bigpicture
Peter Bradley
Editorial Director
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Karen Bachrach
Executive Editor
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Toby Gooley
Senior Editor
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David Maloney
Senior Editor, Special Projects & eContent
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Mark Solomon
Senior Editor
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Susan Lacefield
Associate Managing Editor
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James Cooke
Editor at Large
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Steve Geary
Editor at Large
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George Weimer
Editor at Large
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Erica E. Mac Donald
Assistant Editor
Keisha Capitola
Director of Creative Services
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Jeff Thacker
Director of eMedia
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Columnists:
Clifford F. Lynch
Don Jacobson
Shelly Safian
Kenneth B. Ackerman
Art van Bodegraven
Barry Brandman
Olympian effort
Gary Master
Publisher
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Mitch Mac Donald
Group Editorial Director
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Jim Indelicato
Group Publisher
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SOMETIMES, I THINK I’VE BEEN AT THIS GAME TOO LONG.
During the past couple of months, while watching major athletic events,
I’ve found myself wondering about the logistics that made them possible.
The biggest event was the London Olympics. Consider the sheer complexity of bringing together thousands of athletes, tens of thousands of
fans, and enormous amounts of food and equipment amid tight security, all the while maintaining something close to normal life in one of the
largest cities on the planet.
The logistics planning began five years before the event, according to
the United Kingdom’s Freight Transport Association. Not surprisingly,
A very different event that had me wondering about
the logistics involved was the Tour de France. Nearly
200 cyclists covered 3,497 kilometers ( 2,173 miles) in
20 stages in July, with millions of spectators watching
along the way. Each team of nine riders was supported
by a crew of trainers, coaches, and mechanics, who
each day had to set up shop in a new location. In the
meantime, ordinary commerce had to work around all
those road closures. Of course, in France, the Tour is a
huge national event, which I’m sure helps develop a
cooperative spirit.
I saw that sort of spirit close to home at a major annual charity bike
ride. Each year, the Pan-Mass Challenge draws more than 5,000 riders to
raise funds for cancer research (the ride expects to raise $36 million this
year). Safely shepherding 5,000 riders across 200 miles of public roads
over two days takes enormous planning and cooperation between the
organizers and the towns the cyclists pass through, but over 30 years, the
organizers have gotten the logistics down to a science. One example: One
of the rest stops for riders is a couple of miles from my house. Volunteers
set up the tents and food stations beginning on Friday afternoon. At 8
a.m. on Saturday, hundreds of volunteers were tending to a couple of
thousand riders’ hunger, thirst, injuries, and mechanical difficulties. A
few dozen portable toilets served other needs. By the time I took my own
bike ride about 4 that afternoon, the field was spotless.
These are not the sorts of logistics challenges we write about regularly.
And the logistics of executing those events get scant if any public attention—unless something goes amiss. But they are a grand part of the show.
A PUBLICATION OF
Editorial Director
