Head Start – Détails, épisodes et analyse

If you’ve ever directed even a single race, there’s a good chance you would have received at least one email from a frustrated participant complaining about the distance they ran not matching your race advertised distance. They do have a GPS watch, you know.

And although it’s easy to jokingly dismiss these kinds of demands - most people do - there often is an uncomfortable point to the complaint: How do you know the actual distance of your race course, if it hasn’t been accurately measured and certified?

The answer, of course, is you can’t really know. In fact, if empirical evidence from professional course measurers offer any kind of hint, it is that your actual course distance is likely much more off the distance you advertise than you think - most likely much shorter than the advertised distance.

So what’s involved in getting your race course professionally measured and certified? Why don’t all the other methods we’re all familiar with, like drawing lines on a map or using a measuring wheel, work as well? And, at the end of the day, do participants really care whether your course is actually 10K rather than 9.8?

That’s what we’re discussing today with my guest, Matt Slocum of Precision Course Design. Matt, although a very accomplished runner, is a relative newcomer to the business of races, but what he lacks in industry mileage he more than makes up for in his dedication and obsession with the craft of course measurement. 

And with Matt’s help we’re going to be going behind the scenes of a race course measuring operation to look at how professional course measurement works, why most other DIY methods tend to underestimate the distance of a race course (often by a lot), and how investing a modest amount in professional course measurement can actually benefit your race for years to come.

In this episode:

• Do your participants care about an accurately measured course?
• What types of races is course measurement relevant for?
• The process of professional course measurement: how it all works
• Why the course you've measured yourself on a map is probably short
• Designing a road course to match the race distance you aim for in your event
• How course certification works
• The cost of measuring and certifying your race
• Making small changes to a certified course

To find a course measurer in your region, use the links below:

• USA: rrtc.net
• UK: coursemeasurement.org.uk
• Canada: athletics.ca

Many thanks to our podcast sponsors, RunSignup and Brooksee, for supporting the podcast:

RunSignup are the leading all-in-one technology solution for endurance and fundraising events. More than 28,000 events use RunSignup's free and integrated solution to save time, grow their events, and raise more. Find out more at https://runsignup.com/.

Brooksee are the timing technology industry-leader, bringing affordable real-time tracking and timing checkpoints to races with their patented iPhone-sized micro checkpoints. Find out more and get 50% off your timing for your next event at https://www.brooksee.com/headstart.

You can find more resources on anything and everything related to race directing on our website RaceDirectorsHQ.com.

You can also share your questions about course measurement or anything else in our Facebook

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If there’s one thing you can’t have enough of as a race director, it’s race insurance. Particularly - knock on wood - when the unexpected happens and you’re faced with a dreaded lawsuit that threatens to take away your livelihood and your piece of mind.

So how can you best protect yourself and your business from the risks associated with putting on a race? What will your standard event liability policy cover? What does it exclude? And how should you expect to be protected against legal and medical claims should your race be held liable for a participant injury or loss of property?

That’s what we’re discussing today with my guest, Nicholas Hill Group partner and event insurance veteran, Nathan Nicholas. Through Nicholas Hill Group, Nathan has helped develop some of the most robust and widely-used specialist insurance policies for the endurance events industry, and with his help we’ll try to understand where the boundaries of liability insurance protection lie for you, the event organizer; how event liability insurance ties in with other types of business insurance you may be buying; how the type of race you put on affects the cost and availability of insurance cover you might find in the market; and how the diligent use of participant waivers and incident documentation can help reduce the risk of frivolous lawsuits being filed against you.

In this episode:

• Event liability insurance: what it is and what kinds of contingencies it covers
• How event liability insurance differs from Business Owner's Policies (BOPs) and other types of general business insurance
• Will an event liability policy cover me for event-related work outside of race day?
• Will an event liability policy cover volunteers, spectators and third-party vendors on site on race day?
• Negligence and gross negligence in the context of liability insurance.
• Understanding an event liability policy: deductibles, claim limits, additional insured's. 
• Getting insurance for obstacle races, ultramarathons, night races, races serving alcohol.
• Liability waivers: do they work?
• What to do (and not to do) when sued for liability by a participant or other party.
• How are your legal costs covered in the event of a lawsuit? Will you have to pay out of pocket?
• Does a virtual race need liability insurance?
• Race cancellation insurance: what it is and what it covers
• Will a race cancellation insurance policy cover the costs of postponing instead of cancelling a race?

