– Neelesh Kajale

The 7^thedition of Satara Hill Half Marathon was a hugely successful event. It is time to appreciate, congratulate and thank every member of the organizing team, volunteers and supporters along with the ever enthusiastic crowd of our beloved Satara city. SHHM is raising the bar of its impressive performance and meticulous organization higher and higher every year. The onus is now on the SHHM team to live up to the heightened expectation and adulation.

SHHM is receiving a fantastic response and love from a lot of people across the globe. Beautiful route and amazing people are making it a very photogenic event. Generally speaking, personal and professional lives, events tend to take more importance and process behind the event which makes it successful tends to get a very limited or no attention. But nothing substantial can be achieved without following the ever-evolving process meticulously.

It would be prudent to highlight their process of organizing such a gala event. It will help us understand the method to the madness. It is essential to highlight and appreciate the hard work, time and energy that goes into making the event a grand success.

SHHM team is blessed by an enthusiastic and dedicated team of individuals who are putting their precious time and energy in bringing this event together. They have segregated their squad into various groups. Each group has been allotted a specific task. Unplanned and emergencies are handled by discussing them in regular meetings.

It will be easy to put the whole structure from the perspective of an organizational hierarchy. Satara Runners Foundation which is a non-profit organization has developed this community and volunteers based event into a well-oiled and professionally run machinery.

The activities related to organizing SHHM are spread across the year. There are Pre-Event tasks, Event Management and Post-Eventwork that needs to be taken care of religiously. Surprisingly enough runners and fans alike do not understand the process until something stops working or is not going according to plan. The smooth organization and ‘WoW’ running experience are the ‘NEW NORMAL’ for SHHM.

The team starts buzzing right at the start of the calendar year. The core team and registration teams begin working with TownScript which is the ticketing partner for SHHM. Registration day is an excellent start to a new marathon year. SHHM registrations are getting completed within2-3 hours from the opening time. Once the registrations are over, SHHM team starts working on various aspects of the marathon.

Organizing SHHM needs a lot of people contributing consistently at various levels for different tasks throughout the year. It is crucial to understand the fact that the team members and volunteers are working for SHHM, only for the passion for running and making SHHM a bigger and better success story.

Once the registrations are confirmed, workshops and Sunday long runs get organized which helps runners at all experience levels to follow a training schedule and to prepare for the big day. Expert guest lectures and breakfasts are the incentives of participating in the Sunday long runs. The team gets involved in various activities related to selecting and inviting the specialist guest speakers. Their accommodation and transport needs are taken care of, if necessary. Multiple sponsors including passionate individuals contribute towards the expenses for breakfast. Official photography team takes care of capturing the moments and sharing them with the runners almost instantly. Facebook page of SHHM keeps on buzzing throughout the year. Expert lectures are recorded and made available on the Facebook page.

The team starts working on Civic/Police approvals and permissions for the traffic and other arrangements for the day of the half marathon.

The separate team starts working on venue management and route management. Both of these aspects are critical to the runner’s comfort and performance.

Letus note down some of the tasks which get delegated to specific teams:

• Registration
• Sponsor liaison
• Advertisement and Social Media management
• Media liaison, Promotional events, Media kits
• Venue bookings, Venue Setup, Signage boards
• Catering
• Reception of dignitaries
• Technical observers, Governing body authorities, Observers, referees and marshals at the venue
• Medical camps
• Results management and computer updates, SMS/Email communication pre and post-race.
• Sound management, Equipment maintenance, Transport
• Ceremonies, master of ceremonies (Pre-event and post-event)
• Crowd management
• Event safety    
• Merchandising (T-shirts, Medals, Memorabilia, Souvenirs, Giveaways, BIB, and kit)
• Social activities
• Hospitality
• Documentation and accounts

We are not going into the details of every aspect mentioned above. Each one of them is a complex task considering a large number of people who participate in the event. These participants are runners and their friends, spectators, volunteers, and the local community. Civic and Police department helps wholeheartedly managing the event in the most appropriate manner. Local leaders and agencies help manage the complex task of SHHM organization.

As the race day approaches, SHHM event takes the form of a traditional Indian marriage ceremony. Organizers must take care of all the guests and their comfort while making sure that the event takes place smoothly. A Marathi word ‘लगीनघाई’ correctly describes the last minute rush to put everything in order. When an event takes place on such a scale, one or the other thing is going to be missed or ignored. SHHM team has been working on removing most of the glitches and shortcomings in the planning and execution of the event by learning from their previous seven successful attempts.

