HOW MCS INTEGRATES WITH SSE AIRTRICITY DUBLIN MARATHON 2017

In this article, we share an experience that has become a regular event on the office calendar, the SSE Airtricity Dublin Marathon. This event takes place each October in our beautiful city of Dublin, and MCS are proud to be associated with an event that gathers together thousands of athletes from around the world.

REGISTRATION FOR THE SSE AIRTRICITY DUBLIN MARATHON – THE HISTORY

Prior to 2014, the athletes registering for the SSE Dublin Marathon were accustomed to standing for hours in a queue in the RDS main hall a day or two before the event, as they awaited their turn for a volunteer to manually process their registration. This queueing was an inconvenience for the runners, it put pressure on the volunteers processing the entries and it reduced the time available to athletes for browsing around the event Expo.

So, early in 2014, the marathon organisers contacted MCS and requested us to develop a software solution to speed up the registration process and in short, to enable registration for the marathon to become less of a marathon!

Our task was to develop a software system that would reduce queueing time and improve the experience for the runners and volunteers and increase the benefit to the Expo exhibitors. The briefing we got was very detailed and this helped significantly in the software development process.

REGISTRATION FOR THE SSE AIRTRICITY DUBLIN MARATHON – SOFTWARE COMES TO THE RESCUE

Working closely with the organisers during 2014, a solution was developed and tested. A few heated hours for those running the software ensued, but overall the outcome was a success! The annual queue for registration moved quickly and the organisers were happy. However, we were determined to make it even more efficient so further development followed which also included additional requirements from the organisers.

On 24th and 25th October 2015, athletes and volunteers were pleasantly surprised and delighted to find there was no queue. It added to their positive experience of the SSE Airtricity Dublin Marathon for 2015 – they spent more time at the Expo and less time standing in line.

We are happy to say that registration for the 2016 and 2017 Dublin Marathons were equally efficient and pressure-free. Any queue that developed during registration quickly dispersed and the happy athletes were free to wander around chatting with fellow athletes about the task ahead of them.

Some images above from the busy registration desks on Saturday 27th October 2017

KEYS TO SUCCESS OF MARATHON REGISTRATION SOFTWARE

Job satisfaction as an IT service provider comes from developing software that meets the needs of and solves problems for the end users. One of the main factors contributing to the development of a solution that satisfied the needs of the Dublin Marathon was the close working relationship between the MCS development team and the marathon organisers. Ongoing, two-way communication enabled both parties to ensure that nothing was left to chance. This relationship continues today.

Below are some of the successful features of the software itself:

Rapid throughput
Robust, reliable & easy to use
Intelligent
Tiered users
Search option by different criteria
Provides visibility and progress updates
Customisable

We hope to continue our work with the SSE Airtricity Dublin Marathon and look forward to meeting more of the many thousands of athletes who are blissfully unaware of how MCS makes their Dublin marathon experience more enjoyable.

Well that’s it for 2017, another successful year processing registrations and matching thousands of athletes with their race numbers. Congratulations to all the 20,000 athletes that took part on Sunday, you are fantastic!

We would like to thank everyone involved in organising the SSE Airtricity Dublin Marathon 2017, especially the volunteers who work so hard and give so freely of their time, year after year.

If you would like MCS to develop a bespoke software solution that could help your organisation become more efficient please contact us today. We would be happy to help you achieve your goals using software developed specifically to meet your business needs.