.

Research project Fieldlab Evenementen phase II:
mass sports events
Data collection and monitoring of group dynamics between visitors of the Fieldlab
Evenementen pilot events
Breda

July 2021

Contents
1.
2.
3.

Introduction
The event
Risk profile

2
2
2

3.1. Activity profile

2

3.2.

Spatial profile

3

3.3.

Public profile

4

4.
5.

Safety measures
Research questions

4
7

5.1.

Settings Mudmasters

7

5.2.

Settings 10-K Run

8

6.

Results

9

6.1.

Mudmasters

9

6.2.

Enschede 10Km

10

7.

Discussion

13

1

1. Introduction
The focus in this report is on event type V: mass sports events. Specifically, this means the research conducted
during the mud run organised by the Mudmaster organisation and the 10-kilometre run organised by the
foundation “Enschede Marathon”. The research concerns the participants in the event and therefore has a
different focus than the events carried out in phase I: the soccer matches. During the soccer matches, it
concerned the spectators instead of the participants.

2. The event
The definition of event type V is a mass sports event, which is characterised as an event that takes place outdoors
and has an active nature. Participants are enthusiastic, active, and exuberant and have an 'assigned' starting
time. Within the athletics events covered in this report, there are no allocated seating/standing places, it concerns
the monitoring of the participants. Spectators were not welcome.
On Saturday 8 May, the first type V event, initiated by Fieldlab events, took place. The organisation of this event
on the former Floriade grounds was in the hands of “Mudmasters”. The start of this sports event was at 09.00h
and the last starting group left at 16.00h. The event ended around 18.00h.
On Sunday 16 May, the second type V event, initiated by Fieldlab events, took place. At Twente Airport, the
'Enschede Marathon Foundation' organised the 10-kilometre running event. The start of this sports event was at
10.00h and the last starting group left at 16.00h. The event ended around 18.00h.

3. Risk profile
The building block, visitor dynamics, focuses on minimising the risk of infection at events. To map the profile of
the event, a distinction is made between factors that normally play a role when analysing the risks at events in a
non-covid situation. A distinction is made between the activity profile, the spatial profile, and the public profile
(Van den Brand & Abbing, 2003).

3.1. Activity profile
The activity profile presented in Figure 1 came about through a brainstorming session with various stakeholders
(Kamphorst, Donders, Coolen, Rijn, & Pas, 2020). It concerns the processes at the event where visitors come
together and where there is a possible risk of contamination. This involves visitors coming into contact with each
other at a certain location, for a certain length of time and at a certain risk. By localising, describing, and analysing
the risks, processes can be optimised, and the spread of risks minimised.
A distinction is made between the activity profile, the space profile, and the public profile (Van den Brand &
Abbing, 2003).

2

Figure 1. Activity profile

3.2.

Spatial profile

Not one event is like another. It is therefore useful to use general characteristics when classifying events. Van Rijn
and Van Damme (2011) describe several general characteristics related to events in addition to the characteristics
mentioned by Fieldlab. These general characteristics (Figure 2) give direction to the expectations regarding the
dynamics of visitors to events.

Mudmasters
10-Kilometre run
Event name
Spatial Profile
Event location
Floriade Haarlemmermeer
Twente Airport
Event type
Recreational Sports Event
Recreational Sports Event
Sort event
Public event
Public event
Event specification
Sport event
Sport event
Attractiveness
Regional/National
Regional/National
Duration
Daytime
Daytime
Location (indoor/outdoor Outdoor active
Outdoor active
Accessibility
Fixed location - Existing
Fixed location - Existing
Size
Medium sized (5000 - 50.000 persons) Medium sized (5000 - 50.000 persons)
Access
Tickets sales
Tickets sales
Figure 2. Spatial profile
The event site in Twente airport can accommodate 5000 participants. Only 1841 tickets have been sold for this
occasion.
The event site Floriade can accommodate 5500 participants. For this occasion, 5000 tickets have been sold, 4500
participants showed up.
Before the events, clear and strict guidelines have been drawn up for all those directly involved. The main
condition for participating in the event is the submission of a negative rapid test result at the entrance to the
event site. This test must be taken at one of the affiliated test locations within 24 hours before the end of the
event . Apart from this condition, additional conditions have been communicated through a developed app. For
example, outside the event site, the RIVM guidelines apply to everyone involved and no specific measures or
restrictions apply on the event site.

