For its 31st marathon on Oct. 29, 2006, Marine Corps Marathon once again turned to The Active Network to manage its high online registration volume. Nicknamed "The People's Marathon," for continually attracting civilian and military runners from all walks of life, Marine Corps Marathon has sold out very quickly in the past two years and experiences most of the registration demand within the first few days. The Active Network, known for securely processing millions of registration transactions each year for races and events across North America, processed a record 13,258 online registrations in just the first hour of the marathon's registration.

According to Angela Huff, business manager for Marine Corps Marathon, the race's high volume of registrants in such a short period of time poses many challenges. "The team at Active worked with us extensively on a technology plan for our online registration process and even provided a test environment so we could evaluate the system. This is critical since our runners are ready to register as soon as we open registration and want to know that our system is working and will keep working until the last registration is taken. We need an easy-to-use, dependable registration process for runners and we believe Active is the only technology provider that can accomplish this. The company provides the expertise, manpower and dedication to ensure our runners are 100 percent satisfied," said Huff.

Many races with immediate close dates for registration or lottery registration processes, including The LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon and St. George Marathon, depend on Active to support their specialized registration process. As a trusted technology provider in the industry, Active has invested in state-of-the art infrastructure and reliable technology to ensure transactions are processed efficiently and securely. The company's systems can also manage very high registration volume.

"Technology drives many critical aspects of our race. If we don't have a successful registration process and access to accurate participant data, we can't make the other things happen for our runners, like online training, e-mails with race information, and live results on race day," explained Rick Nealis, race director for the Marine Corps Marathon. "Active is also one of the few registration providers with established accounting and financial policies that ensure all registration fees are held in a separate account so we consistently receive our funds, on schedule and on time. We really view the company as a partner who works with us to ensure the best race experience possible for our runners."

In its third year managing technology and marketing services for Marine Corps Marathon, The The Active Network provides services that include online registration and donation, data management, Web site design and content management tools, online training programs for runners, live race results and marketing tools. Using Active's data management tools, the Marine Corps Marathon staff can access, manage and analyze participant data to provide better information for sponsors or enhance services based on specific runner needs. With marketing services such as e-mail newsletters and online advertising, the race can reach its participants and sponsors with timely, targeted messages.

This year, Active processed 25,000 online registrations for the Marine Corps Marathon. The race closed registration with a total of 34,000 runners registered from all fifty states and more than forty countries worldwide.

For more information, please visit The Active Network or call 1-888-543-7223.