Many thanks to our podcast sponsors, RunSignup and Brooksee, for supporting our efforts to provide great, free content to the race director community:

RunSignup are the leading all-in-one technology solution for endurance and fundraising events. More than 28,000 events use RunSignup's free and integrated solution to save time, grow their events, and raise more. Find out more at https://runsignup.com/.

Brooksee are the timing technology industry-leader, bringing affordable real-time tracking and timing checkpoints to races with their patented iPhone-sized micro checkpoints. Find out more and get 50% off your timing for your next event at https://www.brooksee.com/headstart.

You can find more resources on anything and everything related to race directing on our website RaceDirectorsHQ.com.

You can also share your questions about event liability insurance or anything else in our Facebook group,

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On April 15, 2013, two homemade bombs planted by brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tarnaev exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. In the devastation that ensued, three innocent people lost their lives, while 281 others were injured, in what was, and still remains, the biggest ever terrorist incident suffered by a mass-participation sporting event.

In the midst of all this, Boston Marathon race director, Dave McGillivray, and his team, working alongside emergency services, had to deal with a situation never before encountered by a race management team, while working under huge stress and personal risk to help runners with very little concrete information to go on on what had happened and what might be around the corner.

Today with Dave’s help, we’re going to be revisiting those remarkable events that took place 10 years ago that brought the horrors of terrorism into endurance events and forever changed the security protocols major mass-participation races around the globe have had to contend with ever since. 

We’re going to be going over the dramatic minutes and hours following the bomb explosions at the 2013 Boston Marathon, the response of the race management team, lessons learned from dealing with uncertainty when every second counts, as well as look at the aftermath of those events on security measures for the 2014 race and other races around the world, the impact these measures have had on race experience, and the legacy of the 2013 bombings on Boston Marathon and beyond.

In this episode:

• The amazing story of the Boston Marathon, the world's oldest annual marathon
• Contingency planning and emergency protocols prior to 2013
• The calm before the storm: going into the 2013 event in an upbeat mood following a near-canceled 2012 race
• Scrambling for answers and loved ones after the bombs went off
• Setting priorities in the immediate aftermath of the bombing
• Stopping the race and redirecting runners
• Working alongside and coordinating with emergency services 
• The importance of team training, planning and efficient communication in handling unforeseen emergencies 
• Improvising in the face of uncertainty
• The impact of the bombing on runners, race staff and the city of Boston
• Increasing security measures at the aftermath of the 2013 race
• The effect of additional security measures on the race experience, race banditing
• The legacy of the 2013 bombing on event operations and the "new normal"

Links:

• Boston Athletic Association - https://www.baa.org/ 
• DMSE Sports - https://www.dmsesports.com/
• Dave McGillivray Finish Strong Foundation - https://www.davemcgillivrayfoundation.org/

Thanks to RunSignup for supporting quality content for race directors by sponsoring this episode. More than 28,000 in-person, virtual, and hybrid events use RunSignup's free and integrated solution to save time, grow their events, and raise more. If you'd like to learn more about RunSignup's all-in-one technology solution for endurance and fundraising events visit runsignup.com.

You can find more resources on anything and everything related to race directing on our website RaceDirectorsHQ.com.

You can also share your questions about this episode or anything else in our Facebook group, Race Directors Hub.

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If you’ve done the hard work of prospecting and soliciting sponsors, and got some of your prospects to engage with you, you may be forgiven in thinking your job is done.

Actually, that’s where the real work begins - understanding your sponsor’s needs and closing the deal with a sponsorship proposal that hits all the right notes.

So, how do you get into your sponsor’s head? How do you put together a sponsorship proposal that clicks with them, while maximizing the value you get out of a potential deal? And how do you gather clues on what a sponsor might be willing to pay, before you actually submit your proposal to them?

That’s what we’ll be discussing today with returning guest, Green Cactus CEO, Teresa Stas. It’s a pleasure to have Teresa back on the podcast after our very popular chat back in episode 40 last September on finding and approaching sponsors, and today we’re taking the next step on the sponsorship sales journey to look at the challenges and secrets behind researching, preparing and delivering a winning sponsorship proposal. 

Among other things, we’re going to be looking at the all important discovery session, where you get to spend time understanding the sponsor’s needs before submitting your proposal, as well as some very useful tips on efficiently drafting customized proposals, and navigating the negotiations that hopefully will get to follow your proposal submission. 

