Riyadh Marathon 2022

Successful Launch with 6,000+ runners

It was not only the premiere for the Riyadh Marathon, but the first official marathon in Saudi Arabia ever. It was timed by Suffix Events using RACE RESULT equipment. We are very pleased that we have received a detailed report on the experience of the event, which we would like to share here:

We at Suffix are a sports management and consultancy company based in Kuwait. We also offer timing services and were looking forward to timing the inaugural Riyadh Marathon.

Arriving to Riyadh

The first thing we did was to handover the race numbers from Race Result with the safety pins to the client so they can continue with the preparation for the race kit collection day and we returned back to the hotel to work on the event files. The exciting thing was that half of the team arrived to Riyadh and were waiting for the timing equipment to arrive with the remaining team members by road. We had packed all the items in our portable caravan, along with some bicycles and tents for backup.

Our role mainly in the Riyadh Marathon was to do the timing services along with the race number supplies, lead car, finish line clocks and live TV display of results.

2 Days before the race day

We did the route visit on our bicycles 2 days before the race. We had received the route and the marking details from the client but we still needed to see it for ourselves to make sure our plans are accurate. It was an exhausting trip from 5PM riding around until 11:00PM – and we were not done! We still had one more point to visit, but we left that for the next morning. A lot of the marking that were placed earlier were either removed or lost due to road constructions, however in the end we managed to figure out the spot and mark it ourselves for the race day. 

1 Day before the race day

Since we were mainly responsible for the timing services we didn’t have a role to handle the race kit distribution. However, since it was a first time for everyone involved in the race we decided to come in and support with the distribution and tackle any technical issues that may be faced. To our misfortune we were hit by a very heavy sandstorm during the collection period, and the location being outdoors made the distribution process a bit difficult with dust all over the place. During this time we realized that the people of the country are so very polite and patient to deal with. They were very cooperative and understanding while the team and volunteers were trying to support them. We were done with the collection by 10:30PM and had a very short period to grab dinner, have a team meeting, shower up and be back on site by 2AM.

Race day

Luckily on the race morning we had a few drizzles which helped clear up the dust in the air. We setup the clocks from Race Result which were a perfect fit for the lead cars. We had 11 check points with Race Result decoders and 4m timing mats; start line and the finish line were equipped with 8m timing mats from Race Result. The race started off with the elites and then the regular participants – we were able to get the accurate and to the point results within minutes of the finisher’s arrival and the results were live on TV as well. It was an easy and smooth experience since most of the work had already been done prior to arriving to Riyadh and tested thoroughly. The new split setup from Race Result was amazing, easy to use and more interactive for participants which they loved most.

Having over 10,000 participants signed up and over 6000 racing in the event was a great achievement, seeing it as the first ever official marathon in Riyadh. It was a proud moment for Suffix as a company for managing the first ever Riyadh Marathon timing. For the timer of this race for his first trip to Riyadh and delivering the spot-on results. Race Result equipment was shining in the event and blowing everyone away with the capabilities of the system and the overall results. For everyone that was involved in this experience from the Amaury Sports Organization to Sports for All – KSA.

A special thanks from RACE RESULT to Suffiy Timing for sending us this wonderful report together with the pictures from the event!

© race result AG