Decision details

Sheffield Half Marathon and 10K Road Races

Decision status: Recommendations Approved

Purpose:

SCC is looking to secure a professional organisation with experience of organising large road races on the public highway to bid to host a half marathon and 10k (separate times of the year) for 5 years commencing with the first race 2021.

Decision:

That (a) approval is given to retender for an event organiser to deliver a service (10k and half marathon road race) for a period of 5 years, with an option to extend for a further 2 years; and

 

(b) the Director of Finance & Commercial Services be authorised to approve the outcome of the tender and award the contract to the preferred bidder.

 

 

Reasons for the decision:

It is intended to re-test the market for an event organiser/deliverer and combine the Half Marathon and 10k (road race) into one contract.

 

A key objective of this contract will be to look at other event operators since the last contract was put in place and provide income to Sheffield City Council to then put back into and develop events within the city.  It is intended that this will benefit Sheffield and its residents, attracting a wider demographic for participation/attendance, and also to bring people from outside the Sheffield area. We will continue to grow and develop both events with the successful bidder/provider. This could be across a range of opportunities such as increased entries, targeting hard to reach groups, growth of the junior and mini runs, exploring how the events contribute to the city health and wellbeing agenda. We will also discuss and agree an approach to helping the environmental questions a mass event can bring to a location and how we work with the provider to reduce/mitigate these issues.

 

Events such as a city centre road race attract income from both entrants and commercial sponsorship.  Soft marketing testing and previous experience suggests that a more modern business model should include an income share opportunity to the Council.  By undertaking a competitive tendering process, the Council can appoint a suitable event organiser to work with it to deliver the vision and also ensure value for money is achieved.

 

 

Alternative options considered:

Do Nothing: This option is not favoured as Sheffield would lose two events which have operated successfully.

 

Extend the arrangements with the current provider: Continuing with the same arrangements does not allow for a new operating model to be developed, nor does it enable the Council to test the market in a competitive process. This option is not favoured as it does not offer value for money.

 

 

Publication date: 02/12/2019

Date of decision: 27/11/2019

Effective from: 07/12/2019

Accompanying Documents: