Race cancellations a disappointment all around
This past weekend the Josh Feldt/After the Leaves Half Marathon was cancelled due to the storm that brought the area 12 inches of snow.
In the 38-year history of the Shawangunk Runners Club, it was only the third cancellation of a race. It is quite disappointing for a runner to prepare for a race and then have the “rug pulled out from underneath them.”
I hope everyone understands how disappointing it is for the organizers too.
A race director puts a lot of time and energy into an event to pull together everything needed to create a race. A race begins with a concept, progresses to a plan and then becomes a reality.
The “concept” includes the type of race such as cross-country, road or trail and the distance of the race. It involves the location and what the race benefits. A race could simply be just for the enjoyment of the running community or to remember an individual.
It might be a fundraiser for a scholarship or a meaningful cause. Once the concept for the race is formulated, a “race plan” must be devised. The race plan is the details of the event from advertisement to awards presentation.
A key element to a plan is the location of the event.
Is there enough parking? Are there bathroom facilities? Is the terrain or road safe? How many volunteers will be needed for traffic control and to make sure runners make it to the finish line? Is there a pavilion or will tents be needed?
Another important factor is gaining the appropriate approvals and certificates of insurance. At the recent Rosendale Runs races, permission and insurance was needed from four entities: Town of Rosendale, Ulster County Department of Public Works, Williams Lake Project and the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail.
This involved 7 certificates of insurance. Approval sometimes involves attending town board meetings.
Races would not happen without volunteers.
For Rosendale Runs, volunteers were recruited from the Tillson and Bloomington Fire Departments. A boy scout troop manned a water stop and the town police and some town officials helped.
Volunteers from the community helped set up refreshments and handled the day of registration and race packet pick up. The Shawangunk Runners provided volunteers for the technical aspect of timing the event and scoring the race.
Approximately 50 volunteers were needed.
In the past, it was necessary to advertise your race approximately 6 weeks in advance. Advertising was primarily handing out fliers at races and getting the race into weekly newspaper calendars.
Often you would have your fliers in running club newsletters. Now, if you wait until only 6 weeks prior to a race, you will get a very small turnout. Advertisement now includes all the old methods, but it is also necessary to be adept at using the internet and social media.
Advertising your event 6 months in advance is not too soon. I think one reason many running club races suffer attendance wise is because they are not tech savvy. Running clubs should solicit more tech savvy individuals to become involved in race organization.
The planning curve for an event today is much longer than in years past.
In some ways a race is as much a social event as it is a sport or physical endeavor. Having a good spread of food for participants not only aids in the physical recovery from a hard effort, but aids greatly in the social part.
People love to talk and socialize as they “break bread together.” For After the Leaves, the food planned was soup, assorted wraps, chicken tenders, bananas and cookies. Procuring all the food, transporting it and keeping it warm takes planning and volunteers.
Larger events will often have music and beer. At Rays Run, there is an extensive free raffle of prizes and gift certificates. The solicitation of merchants to donate these items takes time.
Awards and finisher items are another area that involves decision making. Will your awards be in 5 year or 10 year age groups? Will you purchase them or can someone handcraft them? Will they be perceived as nice or simply cheap? What kind of budget do you have?
I personally do not like giving all finishers a medal. In the past, only the fastest runners received medals. However, pragmatically, many runners expect something for completing a race, especially if it is a half marathon or longer.
If you do not have a finisher item, it may negatively affect attendance. For Rosendale Runs, we had coffee mugs as a finisher gift and for After the Leaves, we planned pint glasses.
Race directors must make plans for medical emergencies and first aid. A local ambulance service should be notified. At After the Leaves, we planned to have both a physician assistant and a certified EMT. A plan needs to be in place in case someone is hurt out on the course.
Another area of planning is how to measure the course so the distance is accurate. You also need to put down mile markers so runners know where they are. How you mark your course is crucial.
I like to run over the course and see how turns and intersections look to a runner at race pace.
With arrows, I usually place 3: one before a turn, one in the middle of the turn and one coming out of the turn. I often put some down as “security arrows” so people see an arrow and know they didn’t miss a turn. I like to use orange cones and for off road courses, orange surveyors tape.
Marking a course using three different methods insures no one will get lost. It can be quite time consuming, but is worth the effort.
A final point about race planning is that there is a need for effective communication so that everything needed is accomplished. Everyone needs to fully understand their role and volunteer assignment so that on race day, there are no complications.
One race I recall the organizers forgot pins for the race numbers. Another race a course marshal was confused as to where to direct runners and everyone got lost.
This column was not meant to be inclusive of everything organizers need to plan. It is meant to give people an idea of how much time and energy is put into a race and how the decision to cancel is not taken lightly. It was meant to portray the disappointment race organizers/race directors feel when they have to “pull the plug” on an event.
Philadelphia Marathon
One of the last fall marathons in the northeast is the Philadelphia Marathon. This event involves 3 races over the weekend. They put on an 8k (4.97 miles), a half marathon and a marathon. Eleven locals ran in one of the races with 3 people taking on special “challenges” of 2 or more of the races.
Father and daughter duo of Jim and Caitlin Donovan ran the half and marathon respectively. Jim, as a 70 th birthday present, ran 2:05:55 and Caitlin ran the marathon in 3:48:18. Kingston’s Chris Gallo ran a personal best time of 3:18:56. Patrick Sheeley ran 3:42:53, Max Fields 4:19:25 and Amanda Carroll ran a personal best time of 4:20:46. Richard Carr had a time of 5:46:50. Riza Campbell ran the half marathon in 2:51:24.
In the “Liberty Challenge” Doug Needham came in 9 th overall running the half marathon in a personal best 1:34:07 and the marathon in 3:36:53. Two locals did the “Freedom Challenge” of completing all 3 races.
Jessica Velez came in 10 th among women by completing the 8k in 53:09, the half in 2:11 and the marathon in 4:42:44. Christopher Regan placed 18th among men with times of 40:18, 1:47:01 and 3:49:08.
I hope everyone had fun at one of the local turkey trots and don’t forget to turn out for the 35 th YMCA Reindeer Ramble on Sunday, December 2.
Calendar, results
Race directors, please submit information for the race calendar to sports@ freemanonline.com. Information should be in the form of a concise email with important details highlighted and included in the body of the email. No race flyer PDFs.
Race results should be submitted directly to me at ssrun54@aol.com.
Steve Schallenkamp has been active in area running circles since 1966 as runner, race director, volunteer and coach. He is a member of the Onteora Runners Club and president of the Shawangunk Runners Club.