The Beirut Marathon is an annual event held in Lebanon that gathers 49,000 participants and thousands more spectators from around the world.
The marathon route winds through the vibrant city of Beirut, offering participants a unique way to experience the city’s beautiful landscape and culture. The Beirut Marathon symbolizes resilience, unity, and a shared love for running, making it a significant event on the international marathon calendar.
Ehrabi Nael, Race Director for the Beirut Marathon, recently shared his experience of using OnePlan to plan and organize the race. The adoption of OnePlan has led to significant improvements in efficiency for the marathon’s organization.
Watch how the Beirut Marathon saves planning time by using OnePlan:
Previous planning methods were time-consuming
Before using OnePlan, the Beirut Marathon team relied on physical maps and on-site measurements to plan the race. This method was time-consuming and required numerous site visits, which limited the team’s ability to explore different event locations.
“OnePlan makes it easier, basically. I can choose a location for a race that’s not even nearby and start planning everything, measuring everything in OnePlan and see if the layout I want is feasible or not – before even doing a site visit.”
Switching to OnePlan has saved 20 site visits
OnePlan has provided the Beirut Marathon team with an easier, more efficient planning method.
With the ability to access accurate measurements of the site and location data remotely, Ehrabi can now start planning and visualizing the race layout without needing to visit the site. This has drastically reduced the number of site visits required, from 20 down to just one or two.
Ehrabi found the onboarding process for using OnePlan to be smooth and user-friendly. Beirut Marathon used OnePlan’s free option for his first event to familiarize themselves with the product and its capabilities, ensuring a seamless transition when it came time to officially onboard.
Ehrabi says: “The software is that friendly with the ever-updating maps, and you can set up where your personnel is going to be on the ground on event day. You see the spots you would need extra security on. It makes our life easier.”
The benefits of using OnePlan to plan road events
There are three key benefits that the Beirut Marathon now has thanks to OnePlan.
1. Time-saving
OnePlan has significantly reduced the amount of time required to plan and organize the Beirut Marathon. The team can now brainstorm, map, and make decisions in the office before heading to the event location to finalize details.
Ehrabi says: “We used to take measurements on the ground, with every supplier, every logistics team. Now using OnePlan saved almost a month of planning. It’s what we were missing”
2. Improved safety
OnePlan’s accurate measurements have made it easier to place items and vehicles in the event area, ensuring everything fits safely and efficiently.
Enrabi says: “One of the features I like most right now is the crowd measurement feature. It’s so helpful to measure how many people you’re going to fit in a small area.”
3. Enhanced stakeholder relationships
The ability to visualize the race layout ahead of time helps the team and stakeholders to have a clear understanding of what to expect on race day.
“Everything was set up perfectly on race day as it was in OnePlan. Doing it in OnePlan means I don't have to redo everything and can duplicate the plan. It’s so much easier.”
Ehrabi Nael
Race Director, Beirut Marathon
Ehrabi and the Beirut Marathon have been thrilled with their OnePlan experience They now use OnePlan for planning the Beirut Marathon and other events, including fun runs and women’s races.
He says: “I would definitely recommend OnePlan to other road event planners. It’s much easier to plan an event on OnePlan.”
The adoption of OnePlan for the Beirut Marathon has streamlined the event planning process, saving time, improving accuracy in planning, and enhancing stakeholder relationships. The OnePlan team is grateful for Ehrabi’s positive feedback and will continue to work with the Beirut Marathon, alongside other running event clients, to refine our GIS planning platform to continuously better serve the needs of race event organizers.
Are you planning an event like Ehrabi? Get started using OnePlan today.
