MAY | FEATURE
Three factors were key in the
postponement: preparation, decisive
action and communication.
another date.”
Consideration was given to all kinds
of factors which would not be an issue
during the summer. For example –
would the team have enough time to
complete the build-up, get the runners
away, then break down again before
the sun set? Brasher adds: “We looked
at other events going on in London
and it very quickly came down to two
possible dates and then one date, which
was Sunday 4 October. This meant we
went through the whole process from
starting the discussions to announcing
the change in just over two weeks - an
amazing achievement.”
Brasher says that the London
Marathon’s suppliers have been
Virgin Money London Marathon
20
understanding of the move, too. He
says: “We are fortunate that a great
many of our suppliers have worked with
us for a number of years both on the
Marathon and our other events, and we
have built up strong relationships. They
fully understood that we were in an
unprecedented situation and supported
our decision.”
Survival of the…nimblest
Mathie echoes the sentiment that strong
relationships – whether with suppliers
or with local stakeholders – are
absolutely key in difficult situations such
as these. The B7s team worked closely
with Bournemouth University, which
owns the land of the festival site, in
order to arrive at the new dates. Mathie
adds: “Probably my biggest takeaway
from this process is that time invested
in building strong relationships during
good times comes back to you, in droves,
when you really need it.”
Mathie does, however, warn of a
potential supplier shortage if the event
pipeline gets too jammed: “I envisage
that the 30-week festival season could
soon be 6-10 weeks long, and this means
that suppliers who manage to survive
a summer with no events could be
overwhelmed by the number of events
trying to happen in that period.”
Charles Darwin famously said that
it is not the strongest but the most
adaptable species that survive. Craig
Mathie puts it slightly differently: “I
think that medium-sized festivals which
have small, nimble operations will be
able to postpone, whereas the bigger
players may struggle.”