3

3.3.

Public profile

It is essential to know the characteristics of the audience of a specific event in order to anticipate their behaviour.
Audience is inextricably linked to behaviour. Before zooming in on behaviour and mood, the type of audience is
mentioned. In addition to the distinction in audiences, social characteristics of audiences are indicated. Audiences
display specific behaviour, but they are difficult to define and cannot easily be classified (Still, 2013).
The following characteristics of behaviour apply, to a greater or lesser extent, to visitors to both events in the
different phases of the event:

Cohesive

Crowd gathered for a specific purpose or reason;
No leadership.

Figure 3. Public profile
To the participant in the event setting, passive behaviour applies during ingress and egress. During the movement
phase and the performance, energetic applies. In this case, it refers to a considerable degree of physical
movement and participation. The elements from the characterisation energetic. which may lead to increased risk
do not apply here at all.

4. Safety measures
The events took place in a protected and controlled environment. In order to realise this environment, different
safety measures were taken, such as the requirement for a negative COVID-19 test for entrance, direct
communication with the visitors and ventilation requirements. This report will focus on the measures regarding
visitor dynamics, such as time slots. The use of time slots aims to achieve a gradual and controlled ingress and is
directly related to the starting times and physical size of the starting areas. The design and organisation of the
ingress/egress process and the allocation of time slots were achieved through intensive cooperation between
parties involved. Figure 3 shows the time slots and the number of participants in starting areas.
Table 1. Timeslots and number of participants 10K
Timeslots 10-Kilometre run

Start time

Available places

Participants

09.00h - 10.00h

10.00h

500

500

10.30h - 12.00h

12.00h

1500

1500

12.30h - 14.00h

14.00h

1500

250

14.30h - 16.00h

16.00h

1500

250

Arrival Timeslots mud
run

Start time

Available places

Participants

08.00u

09.00u

250

250

08.20u

09.20u

250

250

08.40u

09.40u

250

250

09.00u

10.00u

250

250

09.20u

10.20u

250

250

09.40u

10.40u

250

250

10.00u

11.00u

250

250

10.20u

11.20u

250

250

10.40u

11.40u

250

250

11.00u

12.00u

250

250

11.20u

12.20u

250

250

4

11.40u

12.40u

250

250

12.00u

13.00u

250

250

12.20u

13.20u

250

250

12.40u

13.40u

250

250

13.00u

14.00u

250

250

13.20u

14.20u

250

250

13.40u

14.40u

250

250

14.00u

15.00u

250

250

14.20u

15.20u

250

250

14.40u

15.40u

250

250

15.00u

16.00u

250

250

In order to ensure a safe and regulated ingress (minimum contact moments), the ingress process is visualised in
the figure below. Based on this process, process calculations were made to determine the capacity of the ingress
process per entrance row.
With an average of 7 seconds, 8 (safety margin) participants per minute can be processed, which means an
ingress capacity per row of 480 participants in 1 hour.

Figure 4. Ingress process 10K run
With a maximum ingress per time slot of 1500 participants, 5 rows (entrance gates) were provided. This capacity
is bigger than the requirements set in advance, so there were no unnecessary waiting times at the entrance (see
Figure 5).

Figure 5. Ingress process 10K run
Finally, the egress process needs to be carefully organised, as the return of the tag is crucial to the research. In
addition, the egress process may not lead to risky delays and undesirable situations.

5

The egress process is visualised in Figure 6. With an average of 4 seconds, 15 participants per minute can be
processed, which means an egress capacity per row of 900 participants in 1 hour.

Figure 6. Egress process 10K run
With a maximum egress per time slot of 1500 participants, we worked with 2 lanes (exit gates). This capacity met
the requirements set in advance, and unnecessary waiting times for egress were therefore avoided.

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5. Research questions
In all organised pilot events anonymously collected data of participants is analysed. It is an experimental study
in which participants are observed in two different “settings”. In each setting different measures (interventions)
are in effect in which the potential impact of the interventions on visitor dynamic is observed on three variables:
• Number of contacts
• Contact distance (average per contact)
• Contact duration (for Mudmasters the process time in an obstacle will be measured, sample wise, by
hand in three different obstacles)

5.1.

