Post Event Happenings of the 2010 Rebel Sport City to Surf for Activ

It is clear to say that working for the Rebel Sport City to Surf for Activ team has become a lot less demanding now that Western Australia’s largest community sporting event has been successfully carried out for another year! Although things have been quieter in the office I have learnt a lot and enjoyed seeing how things work post event and the necessary procedures that need to be carried out!

The 2010 City to Surf was a record-breaking event with 40,468 registered participants. Records were also broken with the fastest ever marathon time to be set on Western Australian soil and the fastest ever female 12km run by Olympic marathon runner Lisa Weightman. The 2010 event also saw the largest fields yet for both the Marathon and Half Marathon events. It also has a record breaking fundraising total of $385,807.34 for Activ and over 100 other worthy charities across Australia!

The overall feedback for the event was overwhelmingly positive which is great news for all of the organisers involved. There were a few things that went wrong on the day, for example the Half Marathon runners were lead off course which resulted in competitors going the wrong way. This meant that the correct place getters and prize money became an issue, however this was quickly resolved. This was interesting to see elements of crisis management. It is definitely not easy to coordinate an event for over 40,000 people and to pull it off with such positive results makes it all the more worthwhile and rewarding to be part of the team!

Post event considerations including many press releases regarding results, records broken and fundraising. We also carried out several debriefs amongst staff but also with major partners and sponsors such as Channel Nine and the Town of Cambridge. The debriefs were very lengthy and it really shows just how much effort and attention to detail needs to go into the organisation of such a large-scale event. It also really helped in what needs to be improved or changed for next year’s event.

I also worked a lot on sponsorship during the week after the event. It’s very important to keep the sponsors updated and to thank them for their involvement because without the sponsors then event would not be possible. I wrote thank you letters to all of our sponsors and sent gifts to those with heavier involvement. I sent out two kinds of letters, one to those whose sponsorship contracts had now finished and one to those who were still in contract with us for at least one more year. In the letters to those who are out of contract I encouraged them to continue their involvement. I also worked on the sponsorship proposal template, which I found really interesting. Working on the 2011 event is well underway!

I am still continuing to tweet, although this too has quietened down a lot as there isn’t much to report on. Our aim is to keep our existing facebook and twitter followers until next year and to start on social media a lot earlier than we did this year to really make the most of this communication channel!

As a thankyou for all of the team the boss of Corporate Sports Australia invited us all to his corporate box to watch the Fremantle v Hawthorn finals footy game! It was great to feel rewarded and to catch up with everyone involved on a social basis rather than at work! All of the contract workers are now finished, so it is a different working environment in the office and it is sad to not be working with all of the new friends I had made anymore.

On that note, there really isn’t long to go for me either! Everyday I am learning heaps and I would love to get a job doing exactly what I have been doing here! It has helped to develop my confidence and prove to me that I am very ready for the ‘real world’.

Hope everyone else is still going well, not long to go now!