Whoever is bewitching the MTN Kampala marathon must stop.
With all due respect, the MTN marathon is great but it’s not where it must be. On November 20, MTN Uganda held its 13th Kampala marathon.
Abnormal registration fee. Registration fees keep shooting up. UGX 25k is rather on a higher end. Not that it’s not VIP treatment. I believe one by one makes a bundle. Less people, the less collections. The High registration fee may explain the gate crashers. Why would someone come with their 2014 or 2015 running vest if they actually paid? It would better if the registration fee is constant each year since it attracts fun and elite runners. The security team also did not seem to bounce those without running numbers. MTN may have forgotten that they have competition. Almost each month there is someone organizing another charity run in Uganda today.
Branding. MTN is no longer selfish enough with branding the marathon vest. The vests had more than one colour. They were no longer strictly lone yellow colour .This year, Huawei and Stanbic co-branded the behind part of the vest. It was the MTN marathon not a “Rolex marathon” Other sponsors should still have logos not on the entire vest. The signature bouncing castle at the start line was nowhere to be seen this year which reduced brand visibility.
Safety at its lowest. In some areas, cars would wade through the running crowd. Then the children with their bikes also made it unsafe for runners. A special category should be made for kids on bikes or ban bikes on the running track. Poor management of security.MC kept pleading with participants to get behind the starting line.
The Case of running categories. I think having 10km as the lowest category is a recipe for disaster. It was as if it was a walking category. Adding a 5Km category will help a lot. A critic on Facebook proposed that the name should be changed to MTN walk as more people walk than actually run.”
Running kit.2016 kit bag was just one sided which made it had to carry for some people. Someone posted this on Facebook.”Are the gonyas eating the contents in the bag as well, they keep reducing each year.am thinking next year we will be asked to bring our own t-shirts and we get bottles only………? Instead of the caps. Let’s get phone holders during the run” What happened to the running maps by the way? I think the running caps must be rethought. I don’t know when I last wore the #MTNmarathon cap.
Choice of the beneficiary. This year’s MTN marathon was to benefit Kampala schools again. Why support Kampala two years straight when not all participants actually come from Kampala? How is supporting Kampala sustainable? According to Newvision, The annual event attracted a standard 20,000 participants.
Highs of the Marathon. Security for 2016 Kampala MTN marathon was great generally. The kit also came with a trendy water bottle. MTN Uganda should be credited for creating multiple registration points around Kampala. It took me lees than 5minutes to register at the MTN lugogo service centre.
Ivan N Baliboola
PR and Organizational diagnosis Specialist
nbaliboola@gmail.com
nbaliboola.WordPress.com
Mediasurgeon 