The
Race Director's Primer is a new feature of the NVRC web site and as
such is a "work in progress". Experienced race director's are
encouraged to critique the page. Comments and suggestions should be
sent to Marty Mazur.
The Nittany
Valley Running Club is happy to help you plan and carry out your race.
Feel free to contact a club officer
with questions. But before doing
that, read through the following primer on how to direct a race. The
primer will answer most of your general questions, and has information
that is specifically for race directors in the State College area.
Course Planning
Choosing A Course:Plan and measure your course carefully. You may want to try to choose a course that is attractive to runners (see the "Getting The Runners To Come To Your Race"
section below), but the definition of "attractive to runners" can be a
little hard to pin down. Some runners like a course that is pretty or
interesting in some way, others don't care. Some like out-and-back
courses, others prefer loops. Some like a challenge, others want a
flat, easy course. The best thing to do is choose a course that
is easy for you to direct runners on and that is safe for the runners.
If it happens to be 'interesting', all the better. There are three
considerations in designing a good, safe course. The first is the
safety of runners.
Second is your legal liability. Third is the accuracy of the course.
First, choose a safe course. A safe course is one where the runners do
not have to run on heavily travelled roads unless these roads have
traffic control.
There's more on traffic control below. For
trail runs, a safe course is one that is well marked and does not
include
any dangerous sections, unless you advertise the race as some sort of
"extreme"
competition and are indemnified against the inherent liability.
Regardless of what kind of race you are putting on, you should also
consider putting a legal disclaimer on your application form and buying
some kind of event insurance. Examples of disclaimers can be found on
many of the applications for coming races that are on the NVRC Calendar. NVRC officers can tell you how to get race insurance.
Second, choose a legal course. A legal course is one that has been approved
by any authority that has jurisdiction over the course. Make sure you contact
the appropriate University authority or local government body and find out
what you need to do for approval.
Finally, your course should be accurately measured. This means first and
foremost that if the course has an advertised distance (5K, etc), the course
should actually be very close to that length. Errors of 100 yards for a 5K
are frowned on. Errors of a tenth of a mile (176 yards) or more are unacceptable.
You should also strive to have accurately measured one and two mile-marks
for a 5K and one through five mile-marks for a 10K. Not every runner cares
about the accuracy of a race course, but those who do will make their feelings
known if your course is obviously mismeasured. You owe it to the people who
are trying to improve their times, set Personal Records (PRs), qualify for
other races, etc., to accurately measure your course. The most accurate courses
are those that are USATF Certified. Certification is somewhat costly and
time consuming. You have to hire someone to do it. But
runners who are trying to qualify for selective races generally have to
run their qualifying time on a certified course. There are a few USATF
certified courses in town, including the Campus Loop 5K and Art's Festival 10K courses,
the Nittany Valley Half Marathon,
and the Tussey mOUnTaiNBACK 50 Mile
Relay. If you do not use one of the certified courses, you do not need
to go through the trouble of certification your course when you are just starting
out. Just make sure your measurement is accurate. If your race grows and
becomes a permanent fixture, consider having it certified. NVRC officers can direct
you to how to get this done.
Measuring A Course:Do not use a car to measure a course.
The odometer is too inaccurate. You can use the car to "rough out" the course,
but you must measure it more accurately. The preferred method is to use a
measuring wheel. The NVRC has a wheel that can be borrowed. To do this, contact
a club officer. Measuring
the course with the wheel requires that you walk the entire course (a good
hour for a 5K course) and pay attention to what you are doing, noting locations
of mile marks, etc. If your course is to be an "out-and-back" course, note
the precise place to put the turnaround. And while you're at it, don't skimp,
but remeasure your 'half-course' on the way back to check your accuracy.
While walking, take the shortest route a runner would take. That means, don't
take unauthorized short cuts, but cut as close to the inside of any turn
as you will allow a runner. A faster alternative to using the wheel is to
measure the course using an accurately calibrated bicycle odometer that has
0.01 mile precision or better. While the wheel method is preferable, doing
a good job with a bike can get you within 50-100 ft for a 5K, which is acceptable
for a non-certified course. Top
Setting The Race Date
Setting the date and time of a race can have a big effect on how many people will
show up. In general, you want to pick a time of year when the weather is nice, when a
lot of people will be around, and when they won't all be doing something
else.
