Facts: Göteborgsvarvet in numbers
Göteborgsvarvet in numbers
Course length: 21,097.5 meters.
Registered: about 45,000 for Saturday’s laps, about 60,000 in total for the various races during the week.
Nationalities: 63.
Youngest registered participants: 17 years.
Oldest registered participants: 86 years.
Proportion of men: 63 percent.
Proportion of women: 37 percent.
Average age: 40 years.
Officials: 3,500.
Safety pins: 200,000.
Water stations: 11.
Medical stations: 11.
Music stations: 46.
Bananas: 54,000.
Rental toilets: 250.
Barrier belt: 26,000 meters.
Source: Göteborgsvarvet.
According to Göteborgsvarvet’s event manager Erik Bergkvist, it is a challenge for many events to attract participants again, after the heavy covid years.
This applies not least to Göteborgsvarvet, which received a lot of criticism for not registering the registration fees for the canceled races 2020 and 2021.
– Those who are here, they will be very happy, I hope. But we have a journey left to restore confidence after the canceled races and so on, says Erik Bergkvist.
“Must work”
When the running boom was at its peak, Göteborgsvarvet aimed to become the world’s largest long distance race. The number of applications was then just over 64,000 per year, of which about 45,000 completed.
Now the number of participants only barely reached around 45,000, many of whom also chose not to show up.
– We are satisfied with the actual implementation, what we deliver here today. But it is clear that we have to work with the number of participants, says Erik Bergkvist.
– It is perhaps general for the entire event industry and above all exercise races, we see the tendencies of our competitors as well.
“Got a thorn”
TT: How much of the loss for the Gothenburg shipyard is due to the pandemic for you and how much of the criticism you have received, do you think?
– Of course, Göteborgsvarvet’s brand has taken a hit, we hope of course to be able to restore that.
– There are things we could have done better and communicated better about. But it’s just being self-critical and looking ahead and seeing what we can do better.