Assembling Your Race Committee
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Now we're getting down to the meat of it: Here's the secret to producing a successful race.
Getting That Special Event Permit
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Rule #1: Do not follow rule #1, as regards special event permitting: it's a top-down process masquerading as a bottom-up process.
Pacify the Locals
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Two ways you can get your way, as a race director. The political power play. That’s one. I prefer the second way.
Picking a Course
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Value scenery, cheap-to-produce, and safe over proximity to populated areas.
Ready to Produce?
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If you find that the race calendar doesn't have quite what you want, here's my solution: Put on the race you don't see there.
How to Be a Race Director
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This is the series of articles for those who see the proverbial unsurfed wave, and deem it their mission to surf it.
RDs: Find Your Voice
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Why do we act as if our race and race services product is immune from market pressures exerted on the rest of the world?
Can RD's Impact SCD in Tri?
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Considering all the available best medical evidence, some say if you die in the swim, you're an unfortunate but acceptably rare, and probably unavoidable, statistic. Can a race director move those ...
The Port-o-Nazi
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Imagine the Titanic, everyone queuing up to discover find half the number of requisite lifeboats. When I find half the number of necessary port-o-johns, this is when I don the mantle of Port-o-Nazi.
Aid stations
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Aid stations can be cost centers, profit centers, or neutral centers. No matter of the size of your race, they can be done well, and cheaply. I like to think of them as stationary parade floats.
Traffic plan
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Want to be a race director? Here's the skill of it: mapping out your traffic plan. Regrettably, even the casual racer discerns when an RD gave his traffic plan short shrift.
Race Registration
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Our series on how to put on a successful race continues with race registration, both pre-race and the requirements for registration at the race venue.
Your race budget
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Our series on race directing continues with a nod to the budget. What will your race cost? Here is a list of things you'll not want to forget.
Attracting media to your race
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Race directors: getting media to cover your race is not as hard as you think. But, it takes forethought. And, you have to decide what that media means to you; how it can help you. It's all ...
Getting sponsors
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I know what you're thinking: "This has to be the hardest task facing a race promoter." Yes, you're right. But it doesn't have to be. Just invest in a little creative thinking, and you'll find ...
Filling your race
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Our series on Race Director aids continues with an installment on how to fill your race with participants.
Assembling your race committee
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Race promoters know race committees, or lack thereof, can make or break an event. If you have no good organization, you have no race (at least no race that people will want to attend again).
Getting volunteers
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If an RD doesn't have enough volunteers, his customers will know come race day. The successful race organizer always has enough. What follows is the blueprint for getting them.
Picking a course
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Often heard is the lament: All the venues are drying up. To the contrary. To the practiced eye more venues are available now than ever were before.