Thailand’s in the running for races
MICE & Communication leads the pack as local athletics enthusiasts seek global recognition, writes Piyachart Maikaew
Thailand has hosted more than 2,000 races in the past three years. Thai running societies now count 116,200 members on Facebook. But Thai runners know there’s room for improvement to attract more foreign runners.
Bettering the quality of Thai races has been on the mind of Rut Jiroajvanichakorn, managing director of MICE & Communication, ever since he became a marathon runner five years ago.
MICE & Communication is an event organiser for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and has expertise in meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions, mainly in support of IT companies.
But the company’s name has become known globally after its sponsored race, the Bangsaen21, was awarded a Bronze Label by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) for the 21.1km half marathon in May.
Since then, the exciting news has spread among Thai long-distance runners. The Bangsaen21 is the country’s first race to be certified by the IAAF and only the second race in Asean to win certification. (The Singapore Marathon was awarded the Gold Label for the 42.2km full marathon.)
Mr Rut said MICE & Communication had limited experience in holding races compared with other Thai organisers, but it decided to jump into the segment because of his own running passion.
“I am just an ordinary runner who joins many races,” he said. “When I finished each local race, I had many questions: was it a well-organised one or how could it be better, for example, and was there plenty of water and energy drinks and restroom services.”
Over the past few years, Thai runners themselves have faced many problems from running in local races, such as shortages of water and energy drinks and scarce restrooms and medical units.
The lack of medical units, in particular, was highlighted by the sudden death of a local runner who suffered heart failure in 2015 in Kanchanaburi province, then another death last year in Chon Buri province.
The most serious problem that arises is when organisers cannot hold a race as scheduled because they are not well prepared or the local people in the province don’t welcome the race.
As a result, the runners who sign up must get a refund, often a time-consuming ordeal.
Mr Rut observed many races, both at home and abroad, then decided to enlist his company to help organise the Bangsaen21 for the first time in December 2015 in Chon Buri province.
“We got a warm welcome from the Bang Saen administration, and Narongchai Khunpluem, the mayor of Saen Suk municipality in Bang Saen, is also an amateur triathlete and aimed to hold a local race to attract more tourists,” said Mr Rut, who served as the race director.
A total of 3,600 runners joined the first year of the Bangsaen21. After the race ended, it was the talk of the town and got a massive vote as the best half marathon of 2015, according to Facebook page Wingnaidee.
“The 2015 race was successful, and we learned a lot about how to organise a good quality race, and we also got hundreds of calls from many firms planning to hold other races,” Mr Rut said. “But MICE & Communication has only just made its first attempts as a sport organiser, so I may need more time to get new experiences from other races.”
During 2016-17, the company organised 5-9 races a year. Some had unique themes, such as the Khao Kheow 10, running through the zoo in Chon Buri.
But the flagship has remained the Bangsaen21, and over the past two years Mr Rut sought certification as an IAAF Label Road Race.
“It is such a high standard to qualify for a label, and that is why there are only 88 IAAF labelled races worldwide out of thousands of races,” he said.
In 2017, Japan had the most labelled events, with nine, though Czechia hosted the most Gold Label events, with seven. Mr Rut said countries in Europe have the most labelled events.
To qualify for the Bronze Label, the organiser must invite elite runners of more than four nationalities in two continents with 36-month best stats for the half marathon of less than 1 hour and 4 minutes (men) or less than 1 hour and 15 minutes (women).
Each organiser must have held the race for more than two years and is required to provide full medical units and 100% traffic closure during the race.
In Thailand, there are several races that can close the roads completely for running: the Bangsaen21, the Bangsaen42, the Buri Ram Marathon and the Khon Kaen Marathon.
Moreover, an IAAF-qualified race must allow for random testing of runners as an anti-doping measure.
“The higher labels, Silver and Gold, have even tighter requirements, but the Bangsaen21 was the fastest to earn qualification globally after only three years of organisation and a size of 12,000 runners,” Mr Rut said, adding that some races have had to wait almost a decade for certification.
“But the most important thing for Thailand’s races is that the IAAF labels can be a key magnet to attract runners worldwide to visit the country for running with their families, so the world-class standard can put Thailand on the map as one of running’s hotspots.”
The Tourism and Sports Minister has launched several initiatives to promote sporting and healthy tourism, promoting running, cycling, triathlon and motorsports.
The ministry also hosted the Amazing Thailand Marathon Bangkok in February, an event that received good feedback in terms of organisation and traffic closure.
Mr Rut said that before the Bangsaen21 applied for the IAAF label, many members of world federations were less acquainted with Thailand.
In March, Mr Rut was invite to join the IAAF Global Road Running Seminar in Valencia, Spain to engage in networking with other race directors worldwide. He said the goal was to open other race directors’ eyes to race possibilities in Thailand. MICE & Communication has sought further cooperation from peers in many countries.
“China’s race director has been interested in bringing female runners to join our Bangkok Women’s Run in August, and we plan to bring Thai runners to join the international races soon,” Mr Rut said.
Furthermore, the IAAF has entrusted MICE & Communication to co-organise the IAAF Run 24:1, a series of 24 one-mile runs in 24 cities that will be contested around the world to celebrate Global Running Day on June 6. In Asia, Bangkok will come together with Tokyo, Beijing, New Delhi and Ramallah.
Mr Rut said MICE & Communication got the rights to hold the Singapore-based Sundown Marathon in Krabi in September.
Founded in 2003 by Mr Rut and wife Jutamas Sittinugoonchai, MICE & Communication organises 40-50 events a year and welcomes up to 1,000 people to each event.
The SME-centric company generates revenue of 100 million baht a year.
Mr Rut said 2018 is a challenging year for the company because it has turned towards sport management, but Mice events remain the core business.
“We will decrease to 20-30 Mice events and hold about 10 races,” he said. “The two businesses are completely different, as Mice events are work for hire in which we have to follow our customer’s demand with a higher margin, but the race is our own direction and design.
“So we have to work harder and deeper to be stronger in the race organisation, even though we have witnessed many risks to handling them such as lower margins, cheap participation fees, staff shortages and lack of cooperation from local government agencies.”
The participation fee, in particular, is 900 baht for the half marathon and 1,200 baht for the full marathon — making them lower than the actual cost per person of 2,0003,000 baht.
Mr Rut said the company has to manage costs through sponsorships and using voluntary help for each race. Many global races collect higher fees, such as the equivalent of 2,000 baht in Kuala Lumpur, 4,500 baht in Kyoto and up to 7,000 baht for New York City races.
“We have to wait for some changes among Thai runners with this issue, so there are some hidden costs to manage well in each race,” Mr Rut said.
“Receiving the IAAF label is just a beginning for Thai organisers, but sports management remains an bullish industry for many dimensions, such as tourism spots and high-end sport products that are entering the market.”
Mr Rut said the mindset of a race director must be focus on attaining world-class standards, which will be the key achievement of MICE & Communication.
The next step for the company is to qualify as one of the world marathon majors, a title bestowed on six cities: Tokyo, Berlin, London, Chicago, New York City and Boston, home of the world’s oldest continuously running marathon.
The Bangsaen21 was the fastest to earn qualification globally after only three years of organisation and a size of 12,000 runners. RUT J IR O A JV AN I CH AK OR N Managing director, MICE & Communication