In this episode:

• The importance of holding a discovery meeting with sponsors before sending out a proposal
• Preparing for your sponsor discovery meeting
• What questions to ask during the discovery meeting
• Getting a feel for a sponsor's budget expectations 
• Easily customizing sponsorship proposals 
• The layout of a comprehensive sponsorship proposal
• Dealing with sponsor radio silence and/or rejection
• Negotiating sponsorship fees
• Drafting a robust sponsorship agreement
• Using sponsorship brokers

Thanks to RunSignup for supporting quality content for race directors by sponsoring this episode. More than 28,000 in-person, virtual, and hybrid events use RunSignup's free and integrated solution to save time, grow their events, and raise more. If you'd like to learn more about RunSignup's all-in-one technology solution for endurance and fundraising events visit runsignup.com.

You can find more resources on anything and everything related to race directing on our website RaceDirectorsHQ.com.

You can also share your questions about sponsorship proposals or anything else in our Facebook group, Race Directors Hub.

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Selling merchandise is a great way to increase brand loyalty for participants outside race day, and, of course, a very good way to increase revenue from your event.

So, how do you get started selling race merchandise, both online, on packet pickup and on race day? How do you pick and test merchandise items that sell? And, very importantly, how do you manage inventory well to maximize sales while minimizing the risk of costly leftover items?

That’s what we’re going to be discussing today with my guest, Greelayer apparel President, and merchandising expert, Kim Bilancio. Kim has spent decades in the race apparel industry, where, among other things, she has been running the race merchandise programs for Hood to Coast and other prestigious events up and down the country. 

And today Kim will be helping us get a feel for what race merchandising is, how it works, what types of events it is (and isn’t) best suited for, and how, when implemented right, it can help increase your race’s revenue, while giving your participants a piece of your race to keep, cherish and showcase year-round. 

In this episode:

• What race merchandising can do for your event
• On-site (race day, packet pickup) vs online (registration flow, website) merchandise sales
• Starting out selling race merchandise as part of your registration flow
• Outsourcing merchandise sales to an apparel vendor vs doing it in-house
• How small things like weather can affect merchandise sales
• Guesstimating apparel sizes to order from past data and registration trends
• What types of races merchandising is (and isn't) well suited for
• Working on a commission vs flat-rate basis with merchandise vendors
• Choosing where to set up your merch store on packet pickup and race day
• Choosing products to sell in your merch store
• Picking shirt styles and qualities for your store that work alongside your finisher shirt
• The tech shirt vs tri blend debate
• Including non-wearables in your merch offering
• Including cycling kits and other specialized merch for multisport events
• Printing items on-demand for registration flow merch stores
• Shipping merch to participants pre-race day

Thanks to RunSignup for supporting quality content for race directors by sponsoring this episode. More than 28,000 in-person, virtual, and hybrid events use RunSignup's free and integrated solution to save time, grow their events, and raise more. If you'd like to learn more about RunSignup's all-in-one technology solution for endurance and fundraising events visit runsignup.com.

You can find more resources on anything and everything related to race directing on our website RaceDirectorsHQ.com.

You can also share your questions about race merchandising, growing your race's revenue or anything else in our Facebook group, Race Directors Hub.

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From the minute the first participant shows up on race day till the time the last one leaves, responsibility for the wellbeing of everyone on and around your race course rests with you - the race director.

So, how can you make sure your medical preparations are up to scratch? How do you figure out how many - and what type - of resources to dedicate to your race? And where does your duty of care as the race organizer towards your participants even begin and end, practically, legally and morally?

That is what we’ll be discussing today with my guest, Natasha Beach. Besides being the medical director for such prestigious events and organizations as the Manchester Marathon, London Triathlon and Cancer Research UK, Natasha runs her own multi-award-winning event medical cover company, SportsMedics, as well as heading some of the most high-profile efforts to formalize race medical planning in the UK through her positions as Chief Medical Officer of England Athletics and medical advisor to UK Athletics. 

In this episode:

• Understanding the stress the human body goes through during a race
• Why men are at a higher risk of suffering a medical incident during a race than women
• How speed, herd mentality and participant excitement make everything worse on race day
• How the incidence of specific medical issues evolves over the duration of a race
• Duty of care: what is expected of you as the race director
• The pitfalls of relying on public medical resources
• Doctors vs nurses vs paramedics vs first-aiders: what's the difference?
• Using in-house stuff and volunteers as your first-aid team on race day
• Vetting third-party first-aid cover providers and medical companies
• Working out how many and what types of medical resources you'll need
• Sharing your race medical plan with emergency services
• Collecting medical history notes from participants to use in case of an emergency
• Requiring mandatory participant medical certificates: do they help?
• Recording race-day medical incidents and compiling a post-race medical report

If you are based in the UK, you can sign Natasha's petition on extending regulation of health services to medical services at events here: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/633938 

Thanks to RunSignup for supporting quality content for race directors by sponsoring this episode. More than 28,000 in-person, virtual, and hybrid events use RunSignup's free and integrated solution to save time, grow their events, and raise more. If you'd like to learn more about RunSignup's all-in-one technology solution for endurance and fundraising events visit runsignup.com.