Date and Time:You should
usually pick a Saturday or Sunday morning. Most times of the year, 9 AM
is an ideal race start time. It's not too early, but it gives plenty of
time for people to do other things later in the day. During the colder
months, you might want to start your race later in the day to give
things a chance to warm up. An evening race during the summer can also work. Forget about mid-afternoon during the summer. It's too hot and people are busy with other things. Other possibilities for race days are the mornings of floating holidays (e.g.
Independence, Labor Day, etc). Thanksgiving or the day after can also
work, though the weather is getting "iffy" by then and many people are
with family out of town. Weather: From a weather standpoint, The ideal times of year
for running are late Spring, late Summer, and Fall. This would be the months
of April, May, and September through mid-November. Temperatures are mild,
humidity is low, and most courses are snow and ice free. Summer is OK for
running, but you may get fewer runners when the students are gone. Winter
has the students, but the weather is cold and some courses can be treacherous.
People: State College, being
dominated by PSU, has a larger pool of available runners whenever school
is in session. This coincides nicely with the late Spring, late Summer, and
early Fall dates mentioned above.
Conflicts: You should try to
pick your race date so that it does not conflict with another major event
that could draw away your runners. This means first that you should not "step
on the toes" of other races. There are numerous races that are run every
year. Some of them soak up most of the available local runners, and so it
would be a mistake to try to run your race on the same day. A good place
to start is to look for a date that is free of local races is the Nittany
Valley Running Club Calendar athttp://www.nvrun.com/calendar.html.
If you are interested in a date that is beyond the horizon of the currently
posted calendar, feel free to contact Marty Mazur at mxm14@psu.edu. He can help you choose a
date. Another thing that will draw runners away from your event is a PSU
home football game. Do not choose your race date to conflict with a home
football game. If possible, avoid the whole weekend, but certainly avoid
game time and the entire tailgate period beforehand. The PSU home football
schedule is also posted on the NVRC Calendar. Other events you might want
to avoid are: Penn State graduation weekends, high school prom or graduation weekends,
and Spring or Fall Break.
Continuity:Don't
make big changes to the date of your race from year to year. If your
race was on the first Saturday in November last year, try to keep it
that same weekend, or one very close to it on the calendar, unless you
have a very good reason to change it. Top
Getting The Runners To Come To Your Race
To get runners to show up at your race, you have to design an attractive race and you have to publicize it.
Designing An Attractive Race:
An attractive race is a race that draws runners either because the race
has a great course, because it's a little challenging or unusual, or is
associated with a worthy cause. It helps if you can work all three into
your race planning. For example, the Tussey mOUnTaiNBACK 50 Mile Relay
and Ultramarathon has benefited a number of popular and worthy
community charities over the years. It is run on a wonderful woodsy
backroad course in
Rothrock State Forest, and, while a challenge, the race is designed so
that it can be accessible to beginning runners up to hard core ultras.
If you are directing a charity event, make the charity a prominent part
of your race promotion. Many serious runners will break training for
another race and jog a charity event if the charity is something dear
to their hearts. Be aware that if you are directing a charity event,
you will be trying to attract as many runners as possible. This means
that unless you are doing something unusual, you should probably plan your race
distance to be shorter than 10 K. The State College area does not have
a large enough pool of distance runners to support more than a few long
races a year.
There is a pool of runners that is often overlooked: young kids.
Having
a "Kid's Race" as well as your main event can make your event more
attractive to parents, will increase the 'profit' for your charity, and
will help promote running to the younger generation. Kid's races are
generally between a quarter-mile and a mile in length and are usually
open to kids 12 and under. Kids as young as 3 or 4 run the races, so it
can be helpful to have two "heats". The Art's Festival 10K has two
Kid's Races: a quarter-miler for the youngest kids, and a half-miler
for kid's aged 8 to 12. It is considered legitimate to let a younger
child run in the heat designed for the older kids if he wants to and if
his parents consent. You should not let older kids run in a heat for
younger ones.
