Logistics, complications and weather: Making the 2020 London Marathon run smoothly By Heather McLean, Editor Thursday, October 8, 2020 - 16:37
Print This Story
CTV Outside Broadcasts, Broadcast RF and Aerial Camera Systems capturing the men's elite action at the 2020 London Marathon for BBC Sport
The 2020 London Marathon was a vastly different affair to those of previous years, both for the runners and for those of us watching from the comfort of our sofas at home.
Those thousands of runners, the amusing and cumbersome costumes, and huge crowds cheering the athletes onwards past the capital's major landmarks were absent for 2020 due to coronavirus restrictions.
Instead, only elite athletes ran the 2020 race, which took place on Sunday 4 October after its postponement from Sunday 26 April, winding in a closed-loop circuit around St James's Park in central London, with the iconic finish on The Mall remaining the same as in previous years. The men's winner was Shura Kitata of Ethiopia with a time of 2:05:41, and the women's elite winner was Brigid Kosgei of Kenya, who went across the finish line in 2:18:58. Meanwhile, the elite wheelchair races were won by Canadian Brent Lakatos, and Dutch Nikita den Boer.
Logistical challenge
You might think that broadcasting a race held in a relatively compact space would be simpler than in previous years. However, for BBC Sport, CTV Outside Broadcasts (CTV OB) and its fellow Euro Media Group (EMG) companies, Broadcast RF and Aerial Camera Systems (ACS), it was far from simple.
Explains Greg Livermore, CTV OB unit manager: The marathon is a logistical challenge, not a technological one. Despite the fact that it is on air for just a few hours on one day of the year, it is impressively complicated from our point of view.
This year's London Marathon took place in St James Park, the Queen's back garden
Outside of the complex RF setup for the radio cameras, we use tried and tested technology in the acquisition of the programme, Livermore continues. The difficult part is the coordination. The success of the broadcast is dependent on collaborative planning between London Marathon Events and the broadcast side of the Marathon; CTV OB and BBC Sport. We work hard together on pinning down the timings, movements, signage and logistics.
Continues Livermore: You can bring all the technology you like to a show, but if you have the logistics wrong then you won't have the space, time or support to get it working. With all of the planning, coordination and two days of technical rigging that occurred before the event, the day of the Marathon went without a single technical glitch, despite the horrendous weather.
For Broadcast RF the biggest challenge in the days leading up to the event was that, it was all new, Nick Fuller, RF project manager for Broadcast RF and Marathon and large event veteran, tells SVG Europe. This included a new course and course layout, which effectively amounted to a new event, certainly a new schedule of races, with three back to back marathons, and a new location for the OB compound, he continued.
Fuller notes that as well as the new course, COVID restrictions added to the complications for everyone involved: The event organisers had their own problems with the exact course, start and finish line positions, let alone all the COVID implications, which led to many last minute changes in the design of the course with knock-ons for both the broadcaster and the technical facilities providers.
We had weekly video-conferencing calls involving the event organisers, BBC, CTV OB and Broadcast RF to discuss the details, and during race week these calls became daily, essential for those last minute updates, he adds.
With the rain refusing to let up for virtually the whole weekend, the working conditions were less than ideal for the rig and test days, as well as for the event day on Sunday. But this is what outside broadcasts are all about; if the event can go ahead despite the weather, we have to cover it
The races were held in a secure biosphere as has been the case with other major sporting events. As far as COVID-19 protocols are concerned, the crews are now well used to what is required of them, while vehicles have been health and safety compliant for some time. Explains Livermore: COVID-19 poses little in terms of an onsite challenge to outside broadcasts now. We adapted the trucks at an early stage and all crew are used to the mask wearing, social distancing aspect of infection prevention.
Speaking to SVG Europe, Micky Payne, BBC producer and director, and the London Marathon's planning and race producer, adds: The COVID pandemic was an obvious issue in terms of practicalities, but we worked closely with the race organisers about testing for all crew and safety procedures in terms of social distancing between cameras and athletes, and the wearing of masks for interviews.
Speeding along the track with Aerial Camera Systems
Extra toys for broadcast
From a director's point of view, bringing broadcast partners' technologies into play this year was key in making this extremely different coverage from the usual' London Marathon work. Payne says: The 2km lap course made it vital to have quite a few extra toys' on the course to help avoid the race coverage being dull. So we had two railcameras, several jib and hoist cameras, as well as the usual bike and helicopter cameras, to boost the images. We also had a kart camera (a remote controlled low-level mobile camera,) and a drone camera, but both were unable to work safely because of the wet weather.
He adds: The landmarks of Buckingham Palace, the Royal Parks and Horse Guards Parade all needed to be reflected as normal as part of this iconic event.
The BBC used separate OB trucks for the race and transmission. Bo