You can find more resources on anything and everything related to race directing on our website RaceDirectorsHQ.com.

You can also share your questions about medical, risk and contingency planning or anything else in our Facebook group, Race Directors Hub.

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If you’ve been following our industry updates on race and participation growth, you may have picked up on the fact that trail running, and trail races, have been doing particularly well over the last few years. In fact, trail racing seems to be one of the few spots within racing still growing at a healthy enough rate as other areas in racing are stagnating or slowly falling behind.

So, what is fueling trail racing’s amazing growth? How different are trail races to organize, promote and grow compared to your typical road race? And, despite the robust growth, what challenges, if any, does trail racing face as it matures into a more popular sport?

With me today to cover this very interesting ground is veteran trail runner, trail racer and trail race director, John Lacroix. Through his Colorado-based Human Potential Running Series, John has been at the helm of dozens of trail and ultra races through the years, and with his help we’re going to be taking a look at all aspects of the trail racing business, from the culture and community that has been at the core of the sport’s success to the nitty-gritty everyday details trail race directors have to contend with in operations, course maintenance and marking, and, of course, safety management.

In this episode:

• The appeal of trail racing
• Improving diversity and inclusivity in trail and ultra running
• Is ultra running's inability to attract younger participants spelling trouble down the line?
• The lack of dedicated educational materials and accreditation for trail race directors
• The complexities (and costs) of obtaining permits for a trail/ultra race
• The challenge of finding and attracting volunteers
• Marking a trail/ultra running course (hint: it's not for the faint-hearted!)
• Managing risk and keeping participants safe in a trail race
• The economics of trail and ultra races
• The reality of attracting sponsorship dollars in trail races
• Marketing trail races: word of mouth, social media, race calendars, event cross-promotions
• Race director collaboration in trail racing

Thanks to RunSignup for supporting quality content for race directors by sponsoring this episode. More than 28,000 in-person, virtual, and hybrid events use RunSignup's free and integrated solution to save time, grow their events, and raise more. If you'd like to learn more about RunSignup's all-in-one technology solution for endurance and fundraising events visit runsignup.com.

You can find more resources on anything and everything related to race directing on our website RaceDirectorsHQ.com.

You can also share your questions about the business of trail and ultra races or anything else in our Facebook group, Race Directors Hub.

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Over the last decade or so, lots has changed in the social media landscape. Facebook has gone from exciting upstart to the mature granddaddy of social media, Instagram has grown by leaps and bounds to become the platform of choice for visually engaging content, and TikTok has emerged as the new contender in the battle for social media supremacy, favored mostly by younger audiences, looking for the next cool and exciting network to join.

So, how should your organic social media presence adapt to this ever-changing landscape? Should you still be spending time on Facebook? Should you be switching to an Instagram-first mentality? And what kinds of content should you post? How often? And with what purpose?

This and many many other questions is what we’ll be discussing today with the help of my guests, digital marketing pros Leigha Pindroh of Pittsburgh Marathon organizers P3R and Alex Ross of the Denver Colfax Marathon. 

With tons of practical experience between them, Leigha and Alex are here to take us from high-level social media strategy all the way down to your everyday content writing tactics, including tips on managing your content schedule, mixing up value posts with marketing content, leveraging user-generated content, as well some off-the-beaten-track stuff you may not even be thinking about, like using LinkedIn to tap into your local corporate wellness market. 

In this episode:

• Is organic social media reach dead?
• Understanding the effectiveness of your social media posts/campaigns
• The most effective social media platforms for races: Facebook, Instagram
• The challenges of making it on TikTok
• Promoting your race to local businesses and corporates through LinkedIn
• Engaging with your audience with Stories, Reels, polls
• Types of content to put out through your social media
• The 80:20 rule: posting 80% value posts (entertainment, education etc), 20% sales posts
• Leveraging user-generated stories and other content
• Hashtags, emojis: where to use and how
• Designing content with an Instagram-first mentality
• Planning your social media content schedule
• Productivity tools: Hootsuite, Canva, Facebook Publishing tools

Thanks to RunSignup for supporting quality content for race directors by sponsoring this episode. More than 28,000 in-person, virtual, and hybrid events use RunSignup's free and integrated solution to save time, grow their events, and raise more. If you'd like to learn more about RunSignup's all-in-one technology solution for endurance and fundraising events visit runsignup.com.

