Tely 10 puts on a cap
Organizing committee decides to restrict entries to 4,200 to make event more manageable
The Tely 10 Mile Road Race organizing committee has decided to cap the race registration at 4,200 this year and for the forseeable future to make the popular event more manageable and to avoid waste.
Newfoundland Labrador Athletics Association technical director George Stanoev said “The organizing committee carefully considered all factors in setting a race cap, including anticipating a healthy growth.
“We certainly do not want to exclude anyone from taking part in the race, but we want to make sure we can deliver on our commitments to event participants.”
Stanoev said the committee feels the current projection growth will accommodate anyone interested in taking part in the race.
The Tely 10 set a record for registration with 3,581 in 2012. There were 3,561 registered last year. As of Tuesday night, there were 3,322 registered for the 87th running set for July 27.
“We’re very happy with the tremendous growth that the Tely 10 has experienced in the last several years,” said Stanoev, “but this also requires us to make changes in the way we manage the race. Early registration and race cap are key elements of managing large events.”
This is the first time the registration has been capped.
The goal of the cap, said Stanoev, is to get people to register early.
“The problem for us is that people tend to register on the final day or registration. Early-bird registration was June 15 and almost a third of the participants registered at that time. That’s fine, but if the same number of people decided to register on July 21 (the last day), there’s nothing we can do to get the materials (t-shirt, bibs etc.) in time,” he explained.
Stanoev pointed out the committee orders and purchases the event’s supplies months before the race.
“We are always running into the risk of not having sufficient number of race t-shirts, finisher’s medals, timing chips and race numbers. To prevent that,” he added, “we always order additional supplies, but the cost of ordering the extra t-shirts and medals is very high and also these supplies are not available on short notice.
“In addition, we want to be fiscally responsible and avoid large amount of money being spent on unused supplies.”
He said the committee has hundreds of t-shirts and medals left over from last year and, because they are dated, they are useless and that’s a waste of money.
All registration is done online and Stanoev said there are no issues with that process whatsoever.
Following this year's race, the committee will review the participation numbers and will adjust the race cap for the 2015 event if needed.
The Tely 10 requires between 300400 volunteers to help run the event each year and Stanoev said there’s never a problem getting help “because we have tremendous support through our sporting community.”