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Articles by Jeff Henderson

Industry

On Innovation

Innovation is the fun part of producing triathlon. In the beginning, a race director learns the basics: what equipment is needed, how to recruit volunteers, how early to stop publishing your phone number before race weekend.

by Jeff Henderson, July 4, 2010
Industry

On Stories

 In my role as race director I get to design the dust jacket and ink the first paragraphs, but I'll never consummate the stories. Each year a new chapter is written as the plotlines develop depth and color.
Industry

On Liveability

 The swim portion of the Freshwater Trust Portland Triathlon takes place adjacent to a Superfund site. Yet, Triathlete magazine dubbed this the "Greenest Race in the World." Read how.
Industry

On Disaster

 In seven years of organizing triathlons there has been only one thing, one entity, that has caused me to seriously consider a different line of work: the New York State Department of Transportation.
Industry

On Technology

 I was educated as a computer science engineer. I spent long nights searching for misplaced semicolons and fussing over finicky EPROMs. Thank the Good Lord I am now a race director.
Industry

On Beauty

 The finish is the focal point of any triathlon. Typically blow-up arches are employed, accompanied by the ever-present drone of gas generators. For an event intent on embracing environmental sustainability, that wouldn't do.
Industry

On Design

 Jeff Henderson, RD of the Musselman Tri, authored an insightful newbie race director's diary in 2003. He begins a new set of installments: A chronicle of what he's learned in the intervening 7 years.
Industry

The Seven Days of Mussel

 Saturday the race site needs to rise from the earth, and each athlete has approximately thirty questions they would like to ask, preferably now. But as my wife often tells me, I signed up for the job.
Industry

Musselman by the numbers

 Attention budding race directors: Here's yet another attempt at quantifying how much it costs to put on a triathlon, and what it breaks down to by line item.
Industry

The Seven Nags

 The sponsorship tactics for the Musselman Tri could have been lifted straight from Kids as Customers, in which James McNeal classifies juvenile nagging tactics into seven major categories.
Industry

RD Diary: Willy Loman, Triathlon Peddler

 Getting sponsors. Yes, the task every race director looks forward to. If, that is, your favorite word to hear is, "No." This assumes you actually get any word at all in response to your supplications.
Industry

RD Diary: One Million Revolutions

 I have made small in-roads toward learning what it means to serve others, but have not done as much as I should. The Musselman Triathlon is a chance to give something back. But to whom, and how?
Industry

RD Diary: Sign up now!

 We've reached an important milestone here at Musselman Headquarters. Our liability waivers are drawn up. Oh yes, and registration is now open.