You can find more resources on anything and everything related to race directing on our website RaceDirectorsHQ.com.

You can also share your questions about social media, digital marketing or anything else in our Facebook group, Race Directors Hub.

Send us a text

In a number of our past podcasts, we’ve touched on the issue of race waste - and specifically a particularly significant and persistent part of that issue which is water cup waste.

In an ideal world - or shall I say in a trail running world - we’d all love to put on cupless races, where racers themselves are responsible for bringing along their own water containers to the race. But, unfortunately, that high standard may be a little ways off still for the majority of road running and multisport races out there.

So what can we do to take some of the strain of water cup waste off of our industry?

One approach, coming out of Florida-based company Hiccup is reusable water cups, that is, durable cups that are collected, professionally sanitized and reused between races. And today I have the great pleasure of talking to the person at the forefront of that movement, Hiccup owner Kristina Smithe.

Kristina started Hiccup in 2019 through her frustration with the rate at which water cups were being consumed in races, and has since had her Hiccup silicon cups used in such great events as Grandma’s Marathon, Rocket City Marathon and Around the Crown 10K. And she’ll be telling us today how the Hiccup service works, from delivery to collection, and how you could potentially bring Hiccup’s reusable water cups to your race next year.

In this episode:

• How Hiccup's reusable cup service works
• What races Hiccup is best (and less well) suited for
• Setting up Hiccup on race day
• Runner's reviews of using Hiccups
• Recovering, sanitizing and reusing Hiccup's silicon cups
• Compostable vs reusable cups
• The cost of bringing Hiccup to your race

Thanks to RunSignup for supporting quality content for race directors by sponsoring this episode. More than 28,000 in-person, virtual, and hybrid events use RunSignup's free and integrated solution to save time, grow their events, and raise more. If you'd like to learn more about RunSignup's all-in-one technology solution for endurance and fundraising events visit runsignup.com.

You can find more resources on anything and everything related to race directing on our website RaceDirectorsHQ.com.

You can also share your questions about sustainability, reducing race waste or anything else in our Facebook group, Race Directors Hub.

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Gravel racing has been one of the fastest growing sectors in mass-participation sports over the last decade or so, particularly in the US, where high-profile races like UNBOUND Gravel, Rebecca’s Private Idaho and Belgian Waffle Ride have grown massively in popularity, attracting a broad range of both veteran and newcomer cyclists to the sport.

It’s against this backdrop that in 2019 professional road racer Amy Charity launched her own gravel race around the ski resort town of Steamboat Springs, CO, where she then lived. As Forbes magazine put it, SBT GRVL went on to become a remarkable overnight success, selling out in just 9 minutes in its second year and becoming one of the best gravel racing experiences in the world. 

So what has been the secret to the race’s massive success? That’s what we’re here to find out with Amy’s help - and in the process learn a thing or two about the unstoppable sensation that is gravel racing. 

In this episode:

• An "overnight success": planning and launching SBT GRVL 
• The importance of local infrastructure in supporting a world-class race
• Building community relations and being a respectful "guest" in the local community
• The appeal and insane growth of US gravel racing
• Road racing vs gravel racing vs mountain biking
• How inclusivity helped propel gravel racing's growth
• The cost advantages/disadvantages of organizing a gravel race vs a road race
• Making SBT GRVL a more welcoming event for female athletes and newcomers
• Including a non-competitive e-bike category into the event
• Activating sponsorships year-round through grassroots and team-building events
• Offering a VIP package/experience option
• Bringing the SBT GRVL brand to Europe with FNLD GRVL

Thanks to RunSignup for supporting quality content for race directors by sponsoring this episode. More than 26,000 in-person, virtual, and hybrid events use RunSignup's free and integrated solution to save time, grow their events, and raise more. If you'd like to learn more about RunSignup's all-in-one technology solution for endurance and fundraising events visit runsignup.com.

You can find more resources on anything and everything related to race directing on our website RaceDirectorsHQ.com.

You can also share your questions about some of the things discussed in today’s episode or anything else in our Facebook group, Race Directors Hub.

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