Mangalore Marathon: 16,000+ Photos Tagged with AI in Hours
How the Niveus Mangalore Marathon, the region's largest AIMS-certified race, processed 16,000+ photos with AI bib tagging, selfie search, and personalised finisher certificates through results.mangaloremarathon.com.
About the Mangalore Marathon
The Niveus Mangalore Marathon, organised by the Mangalore Runners Club, is the largest marathon in the region and the only marathon in the district certified by the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races (AIMS). With categories spanning the full marathon (42.195 km), 20 miler, half marathon, 10K, 5K, and 2K Gammath Run, it attracts over 7,000 runners and professional athletes from across India.
The scenic coastal route along the river and sea makes it one of India's most picturesque races, with ₹12,00,000+ in prize money drawing competitive fields.
The Challenge
With 7,000+ runners across 8 categories and a course stretching along the coastline, the Mangalore Marathon generates a massive volume of race photos:
- 16,000+ photos to process: Multiple photographers capture thousands of images at start lines, course points, and finish areas across all categories from full marathon to 2K fun run.
- Speed matters: Runners expect their photos within hours of finishing, not days. Manual tagging is impossible at this scale.
- Bibs not always visible: Running photos often have obscured, bent, or blurred bib numbers, especially in action shots during the full and half marathon distances.
- Professional post-race experience: As an AIMS-certified event with significant prize money, the marathon needed a post-race experience matching its professional standards.
The Solution
The Mangalore Marathon deployed 9Pic AI for their 2025 edition, processing the entire photo library through their branded portal at results.mangaloremarathon.com:
9pic BibTrack
AI bib-number recognition with exceptional precision, even when bibs are blurred or partially hidden in action shots.
9pic FaceFind
Selfie-based photo search lets runners instantly find all their pictures when bibs are not visible.
9pic Certify
Personalised completion certificates with each runner's details, adding a professional and memorable touch.
The Results
- 16,000+ photos processed in hours: The entire photo library was tagged and available for runners within hours of the event finishing.
- Accurate bib recognition: AI-powered tagging handled even blurred and partially hidden bib numbers across action shots from the full marathon to the 2K fun run.
- Selfie search as fallback: When bibs weren't visible, runners found all their photos with a simple selfie.
- Personalised certificates at scale: Every finisher could instantly download a customised completion certificate with their details.
- Smoothest post-marathon experience to date: The combination of speed, accuracy, and personalised deliverables set a new standard for the event.
“Using 9Pic AI for the Mangalore Marathon 2025 was a game-changer for our post-event workflow. We processed over 16,000 photos within just a few hours, thanks to their fast and accurate AI-powered tagging system. The platform not only recognised bib numbers with exceptional precision but also offered a seamless selfie-based photo search, allowing runners to instantly find all their pictures, even when bibs were blurred or not visible.
Another highlight was the customised completion certificate feature. Participants could instantly download a personalised certificate with their details, adding a professional and memorable touch to the event experience.
The interface was simple, the processing was incredibly fast, and the support from the 9Pic AI team was outstanding. Their technology helped us deliver the smoothest and most participant-friendly post-marathon experience to date.
Highly recommended for any marathon or large-scale event looking for fast, accurate, and innovative photo management solutions.”
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