Advice for Race Directors
by Brian Cavanagh,
USATF Certified Coach, USATF Course Measurer
Active.com-
offers free online registration (so participants can sign up using a
credit card), race web page, ability to email participants. Over
several years, I found
that the active.com staff were very helpful in every way. Their
automated system is very efficient and does not cost you anything.
Having runners and walkers enter
their own registration data (name, age, email, t-shirt size, etc.)
streamlines the process for race directors. Active.com sends you a
check
with athletes' registration fees. Active.com collects a $2 surcharge
for each athlete (the athlete pays). You should offer a significant
discount to get entrants to use this service; it will save you a LOT of
time and enable you to easily email all entrants who submit an email
address. Active.com also has a race calendar that many runners use to
find races such as yours. You make very minor changes to the
race listing on their site the second year of the race, saving a lot of
preparation
time for you.
Coolrunning.com-
another worthwhile resource with similar (but not as complete, to my
knowledge) services. Their race calendar is a widely-read resource that
runners use to find out where there are races. They also have articles
on race directing written by Dave McGillivray, DMSE, Inc., one of the
best, if not
THE BEST Race Director in the world.
Article on accurate course
measurement (USATF
method)
I wrote offers technical advice explained simply regarding why it is
important
to get a course measured accurately. If you say it's going to be a 5k,
it should be a 5k. Truth in advertising! Using anything less than a
calibrated Jones device is unacceptable. I have these and I do measure
courses for a fee so they receive a national certification of accuracy
by USA Track & Field. For quotes, I can be contacted at:
a c a v a n a g h @ h v c . r r . c o m
General:
My experiences have been that most participants you get in a race in
this area will be from within a half hour radius. Mailing and
bringing race entry forms to races within the region and having them go
into race packets (if any) prepared for entrants in the week before
each race is a direct way to put entry blanks in the hands of local
runners and walkers.
Try to get as many of your entrants signed up by three weeks before the
race so that you can put in your final orders for the right numbers of
t-shirts and awards. Offer a significant price break (of $10 or more)
to early entrants who sign up via active.com. Try to avoid having large
numbers of people signing up on race day, which requires more
registration volunteers, takes more time, and could leave other
entrants short on water, post-race food, awards, t-shirts. Having a lot
of new entrants suddenly show up on race day also takes more time to
get their race bibs (numbers) ready and may even delay the start of
your race, thus creating problems for any police or traffic safety
personnel who were planning on your use of the roads in a certain time
frame.
Many hands make light the work
As capable an organizer as you may be, there are other people out there
who
would love to volunteer with
you. Give them a chance to feel good about
helping, too. Ask them for help with specific things rather than making
an "all-call" type of request to help in "any way possible". People
often don't know what that entails. If you list the tasks, they can
identify which activities they's like to help with. Each person's
contribution of time and energy helps, no matter how small. For some,
it is their sense of humor. For others, it is their cooking ability.
Some like to be inside, others like to be outside. Some like to help
earlier in the morning, others like to help later in the morning.
Attend meetings of the local running and walking club(s), the Sullivan
Striders and the Orange Runners Club, to inform their members and
solicit their support and involvement.
Media:
Try to use free advertising to promote your race whenever
possible, unless you have big-bucks sponsors who can pony up the cash.
Running and walking club
newsletters
Sullivan Striders
Orange Runners Club
Other clubs in
region- http://www.sullivanstriders.org/otherclubs.htm
Newspapers
Locally, the Sullivan County (NY) Democrat has been highly supportive
in providing coverage of local running and walking events. The
Middletown-based Times Herald-Record provides a race calendar which
most of the runners in the area use to find local races. Both papers
like "people stories".
Radio reaches a lot of
people, but you need a succinct way people can get further info (a
phone number is probably best).
TV
The best form of media if you can swing it. Cable 6 has been
supportive of covering some local events.
Internet
Use active.com to set up a web page with map link and directions on how
to get to race.
Email
Use active.com's free email feature to reach all who have entered via
their website. In less than five minutes, you can reach 50-100 people
via email who have entered your race. Update them on any course
changes, weather advice (if hot, cold, any storms predicted), amenities
or features
added to the race, directions.
Magazines
- http://dir.yahoo.com/Recreation/Sports/Running/Magazines/
MetroSports
Runner's Gazette
Running Times
Runner's World
Posters
To promote your race, print up posters (or 8x11" flyers if you can't do
posters), have volunteers post them in places where a lot of people are
likely to see them.
Read as much as you can, go to other races, observe, ask questions.
You'll be amazed at what you will learn. Most of all, give yourself
time to learn. At least six months is necessary to do a sufficient
amount of planning and preparation.
Good luck comes
to those who work hard!
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Striders home