Other possibilities for increasing participation is to include unusual
categories, such as Clydesdale/Athena, team competitions, or costumed
runner competitions. A Clydesdale is a "big-boned" male runner, where
the definition of big-boned varies, but is usually 180 lbs and over. An
Athena is a larger (140 lbs or more) woman runner. Team competitions
usually involve teams of 3 or more runners who vie for the lowest
combined time or lowest "score". If you set up your competition on a
time basis, you must limit the size of the team to a definite number
(say 3). If you set up your competition on a score basis, you can have
teams consist of 3 scoring runners and up to 2 more others. The lowest
team score wins. The score of the team is the sum of the place order of
each of the team's top 3 finishers. The other team members help the
team by possibly displacing the scoring members of other teams, thereby
raising the other team's score.
Some races attract exercise walkers, or runners who break up their
running with frequent stretches of walking. These participants can
increase the amount you raise for charity, but there are special
problems that can occur. Make sure that walking participants know that
they should yield to runners in order to avoid injury to both parties.
Walkers can take twice as long to finish a race as your slowest runner.
We recommend that you announce that you will stop timing the race after
a certain time (generally about 15 minutes per mile of your race) and
that the last pass of the pick-up van will be at this time. Walkers who
are on the course after this time are on their own.
Publicity: It is important to get the word out about your race in as many places as
possible. At the same time, if you are trying to raise money for a charitable
cause, you want to pay as little as possible for advertising. Luckly, many
of the most effective places you can put information and announcements about
your race will run the information for free.
Remember, when you draft a notice for your race, be brief, but include the
essential information. Many of the venues in which you can advertise for
free have space limitations. Include the name of the race, its date, time,
place, and charitable beneficiary, directions for registering, and a contact
for more information. There are many examples of race notices on the NVRC calendar page.
The first place you should send your race information is to the Nittany Valley
Running Club. Send your notice to Marty Mazur at mxm14@psu.edu, or Mike Dooris at mjd1@psu.edu. If you have a digital version
of your race application, send that along as an attatchment and we'll put
a link to it on the calendar
page. You should also try to put your announcement on a wide variety
of local and regional online event calendars for both running and general
activities. Such calendars include StateCollege.com, Runner's Gazette, Cool Running, and
Runner's World. Some print publications also have runners calendars, including
Runner's Gazette. Get your information to these sites and publications early,
usually 3 or more months before the race.
Within two months of your race date, you should start posting information
and leaving applications around town. Be considerate when doing this. Don't
just staple your race flyer up on public (or private) property. Ask first.
Before the NVRC Calendar came online, Rapid Transit Sports on South Allen
St. was long the place where runners went to find out about upcoming races.
It's still the place to get all kinds of running information. They will let
you display your race application and place some apps near the main check-out
table. You should also post some information and applications in the locker
room hallways at Rec Hall and the Intramural Building. The YMCA will also
post some applications for you if you leave them for approval. Ask the Race
Directors of other races that fall before yours to place some of your race
information at their registration table.
Finally, within a few weeks of your race, send your race information by email
to the CDT Sports desk. They will place a notice when space permits on their
community events column, which is usually on the left column of page two
of the Sports section. Other places where you can get free advertising include:
radio and television public service announcements, bulletins and newsletters
of churches and other organizations, some campus organizations, especially
if they have some connection to your charity. You can sometimes get not only
an announcement, but pro bono (or reduced rate) graphic advertising if you
know how to pull strings.
Top Race Necessities In later
sections, we'll talk about what you need to do on race day. Here are a
few things you will to acquire before race day to have on hand for the
race.
Registration Table:
At
the registration table you will need plenty of blank applications
for race day registrants. Have enough pens for your volunteers and
registering runners to use. Have race numbers or other means of
identifying the runners. Race numbers can be bought at many running
supply companies. The removeable bottom strip on a race number
identifies a runner and is removed at the finish line. It should be
filled out at the registration table (or before the race for
pre-registered runenrs). These numbered strips can be posted on a tally
board to help determine winners, age group winners, etc. Make up a
ruled tally board before the race and get some two-sided tape with
which to post the race number strips. If you have hired a race timing company to time your
race and if they are using a "chip timer", you will not need race
numbers. Have
plenty of safety pins with which to attach the race
numbers to runner's clothing. You should have some thin-line indelible
markers (e.g. "Sharpies") with which to fill out the information on the
pull off strip of the numbers, especially if the weather is damp. Have
some change for runners who are paying their fee with cash. Have a map
or course description available at or near the registration table.
