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Improving kit pick-up

Maritime Race Weekend race kit pick-up.

Maritime Race Weekend has tripled in size over the last three years. Considering the rapid growth, there have been very few issues. Every year is slightly different. New obstacles occur one year that didn’t in the previous year and it’s sometimes hard to predict new problems until you are faced with it. For example, last year there were hundreds of people waiting when we opened kit pick-up and the lineups lasted over an hour. After the initial rush, it was manageable but we don’t want people standing in lines. I’m now making it a priority to streamline pick-up. This year, when we open the doors, we’ll expect a large crowd and have a faster process.

I’ve had a number of experienced race directors offer me really good advice and shared best practices. Cheryl from the Calgary Marathon has been especially helpful. When we met, she explained their layout and helped me to plan improvements for Maritime Race Weekend.

We’ve been in a 3,000-square-foot space for the last three years. With so much swag and increases in sponsorship, we’ve outgrown this space:

Cheryl suggested we find a larger venue to accommodate a better layout. I’ve secured the Halifax Forum for our race-kit pick-up this year. It’s 14,000 square feet, in a central location with free parking for over 500 vehicles. It’s perfect.

A number of race directors have suggested that I eliminate group pick-ups. In retrospect, group pick-ups was the major cause of the hold-ups last year. Most races our size don’t allow group pick-ups because it causes delays for everyone else. We won’t have a line designated for group-pick-ups this year. Maritime Race Weekend floor plan

If someone picks up for their family or a couple of friends, they’ll have to go to the individual stations to get the bibs. We won’t have volunteers taking lists and running to each station like we have in the past. We’ll still offer group pick-up for groups of 20 or more, as long as it’s pre-arranged.

Most large races sort bibs by bib number. I’m still going to sort alphabetically, but instead of four pick-up stations, I’m going to have eight.

As a racer, I’ve never understood why large races have separate locations for the bibs and t-shirts. Turns out, it’s more efficient for traffic flow and cuts down on line-ups. Who knew? They did and now I do now. This year, we are going to try it. Runners will pick-up their bib at one station then their t-shirt at another. Tartan Twosome folks will have a third station to pick-up their bonus swag. Bibs will have swag-tags that you’ll tear off and pass to the volunteers, so they don’t have search on lists.

We usually only offer one day for pick-up. This year it will be spread out over two days. As a destination race, we’ll also have special options for out-of-towners arriving on race-day.

I’ve been invited to speak at Canada’s Race Direct Summit at the Calgary Marathon. This is an amazing opportunity to brainstorm with more race-directors, thank Cheryl in-person for her help and get a tour of the Calgary Marathon’s race-kit pick-up. I’m super excited.

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