Road Race Disasters: What Are the Basic Requirements For a Good Road Race

Cash prizes and no novelty items. The cash brings out good competition and the lack of novelty items keeps a lot of hobby joggers away

punchy wrote:

Cash prizes and no novelty items. The cash brings out good competition and the lack of novelty items keeps a lot of hobby joggers away

You realize that's just the opposite of what many race directors want? They don't care if their 5k is won in 13 minutes or 23 minutes so long as they get a big turnout. If anything, the hobby joggers are less demanding and easier to please than the sub elites or local hot shots who show up to a race expecting to be treated like they're something special.

Not you wrote:

punchy wrote:

Cash prizes and no novelty items. The cash brings out good competition and the lack of novelty items keeps a lot of hobby joggers away

You realize that's just the opposite of what many race directors want? They don't care if their 5k is won in 13 minutes or 23 minutes so long as they get a big turnout. If anything, the hobby joggers are less demanding and easier to please than the sub elites or local hot shots who show up to a race expecting to be treated like they're something special.

Pretty much true. I like it when our races have good competition, but it's more important to have a large turnout. If my half marathon is won in 1:10, that's great, but it really doesn't do anything for the bottom line. The back of the packers don't care if the race is won in 1:10 or 2:10, so long as they have a good experience.

As for the local hotshots expecting to be treated like royalty, it happens. Some just don't understand why we don't comp entries, cover expenses, or offer prize money. We don't because it's not worth it to us. We're out to raise money for our cause, and a fast but non-elite winning time does nothing to achieve that purpose.

I agree with get ugly's list.

I will add:

1. Corral control. Make runners provide a recent race result during registration to make sure they're placed in the proper corral.

2. Well-timed wave starts.

3. Adequate medical services depending on the size and distance of the race.

4. Proper signage instructing runners where to go before and after the race (this would apply to races with a large number of participants).

I ran the half marathon in Las Vegas this year as well as in 2009 and 2010. I drank the water and did not get sick. I also stayed at Mandalay Bay the night of the race, so did not experience the chaos in the convention center afterwards. I didn't hear of any of the problems until the next day. I was in corral 2 and there were people with bib numbers in the 30,000-40,000 range. There was no policing of the corrals.

There was also no signage directing runners how to get to the start of the race. People were climbing through bushes and over barricades to get to the corrals. Likewise, there was no direction on where to go afterwards to pick up shuttles. It was total chaos.

The race was great in 2010. There were approx. 28,000 runners combined between the half and full. Both races started together and ran the first 12.5 miles together at which point the marathon deviated from the Strip.

d2xccoach wrote:Turning the rest of the perks into ala-carte is something we haven't figured out how to do. I'd love to do it with medals, but how do you screen out in the crush of a finish line? How about on-course gels or Gatorade (for longer races). Some runners would opt out of that and carry their own, but how do you segregate on the course?

Ideas?

Well, ala Carte sounds a lot better in theory than in practice. The reason to do it is to reduce the cost to the participant, but if it doesn't reduce the cost to the race organizer it doesn't make sense.

So look at each option you offer and make sure you can really do it effectively. For example, if your t-shirt pricing as based on ordering "X" shirts then you need to be careful. If you order t-shirts in even lots (i.e. 12, 48, 72, etc) will you reduce the number enough to save money? In the case of regular t-shirts I've found not enough people decline the shirt to make the overall cost less, and the extra options odd to the organizer cost. YMMV, since the profile seems to be highly regional.

Also be aware of logistics. Make sure what you're offering ala Carte is practical. Course or finish line features are a great example. If 50 people out of 500 decline a finisher's medal then you need something on the bib of 450 people saying they get a finsher's medal (or on 50 that don't). Something else to educate volunteers on. What if you offer 2-3 ala Carte items? Will your bib look like a checklist? Saving a couple of bucks would be offset by additional annoyance on the course or finish.

I would also restrict ala Carte on race day. If you have to buy the items in advance just in case someone buys them that's hard to control. GU packets can be reused later, engraved medals cannot. Also, are all the choices going to slow down registration? I've had people stand there wanting to compare sizes on shirts to see if they want to buy them.

I have a fairly simplistic view of race management, advertise what you deliver and deliver what you advertise. If you have prize money, everyone should know, if there's no t-shirt unless you finish, let everyone know. Don't advertise anything you're not positive you can do well. If you look at a race web site or brochure and don't know right away the price, where the course is (and hot to get to it), what the award structure is, and what all the cutoffs are then the event has failed before it started.

Too many organizers ignore basic logistics and do fancy shirts, dodads and chip timing instead. Not a good bargain. After you have all the parking, crapping, scoring and registration down to perfection, then think about ala Carte pricing. If you can't do registration right on a good day, adding complexity will mean disaster.