Some race directors use computer data bases to keep track of runners'
results. If you do this, make sure you are familiar with the software
you will be using well before the race. Make sure that your data entry
volunteer knows how to use it, too. And make sure your data entry
volunteer can type fast to keep up with last-minute registrations!
Small "econo-races" (5-50 runners) that are intended for
fun and competition, but are "no-frills" otherwise can use other means
to identify finishers. One method is to hand a numbered index card or
popsicle stick to a runner as he crosses the finish line and then
collect it with the runners name after he catches his breath.
For The Runners:
In anything but a no-frills race, runners like to have race numbers
(see above) and a commemorative give-away (see below) as a souvenir of
the race. For longer races, (10 K and up) you should provide water or
sports drink on the course. This is especially true during warm weather
months. The drink should be offered to the runners in paper cups. Have
plenty pre-poured and placed on a table for volunteers to hand out as
the runners approach. A good rule of thumb is that there should be one
water stop for every five miles of the race. On hot days, some
race directors will station a volunteer with a hose set to 'mist'
runners as they pass. This volunteer should be instructed only to mist
one side of the road so that runners who do not wish to be sprayed can
avoid it.
Course:If you don't have enough volunteers to staff every turn in the course, you should post signs at all turns. Prepare
large, bright signs and post the signs where they are breathtakingly
obvious. There is more on course markings and course marshals in the Volunteers and Race Day sections below.
Finish Line:
The finish line should be prominently marked and the official race
clock should be placed there. You should set up a chute at the finish
line. The purpose of the chute is to keep runners in their finishing
order while they are being processed by your finish line volunteers
(see Race Day
below). The chute consists of a rope border about 6 ft. wide and long
enough to accomodate the maximum number of runners you think will be
finishing within any 1 minute period in your race. For races smaller
than 200 runners, a 20-30 yard long chute should be sufficient. Commemorative Give-Aways:Except
for no-frills, econo-races, most races provide some kind of commemorative
give-away to all runners who enter. Most often, the give-away is a T-shirt. Give-aways
are expected for charity races, but can also be the biggest expense. Therefore,
you will want to control costs here as much as possible. One way to do this
is to limit the maximum number of T-shirts you will give away. Put a statement
on your race application like "T-Shirts guaranteed to the first X entries".
Make 'X' big enough to accomodate your expectation of the number of runners
likely to participate. As your race grows over the years, you can change
'X'. Limiting the number of shirts you print also lets you avoid the cost
and trouble of having more T-shirts printed after the race and delivering
them. The second most important factor in controlling cost is keeping your
unit cost down. To some degree, an attractive shirt will attract runners
to your event, so don't choose a cheap, ugly shirt. But don't go overboard,
either. Start with a plain, short-sleeve shirt with a one-color silkscreen.
Don't have your girl friend or brother-in-law do the design, unless that
person really is artistic. If your
race is successful, you can move up to a colored shirt with multi-colored
screens, or a long-sleeve T-shirt for Fall races. Some high profile races
use expensive heavy weave shirts with embroidered logos. State College races
don't attract the number of runners needed to justify such an expense.
You can also break the mold with race give-aways. Possibilities include tank-tops,
hats, sweat bands, and even plush towels (the Cassville Oktoberthon gives
these away).
Promotional Give-Aways:Some sponsors will give you items
to place in runners packets, including advertising flyers, coupons, product
samples, etc. Offering to do this for a potential sponsor is often a way
to get prize donations. Directors of other races will also ask you to place
race applications for their races into race packets, or to make their race
applications available at your registration table. You can sometimes get
an extra volunteer or two for your own race by offering to do this for someone
else.
Post Race: After even a 5K race, runners are thirsty and probably hungry. Provide water and sports drink. Some local bottled water suppliers will donate water. You can also provide fruit (bananas, cut oranges),
bagels slice in half), or cookies. You can often find a sponsor who
will donate food to a charity race. Some local grocery stores give
store gift cards to charities. You can use these to buy whatever food
you need for the race. Prizes:Prizes are a draw for some of the better runners. They can also be a major
cost of directing a race. Very few local races offer prizes that would be
large enough to attract elite out-of-town runners. However, almost all races
offer prizes for at least the top three male and female runners. These prizes
might be ribbons, medalions, or trophies. Top finishers also usually get
another prize such as cash or a gift certificate. The amount for local races
varies between $10 and $100 for first place finishers, and commensurately
less for lower places. Most races also offer age group awards, some in 10-year
and some in 5-year increments. These awards are usually ribbons or gift certificates.
