Organizing Road Races

have you ever volunteered at or for a race before? that's the best way to start. dont go into it cold turkey--being a runner doesnt make one a race director. organizing a race isnt just about getting lots of runners.

In my country it used to be a piece of cake organising a local road race.

Taking to an organiser recently, I found things are now very different.

He has to fill in a sheaf of forms accessing all sorts of health and safety concerns.

The police are reluctant to become involved and are lukewarm.

And then, of course, are the insurance complications.

Would one be covered for accidents?

What if someone drops dead on the run?

Nowadays, the vultures (ambulance chasers) are never far behind.

I’d talk to someone who actually does organise races in your area and find out the potential difficulties before you jump in with both feet.

Check out the net, for example

http://www.runningusa.org/events/RMindex.html

I have put on a local 5k for 13 years now, and can tell you that it is a big chore. The participants enjoy themselves, but there are a thousand and one details that you'll want to get right. I bought a book about organizing road races, and talked to local race directors. You can get some freebies from Running Times and Runners World. I get college students to go around town and solicit gift certificates from businesses, to use as random draw prizes. We got more participants after we became associated with a local charity, ie: the proceeds will be donated to XYZ Charity.

I look at putting on a race as a way of giving something back to the local running community. We give out high quality cotton t shirts, and nice prizes. I think that people appreciate that, and they like to come back. They know it if you give out cheap crap.

Basically, races are a break even prospect, at best. The costs come close to the revenue, if you plan it right. The only reason there is any money left over, is if you get cash sponsorship. That's where the charity thing comes in handy.

Best of luck. Let us know how it goes.

There is a lot of work involved at first. You have to get police/town permission, etc.

The key to making money is donations of food and that stuff. You will have to buy awards and t-shirts, of course, but a lot of the stuff you need could be donated. You could also "sell" spots on the back of the t-shirt. You may be able to pay for them this way- I was once involved with a race that did this.

Most important, think of all the things you like and dislike about roadraces. Do the things you like and don't do the things you dislike.

One race I ran in once even invited top local runners and offered to waive the entry fee- this guarenteed a good field, and most of them paid anyway because it was for a good cause and I think they were flattered by the offer.

Unless you have large corporate sponsors (and sometimes that's not even enough) and a huge turnout, the net income is not worth the time and effort spent on organizing a good race, and there wont be a ton of money for charity. So you'd better really enjoy organizing races.

Depending on how much you charge for a race, not a whole lot of money goes to charity. Around here, if you charge $25 for a no-sponsor race of say 500 runners, maybe $3-5 will go to charity and the rest towards expenses, which add up quickly if you dont have many sponsors. $1500-2500 may seem like a nice amount of money for a small charity, but not when you consider how much work goes into organizing the race. I laugh when runners choose to enter a race b/c of the charity and assume that all of their entry fee will go to charity. This is probably true for races like the breast cancer races, but not your small local fun runs.

Here's some good info on race organizing from the RD of the Boston Marathon.

http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/6/6_1/race-amenities.shtml

http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/6/6_1/on-being-a-race-director-.shtml

here's an example of some costs you could see.

PERMITS

Department of Parking & Traffic

XZY Port Commission

Maritime National Historical Park

Entertainment Commission

INSURANCE

USATF

POLICE & SECURITY

Police Department

City and County of XZY

MARKETING

Graphic artist

Website Domain/Hosting

Additional Bandwidth

CC Mini Replicas

Magazine Ads

RACE LOGISTICS

Bauers Limousine and Transportation

Abbey Party Rentals

Golden State Communications, Inc.

Rainbow Systems

Medical Aid - EMTs

Debris Box Services

Portapotties

XZY MUNI

Cole's/Walgreens

Ladder Rental

Shurgard Truck Rental

Cone Rentals

TIMING

Running & Walking Event Mgmt.

ENTERTAINMENT

DJ

CHARITIES

Charity 1 - minimum donation

Charity 2 - minimum donation

ADMIN

Kinkos/Office Max

Mailings

Printer Ink Cartridges

VOLUNTEERS

Round Table Pizza

Round Table Pizza

Gift Certificates

RACE MANAGEMENT

ACME Productions

REFRESHMENTS

Safeway, Smart & Final

TSHIRTS

Tshirts

The link here has some things you may find helpful.