Settings Mudmasters

The first 10 time slots have a different design than the last 10.
Table 2. Setting recreational sports event: Mudmasters
Start group

number
persons

Start area
setting

order-& pay
method bar

Order & pay
method food

1 t/m 10

250

With meander

With U

Same

11 t/m 20

250

free

free

Same

The expectation of the setting in the meander form is that participants will take positions in a stretched line,
hence have fewer contacts between them. In the free setting, the expectation is that the participants will be more
randomly distributed in the start area. (Figure 7)
For food and beverage, the U form had the same intention for the distribution of the participants. (see Figure 8)

Figure 7. Design settings start area with expected participants distribution Mudmasters

Figure 8. Design settings hospitality area with expected participants distribution Mudmasters

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5.2.

Settings 10-K Run

Like the Mudrun settings, settings for the 10-K were designed. (see; Table 3, Figure 8 and Figure 9)
Table 3. Setting recreational sports event: 10K Run.
Start
group

Number Start area setting
persons

Flow 3 500
Flow 4 1500

Order and pay Order & pay
method bar
method food
with U
Free

with 2 persons/m2
with 1 person / m2

Figure 9. Design settings start area with expected participants distribution 10K

Figure 10. Design settings hospitality area with expected participants distribution 10K

8

Same
Same

6. Results
In the following sections the results of both pilot events – Mudmaster and Enschede 10km – will be discussed.
Data for this study -where possible - were collected using the same research instrument as those of phase 1 of
the research program. The main research goal of these pilots was to assess the extent to which a new subtype
of event would reveal new findings in relation to the original research question.

6.1.

Mudmasters

On May 8th, 2021, 4500 individuals participated in an outdoor obstacle run. Participants were divided into multiple
continuous starting waves. Due to the safety of runner’s, wearables like the contact tracking devices were not
allowed. Therefore, data for this study were collected using video analyses. Due to the fact no contact tracking
devices were used during this pilot, no detailed data about the duration of a contact is available. Still, the duration
of a contact is an important metric, hence manual observations of the 3 obstacles on the recorded video footage
is performed. By sampling the average time a participant spends on an obstacle (process time), an indication of
potential contact time can be calculated.
The results of these manual observations are shown in Table 4. Its apparent from this table that the total time
spend per obstacle is low. Of the three obstacles observed the average time is roughly between 1 and 1,5
minutes. These measures include the ‘waiting’ time of a participant at the obstacle itself. Based on a total of 16
obstacles on the course, the maximum cumulative contact duration during the run is estimated somewhere
between 16 and 24 minutes.
Table 4. Measurement results obstacle process time Mudmasters
Obstacle

Sample size

Standard dev

90% Confidence
interval

average

Tarzan Swing
Cap size

44
40

6,8
30,8

42 – 50 sec
86 – 102 sec

47 sec
94 sec

Pipe runner

64

34,3

72 – 87 sec

80 sec

Figure 11 presents the outcome of the automated video analyses. The number of contacts (as average per
person) at the obstacles are relatively low in comparison to the other regions like entrances and drinks. Striking
are also the difference in contacts between start and finish. While the start of the event is spread over several
different smaller starting waves contacts remains high.

Figure 11. Average number of contacts at the obstacles (left) and at the entrances (right) Mudmasters

9

Beside start waves, during the pilot two different starting area designs have been created (Figure 7). The first
design – in place during the first half of the event until 11:20 - of the starting area was meant to have a more
controlled flow, with the aim to minimise contacts, towards the start line. The second design – in place during the
second half of the event from 11:20 and afterwards - the participants had a free choice and were able to keep
their distance if they like. Overall, both designs – as shown in Figure 7 - did not affect the number of contacts a
participant had during the start. Manual observations showed that in both designs participants walked as close
to the line as possible, as illustrated by the yellow area in Figure 12, underutilizing the potential total area to keep
distance.

Figure 12. Setting 1 and 2 reality (compare Figure 7 design).

6.2.