Many prizes, such as gift certificates or merchandise, can be gotten as donations.
Sponsorship can make the difference between a race that just covers its cost
and one that will make some money. If you are planning your race to benefit
some charity (as most race directors are), you should get as many sponsors
as possible. Some sponsors will give you a cash donation. This can be used to cover
the cost of T-shirts, race numbers, refreshments, and other race overhead.
Some sponsors will donate prizes or things you can use during the race. For
example, you can often get water donated to you. Many supermarkets will donate
gift cards which you can either use as prizes or use to buy food for post
race snacks. Talk to other local race directors for ideas.
Try to estimate how many volunteers you will need and get them lined up before
your race. Getting volunteers can be the biggest heartburn, because it is
often hard to get enough volunteers until the last minute. If you are working
for an organization that is putting on the race, mine that organization for
volunteers. You can also get volunteers by joining the local online running
forum, the Yahoo! Discussion Group NVRC. Volunteers can
be useful in helping you get sponsors. If you are directing a large race,
you should consider finding volunteers to help you stuff race packets before
the race. You will need plenty of help on race day. Probably the single most
important race day volunteer is the timer, unless you pay for a timing service.
The Nittany Valley Running Club has a timing system and a few people who
know how to use it or can teach you how. This system is useful for races
with 200 or fewer runners. If you think you will have more runners, consider
hiring a timing service. The most often used timing service for local races
is Runners High.
A rough outline of the volunteers you will need for race day for a small
to medium size race (50-200 runners) is: registration table (2 or more),
finish line (2 or more), unmarked course turns (1 per turn), mile markers (depends
on how long your course is), finish tabulation (2 or more). Registration
table volunteers can often do double duty during and after the races. You
should have plenty of volunteers to act as course marshals to direct
runners along the course. An alternative is to have a lead car or
bicycle to guide the lead runners and then assume (or hope) that all
subsequent runners can see runners ahead of them to stay on course.
This is not necessarily a good assumption for longer races, but is
usually fine for a 5K. In
longer races (10K and up), some runners become oblivious to
their surroundings and will miss even obvious course markings. It is a
good idea to have your course volunteers looking out for trailing
runners. If a trailing runner does not show up at a subsequent
volunteer station, it is a good idea to look for that runner. Runners appreciate
having a person at the mile marks reading off times. At minimum, have a place
marker at each mile so that runners can look at their watches at the appropriate
points.
Once
you have planned and measured your course, lined up your
sponsors, taken care of shirts, prizes, and conviced a few people
to run your race, you will
want it to go smoothly. This means you should try to make everything
work
well, from the registration table to the awards ceremony. Here are some
tips:
The Night Before: Try
to get enough sleep the night before your race. Try to get as much set
up as possible before hand, including stuffing race packets, placing
course markings, finding pens, change, etc.
Volunteers: Give yourself plenty of time to explain to each volunteer
what his or her duties are. Try to circumscribe each volunteer's duty as
much as possible.
Registration Table:Have plenty of race applications, pens, and a good starting pool
of change. Try to have a map or description of the course available at the registration table. Stop
by the table from time to time to help answer questions that the volunteers
or runners might have.
Communications: If your event is large, and especially if you
have volunteers stationed over a wide area, it might be a good idea to
rent or borrow some walkie-talkies by which race staff can communicte
with you and each other. Starting Line:Have
someone with a loud voice give the starting instructions to runners, or
use a bullhorn. Keep your starting instructions brief. Do not try to
explain the entire course at this point. Give only important safety
related instructions, or things the runners must know about within a
few hundred yards of the start. If you are using a lead car or bike,
point it out to the runners. Give clear instructions about what your starting
commands will be. Use something loud to start the runners, like a
starting gun, bull horn squawk, or boat horn. Finally, start on time, but never early.
You can err by being a couple of minutes late, especially to
accommodate late registrants. However, many runners like to do warm-up
jogging right up to the start of the race. You should not start early
and leave some of them still a hundred yards from the start.
