Monday, with road closures not beginning until 4am on the Saturday morning giving the team a limited amount of time before participants arrive at 7am.
The build for the event had to be precise due to the fact that the site is on and around some of London’s busiest roads, such as the A2 dissecting the event site, which remain open for as long as possible.
Adam identified in 2018 that the 18m start arch steel gantry had to be manoeuvred into position very late with a 45minute window. The BBC relied on this gantry to mount camera’s on to get one of their ‘money shots’ of the event. Adam wrote a safety report and submitted it to the authorities to request, and secure, an additional two hours making the gantry installation a safe, well managed process.
The value of having us on site was underlined when some late decisions and alterations had to be made on site due to high winds forecast for the Saturday ahead of race-day. Assessing and reducing the wind-loading on some structures by decisive measures such as leaving roofs off the temporary grandstand spectator seating meant that the event could proceed with minimal disruption.
Year on year we can see where things can be improved upon, advise the client and work alongside them to implement creative changes. Sometimes it’s relatively straight-forward, such as relocating some cabins, sometimes it requires a lot of attention, such as the installation of an 18m steel gantry for the BBC.
“40,000
Participants
3hr
Build window
18m high
Steel starting gantry installed in...
45min”
