Marathons are great ways to raise awareness for certain charitable causes. They are also a wonderful way to advertise your business or organization’s name out there as most of these marathons receive widespread media coverage. Below are some ways to make sure that your marathon is successful:

Get permits

Your marathon will most likely affect traffic as most of them are held on the streets. You need permission from local authorities so that certain streets can be closed off for a few hours to allow the run to take place. Be sure to apply for the permits in advance because the city needs time to plan diversions and communicate the same to the public.

Get corporate sponsorships

The more corporate sponsors a marathon has, the greater its overall chances of success. Remember your main goal is to raise awareness and the much-needed money for your cause. Sponsors can donate time, money or materials to help make your event a success. They may provide or print your T-shirts for free, promote your run in their stores, and even come forward to offer health services such as ambulances, first aid attendants and so forth.

Publicize

In order for your event to have a good turnout, people must know that it exists, right? You can advertise on the grass root level by word of mouth or you can go big and book slots on TV and radio stations. Using the internet is also a great and cheap way to publicize your marathon. Your sponsorship partners may also help by promoting the run themselves using flyers, posters or ads on their websites.

Temporary shelters to hydrate the runners

You must set up water stations during specific intervals of the course so that the runners may stop and get something to drink. This will reduce instances of dehydration which can lead to fainting. Set up a nice big visible temporary shelter for this. Each of these watering stations must have trash receptacles so that the runners do not litter the streets. Instead, they can dispose off the used bottles or cups at these receptacles. These shelters should be made of a durable material that is reflective of the sunshine so that the people serving the drinks do not get affected by the sun’s heat. In addition to these shelters, your emergency services crew and the security crew should also have lots of water supply to help runners who for some reason are unable to make it to the designated watering points.

Make sure that transparency is apparent

If you designate a charity as the beneficiary of the proceeds of the marathon, be sure that all money less those spent for organizing the marathon do end up there. If financial impropriety is suspected, you risk your reputation, legal ramifications and the inability to ever conduct such an event again. Have an auditor handle the funds and hand them over to the relevant parties once everything has been collected and accounted for. And lastly, if your marathon event is successful, consider having it on an annual basis!

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•  License: Creative Commons image source
•  License: Creative Commons image source
•  License: Creative Commons image source
•  License: Creative Commons image source
•  License: Creative Commons image source
•  License: Creative Commons image source

David Hall is the author of this delightful post. He is technophile and has a huge collection of various gadgets. He really loves his portable garage as it gives him the freedom to park his car wherever he wants without having to fear about anything happening to it.

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