Course Marshals:A
course marshal is someone who makes sure that runners go the right way,
that the last runners find their way back, and that no one cheats
(though this is generally not a problem). Most marshals are stationed
at turns in the course to direct runners. You can decrease the number
of marshals you might need by using a lead car or bike. Make sure the driver or rider knows the course! Course
marshals should keep an eye out for stragglers so that they can help you
determine when all runners have finished and if runners have gotten
lost. The
lead car can also circle back after the leaders have finished to scoop
up people who might be too pooped to finish the race.
Timers:The
timekeeper at your finish line is the most important timer. Make sure
that person knows how to use the timekeeping equipment. If your
starting and finish lines are at different locations, make sure that
the finish line timer knows when the gun goes off. Use of a
walkie-talkie or cell phone may be necessary. Other timekeepers along
the race route are appreciated by runners. If you have enough
volunteers, station someone at each mile mark to read off times to the
runners as they go by. If you cannot spare volunteers for this duty, at
least make sure that the miles are clearly and accurately marked.
Finish Line Help:
You should have at least a couple of volunteers other than the timer
stationed at the finish line. When runners arrive in clumps, it is the
timer's job to determine the finishing order. The other volunteers keep
the runners in order and moving through the finishing chute while
removing the tags from the bottom of their race numbers or otherwise
noting their names and finishing order. If you are using race numbers,
the pull-off strips generally have some holes in them. Fashion a long
symmetric hook out of a metal clothes hangar and use it to keep track
of
finishing order by threading the holes of the numbered strips onto the
hook
in finish order. Impress on the finish line help the importance of
keeping the finish order and of not dropping the numbers! When a number
of finishers have accumulated, a volunteer can tape the strips onto the
tally board.
Tabulation:
Once some finishers have accumulated, you should start tallying
results. You should strive to get the results completed as quickly as
possible while maintaining the accuracy of the awards. It's probably a
good idea to keep the tally board away from the runners who are
awaiting the results of the race. They can get in your way as you try
to determine category awards. Give them some food to keep them happy
while you and your volunteers compile the results. If your are using runner numbers, have a volunteer
write the finishing times on the pull strips on the tally board for each runner. If you
are using a data base program, make sure your runner number, finish
order, and time entries are accurate so that the computer can sort
properly. Start compiling the list of award winners as early as
possible. The overall winners are easy, and the younger age groups are
also easy. You might have to wait till the very end to complete the
results for the very oldest and youngest age groups, because these
runners finish late in the race. Write out the overall winners and
category winners on a separate sheet to help the awards ceremony go
smoothly.
Some race directors will allow "double-up" awards, i.e., they will
allow runners to win both an overall and an age group award. Others try
to maximize the number of award winners by not allowing double-up
awards. This is really a matter of you choice. If you are including
teams in your race categories, you should allow team members to receive
individual awards as well.
Awards Ceremony:
You should strive to have your awards ceremony within a short time
after you have stopped timing the race. Start the awards ceremony by
thanking all your runners for coming. Next, thank all of your sponsors
and encourage the runners to patronize them. Give the overall winners'
awards first and mention their times. If a time is very good (say, a
course record if you know), mention this. For category awards, give the
awards for both sexes in each category, rather than going through all
the categories for one sex before going to the other. You should strive
to deliver awards to the overall winners if they cannot attend the
awards ceremony. Category winner's prizes can be used as door prizes if
the category winner is not present. Finally, you can give out "door
prizes". Door prizes can consist of extra prizes that you have not
assigned to categories, or unclaimed category prizes. Wrap up the
ceremony by asking the participants to spread the word about your race
for next year.
Clean-up:Make
sure you go through your venue and course and clean up after the race.
This will assure that you will be allowed to use it again next year!
Results: Runners like to see their race results
published. Try to have this done as soon as possible after the race.
Compile the results in a plain text computer file. This is the most
convenient form for sending your results to be published. The NVRC
posts local race results on its web site. Email your race results, and
a report on the race if you'd like, to Marty Mazur.
The Centre Daily Times will also print your results in the Sports
section. Contact the Sports editor. Finally, the regional running
magazine The Runner's Gazette will also publish results and a brief story. See their web site for information on how to provide the results.
Thank-Yous: Send thank-you notes to sponsors. Try to give some kind of acknowledgement (race T-shirt, thank-you note) to your volunteers.