NOVEMBER | FEATURE
Suppliers
• WS Transport – Transport
• Events Crew , GAP , Arena Site services , Capital Barriers , Sunbelt Rentals , Xposerv – Barriers and Fencing
• ARB – Power
• Mitchell Bridges – Footbridge
• GL Events , Field & Lawn , Key Structures , Arena Seating , Chord , Paul Simon Marquees – Marquees & Structures
• Square One , Creative Technology – Finish Gantry
• Loos 4 Dos , SLCTCS , GAP , Simply Hire , Mobile Thrones – Toilets
• Logical Safety Solutions , TESS – Health & Safety
• Newman , Provide , Mann Commercial , Minerva Elite – Venue Security
• IN Event , CSM , Elonex – Branding
• 2CL – Radio Communications
• Cawley ’ s – Waste Management to do it this year , and we have some incredible goals to expand and amplify that ,” says Brasher .
Staged only weeks before global leaders gathered in Glasgow at COP26 , sustainability was naturally a major focus at the London Marathon .
Having successfully trialled the use of bottle belts in 2019 they were used again this year . In 2019 the belts , which are made of 95 % recycled plastic , led to a 45 % reduction in plastic bottle usage . A closed-loop bottle recycling scheme was introduced , with all bottles made from recycled plastic , collected afterwards and returned for reuse .
Other environmental measures included kitbags made from sugar cane , bib numbers printed on demand to reduce waste from uncollected numbers , the use of
compostable cups , generators fuelled by Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil , and electric vehicles .
Teamwork Clearly , staging the London Marathon is a massive undertaking . A core team of around 85 people is employed year-round , and on the day some 4,500 volunteers and 160 doctors are engaged , not to mention the many suppliers ( see box ).
“ Around 6,000 people work directly on the event and many more indirectly – Docklands Light Railway had one of its busiest days in 2019 with more than 320,000 people using it on race day . In terms of suppliers , we tried to work with most of the ones we had existing relationships with for continuity and wanting to support them .”
Among the new contractors this year was WS Transport , as well as Square One and Creative Technology , which were involved with the new finish gantry and hospitality on the St James ’ s Park side of The Mall .
London Marathon Events senior operations manager Ben Craddock says : “ We did have some challenges with supply in certain areas . One of these was toilets at the start of the event . We ended up using three or four suppliers to deliver the quantity required .”
While it is unlikely any event this year was immune from the impact of the shortages of equipment , services and staff resulting from Brexit and the pandemic , Brasher says the fact the 2021 London Marathon date was announced on 7 August 2020 , helped suppliers plan for it .
He says : “ We were always clear it would happen . I hope it was through communication with our suppliers , and through the events we did , that they knew we would do something incredible this year . Ultimately , it was able to go ahead because of the trust that our suppliers have had in us .”
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