Enschede 10Km

On May 16th 2021, 1306 individuals participated in a 10km marathon. Participants were divided into two starting
waves of 500 and 1500 (in reality, 200 and 1000). Next to the participants, another 100 VIPs were invited. Figure
13 presents the general statistics of the event. On average a participant from wave 1 had 5 unique contacts (IQR=
2-8) lasting more than 15 minutes cumulative within 1.5 meters. Participants from wave 2 had -on average- a
relatively lower number of unique contacts; 2.8 (IQR= 1-4). VIPs had an average number of 4.9 (IQR= 2-8) unique
contacts.
Table 5. Average amount of contacts and duration 10K

10

As shown in Figure 14, the total number of contacts is highest at the start and finish times of a wave. Further
analysis of the total number of contacts over time shows that, as illustrated in Figure 13, start wave 2 have a
significantly higher number of contact moments on average per person. However, to put this number in
perspective, even while start wave 2 has a five times higher number of participants than wave 1– which could
lead to a higher number of total contacts - the average number of contacts per participant is only twice as high.

Figure 14. 10-K, total amount of contacts

Figure 13. 10-K, total amount of contacts per person

As shown in Figure 15, a higher number of contacts in the Hangar 11 and starting areas can be noticed during
start times of the different waves (10, 12, 14 and 16:00 hours). What might strike as remarkable is a large number
of contacts in the hospitality zone before the different starting times. Manual analysis of the footage revealed
that these contacts occur in the VIP hospitality area and not in the general hospitality area and thus are created
by only a small number of visitors.

Figure 15. Video analysis, the average number of contacts per region

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Regarding the design of both the start and hospitality areas, minor changes in the research design were made
due to unexpected circumstances.
Start areas:
The starting area for the first wave (Flow 3) with 250 m2 was designed to have an occupancy rate of 2 persons
per m2. Due to the low number of participants (200) the occupancy rate was only 0,8 persons per m2. The second
design was calculated to have an occupancy rate of 1 person per m2. This flow (4) had only 1000 participants
which lead to 0,66 persons per m2. Adaptation of the start area to the real number of participants is not executed
at that time.
Hospitality Area:
The general hospitality area was planned outside near the finish line. Participants could have a drink and a snack
in the large outside area. The VIP hospitality area was located in Hangar 10.
Due to expected weather circumstances, both hospitality areas were moved from outside to inside Hangar 11.
The areas were divided by a barrier line. This new setup of the hospitality areas decreased the area from about
3000m2 to an area of 1280m2. The 3000m2 should have accommodated approximately 3000 participants. (1
person/m2). With the expected number of 200 in wave 3 and 1000 in wave 4, the maximum number of people in
the hospitality area was expected to be 1200. (About 1 person/m2). Nonetheless, this theoretical density level was
never achieved as shown in Figure 16.

Figure 16. Number of people in area 10K

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7. Discussion
This study was set out with the aim of assessing to which extent a new type of event would reveal new findings
in relation to the original research question. The overall number of contacts during both pilot events was low.
Most of the acquired contacts were during secondary activities, such as musical entertainment. Based on the
contact data acquired during the Enschede 10k marathon around 3 to 5 contacts on average.
Despite the success demonstrated, the data collection methods used could be a limitation, as it may have affected
the measurements of the number of contacts. As discussed before, data collection with contact tracking devices
was impossible during the Mudmasters obstacle run due to safety concerns. Consequently, only video data
collection was possible during the event. Due to practical limitations, camera footage is not able to cover the
whole area of the event itself. Therefore, specific positions are chosen before the start of the event focussing on
a part of the obstacle, where an expected number of participants would stay or move through the obstacle itself.
Regrettably, the field-of-view of the chooses camera positions were not always optimal, due to the behaviour of
the participants or unexpected changes in the layout.
The footage of the cameras has been used afterwards to gather information about the dwell time of a participant
at a certain obstacle. The number of samples taken by hand, over the three observed obstacles, are limited.
Therefore, the small sample size did not allow for a low standard error and should be used indicative.

8. Bibliography
Fieldlab Evenementen. (2020, oktober 19). Pilots voor 'Low-Contact Events'. Retrieved from
www.fieldlabevenementen.nl
Logistics Community Brabant. (2020, oktober 30). Onderzoeksresultaten. (J. van de Pas, I. Kamphorst, J. Coolen,
& M. van Rijn, Eds.) Logistics Community Brabant.
Still, G. (2014). Introduction to Crowd Science. Taylor & Francis Group.
van den Brand, R., & Abbing, M. (2003). Leidraad veiligheid publieksevenementen. Arnhem: Nibra.
van Rijn, M., & van Damme, D. (2011). Evenementenlogistiek. De realisatie van evenementenconcepten in veilige en
servicegerichte omgevingen. MB Advies & training.

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