City to Surf- Sporting Events and the 'Risk Factor'

What a weekend! As many of you may already know, last weekend the Chevron City to Surf for Activ was held on Sunday the 25^th.  As an intern at Corporate Sports Australia this is what my past few weeks had been leading up to.  I worked the Thursday, Friday and Saturday leading up to the event and they were several crazy days!  It has been both an amazing and rewarding experience to watch it all come together.

I spent Thursday in the office assisting Steph, the Customer Liaison Officer reply to countless emails and phone calls- predominantly participants who had lost their e-tickets or who were seeking out other information regarding the event.  My Friday and Saturday were spent at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre working at the Event Expo, which is where participants come to pick up their race packs.  It was a great experience to be able to work at the Event Expo- as it was in itself an entirely different kind of event to the Chevron City to Surf Race.  Most of my time at the Event Expo was spent on the Help Desk, assisting participants with any queries that they had.  This was a great chance for me to exercise my knowledge of the event and registration systems I had learnt over the past 6 weeks.

On Event Day I was stationed at the finish line.  Possibly one of the best places to be to watch the action transpire!  Aside from a little rain and some delays at the start, the race overall went well and it was a surreal feeling to watch something come together that I had been a part of.

Tragically two people died as a result of the event, one man on the day of the event and another several days later.  Both deaths occurred as a result of heart problems.  It is dreadful that an event that aims to improve the lives of others has indirectly led to the death of two of its participants.

Following this news a friend asked me “isn’t there anything they can do to stop deaths like these occurring?” (‘They’ referring to Corporate Sports Australia as the event organisers).  This caused me to ponder the nature of events and question whether or not something could be done to prevent deaths occurring.  Events are inherently risky in nature; however both deaths occurred as result of underlying heart problems, not as a result of the organisers faulty risk management.   People often push themselves past their bodies’ limits- which in both running and sporting events is often encouraged!  

In light of recent events is this still the message that we should be sending?  There are many different sides to the argument and a number of points that could be put forward.

So I ask you my fellow PR students; what do you think should/could be done to prevent deaths like these occurring in the sporting events industry?  Should we keep encouraging people to push themselves, or warn them to listen to their bodies and take it easy?

COMMENT below, I’d love to hear your insights!