Every year brings in new challenges and difficulties. Some of them are because of the innovative ideas that they are trying to implement whereas others are due to difficulties or roadblocks created by factors which are beyond their control while being essential for the greater good of the community. This year, SHHM commenced from ‘Talim Sangh Ground’ which is a new starting point for SHHM. It used to start from Police Parade Ground, but the venue had to be changed due to infrastructure-related projects in the town. Changing the venue of the marathon is a mammoth task. So many parameters need to be taken care of. The layout, approach, traffic management, runners segregation, medical recuperation camps, race closure, official time stamping, catering and crowd management needs to be tried and tested beforehand. SHHM team spent a considerable amount of time in making sure that the new venue becomes an asset for the marathon and not a liability.

Due to change in the venue, the complete route map and profile had to be revised and recalibrated. Change in the site is helping SHHM brand since the runners will be running through the old city of Satara. They will get the firsthand experience of the ‘Rajwada’ and ‘Rajpath’ which was not part of the race route in the previous events.

This year technical team of the SHHM had prepared a 360-degree route video. It gave runners a real glimpse of the glorious to and fro route of the SHHM. It is available on YouTube now.

SHHM team has worked on every aspect of the logistics and inventory part of the event management. Especially women team members have spent a considerable amount of time on the provisioning of the essential supplies with the help of their male counterparts wherever necessary.

All the aid/water stations, dustbins, toilets, and cheering stations had to be revisited and repositioned, if necessary. Provision for medical emergencies was made. Appropriate arrangements were made for replenishing the supplies of sponges, water, minerals and salts at every aid/water station.

Necessary hoardings, placards, and billboards were designed and printed for the grand entrance, Talim Sangh Ground and all the critical locations along the route. All the aid/water stations, dustbins, and toilets were marked with readily visible signboards.

All the runners got their BIBs and marathon kits collected on 1^st Sept 2018 from the expo center organized at Shendre. SHHM team had prepared the bags with BIBs, T-Shirts, and souvenirs. Route guide was published on the SHHM website.

Arrangements for the entertainment and a little frolicking were made at the expo. Different sponsors and other businesses had showcased their products and services at the stalls allocated to them at the expo center. Runners’ community and visitors undoubtedly got benefitted from the same.

Once the expo was over at Shendre on 1^st Sept 2018, all the focus got shifted to Talim Sangh Ground and the race route. Traffic was blocked 2 hours before the race started; volunteers helped the runners navigate and maintain discipline while running in ‘The Climb’ section. Cheering teams were motivating runners to pick up and keep the pace.

Ateam stationed at the turning point made sure that the path was clear for the runners and every runner followed the official route.

Once the runners reached the finish point, their timestamps got recorded, and confirmation of the same was shared with them on the SMS and email instantly. Prize distribution ceremony for the outstation runners took place immediately.

Once the race was over, the complete route got cleaned for the litter and garbage.

The stockof the inventory and other material was taken, and the race was over.

The work of the organizing committee was not over. They had to interact with various stakeholders and share the relevant information with them. Sponsors, vendors, and media need to be taken care of. All the details of the race need to be shared with respective agencies and organizations.

Accounts and finance department got busy working on the payment clearance and closures of the transactions for the few days after the race day.

SHHM local awards ceremony was organized on 27^thOctober 2018 at DCC bank auditorium in Satara. It was a fun-filled program wherein winners from various categories, and individual performers, teams, and contributors were felicitated for their efforts and commitment.

The complete SHHM team keeps on working around the year on various things, but the majority of the work takes place in the six months before the race and three months after the race.  

We must acknowledge their unwavering support and faith in the idea of Satara Hill Half Marathon. Gents and ladies alike are working consistently over a period without expecting anything in return. We must appreciate the support and contribution of the ladies wing of the SHHM team. They are instrumental in making SHHM bigger and better while simultaneously taking care of their personal and professional commitments. It is indeed commendable to see a large contingent of women team members taking complete responsibility for specific tasks and performing them without any lapses and failures.

Extending our marriage metaphor a little further, once the race was over and runners left the race arena, SHHM team and Satara certainly felt the loneliness and a sense of emptiness for some time, until of course, they started preparing for the next SHHM extravaganza… They have already set their eyes on 22^ndSeptember 2019.

SHHM has been a logical extension of ‘Co-operativeMovement’ which started from western Maharashtra (especially Satara, Karad, and Sangli). SHHM is a non-profit co-operative movement which is run by passionate runners, volunteers and the broader community.

I am sure this is just the end of the beginning, the best is yet to come…

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