Run Your Own Community Event

Seven race directors share their hard earned secrets

By Kathleen Wilker

The Race Directors

Finding himself temporarily out of work five years ago, Jeff Leiper decided to host a 5K race through his neighbourhood. “I wanted to showcase our neighbourhood, which was much grittier than it is now” says Leiper.

“We began with community association volunteers who weren’t runners,” remembers Leiper, who had to remind his volunteers not to smoke at the registration table in The Hintonburg 5K’s first year.

“If I had to give would-be race directors one piece of advice, it would be: If we can pull a community race off successfully five years in a row, you certainly can,” says Leiper, who keeps his race casual by having his son draw the start line in chalk.

In just six weeks, Sarah Muldoon and Craig Gauthier threw together the second annual Sports 4 Kanata Race Day last September to raise awareness and funds for a new recreation centre in their community. As a team of race directors, Muldoon brought years of experience working with Ottawa Race Weekend and Gauthier brought his business expertise in infrastructure and event planning.

“We welcomed 500 participants to the event,” says Gauthier who is taking his own advice and starting the race preparation process months earlier this year before major sponsors determine their annual charitable budgets.

George and Peggy Sarson have been hosting the Run for the Toad for 11 years. “You don’t want to ever stop setting new goals for your race,” says George Sarson. “When people walk away from your event, they’ll be asking themselves: ‘Did I get my money’s worth?’ and ‘Was my day worthwhile?’”

One way Peggy Sarson thought of to set their ultra event apart was to provide a healthy and delicious post-race meal would set their ultra event apart from other runs. Initially, George and Peggy cooked for all the participants at their 50K and 25K trail running event. Now there are 1,000 participants who sit down to a fully catered dinner complete with gourmet high-protein salads, nourishing soups and lemon ginger chicken.

Deciding his hometown of London, ON needed a destination race appealing to elites and recreational runners, Brandon Laan recruited his sister Chantelle Wilder to help him race direct London’s Rock the Road 10K. As Laan and Wilder are both elite runners – Laan won the Toronto Goodlife Marathon in 2010 and finished second at the Canada Marathon Championships with a time of 2:21:04 in 2011; Chantelle placed 5th at the Canadian Half Marathon Championships and ran a 1:16 in the spring at the NYC Half Marathon – they knew their top priority would be to create a deep field. Calling on favours in both their running circles, they did, indeed, attract an elite field. To keep the elite momentum going, Laan and Wilder also established a generous prize purse of $4000.

Our seven race directors have generously agreed to share their hard-earned tips, tricks and strategies with iRunNation to help you organize your own community run.

Know why you are hosting the run

“You need to decide if you are going to be a paid or a volunteer race director,” says George Sarson. Either is fine, but you’ll be making different decisions for your race if you are working towards a profit. Leiper’s event does raise some money for his community association but raising money is not what the run is about. “We have a kids’ 1K that is free for anyone under 12 because the mandate of our community association is to meet the needs of families in the neighbourhood,” says Leiper, who feels that the run is about raising his community’s profile. “There are way more efficient ways of raising funds in terms of volunteer hours invested,” Leiper cautions.

Laan and Wilder didn’t just want to establish a competitive race in London, they wanted their race to rock – with music and lots of runners! Six live bands played along their 10K course and two groups of cheerleaders encouraged runners to keep up the pace. “We took over 3,000 photos our first year to really build our participation,” says Laan.

Communicate with and respect your volunteers

Building a team of committed volunteers who share your big dream is, Muldoon believes, the first step to a successful run. And a big part of cultivating those committed volunteers is clearly defining their roles. Muldoon identifies the communication and media contact, volunteer recruiter and logistics people as key team members.

For Leiper, the sheer volume of volunteers required on race dy is his biggest hurdle. “We close 35 intersections so that runners can experience our neighbourhood streets on the race course,” says Leiper.

He adds he has written descriptions of barricade duties for the 35 volunteers who keep the course closed to traffic. “If volunteers can see I’m only asking for an hour and a half of their time, they’re more willing to help out.” Leiper has learned. After volunteers mistakenly sent runners in the wrong direction and shaved 0.3K off the course one year, Leiper has learnt to visit every single barricade before starting the race to double-check that volunteers know exactly where they should be directing runners.

“Runners need to feel like they can trust volunteers,” says George Sarson. He credits his ability to retain volunteers to listening to their ideas and sharing the big picture with them. Beyond volunteers, Sarson has made allies of family members accompanying runners by recognizing their needs and accommodating them. “Children, spouses, grandparents all have to wait a long time for their runner to finish a 50K,” says Sarson. “We make sure that family members are not left out.”

Treat your sponsors as partners, not just donators

Sarah Muldoon looked beyond the conventional running market when approaching sponsors because she imagined many businesses in her community would be supportive of a new recreation centre that would benefit all the residents.

Jeff Leiper also focused on local businesses. His sponsors include real estate agents, a local tavern, a design studio and local restaurants. “I never approached local businesses with my hand out,” says Leiper, who saw business sponsorship for his 5K as inexpensive and effective marketing and created win-win relationships right from the beginning.

Many of Leiper’s original sponsors continue to support the race. “A savvy sponsor knows that supporting your race is not about selling product but interacting with the community,” agrees Sarson.

Promote your event

When Muldon and Gauthier were selecting the date for their run, they picked a day that didn’t already have an established competing event. Especially in a bigger city, this is essential if you want residents to automatically connect a certain day with your event.

Leiper keeps the date, time and location of his race the same every year so that community members can plan to attend.

Leiper notes that many low-key races don’t have big advertising budgets to be able to afford press releases or ads. “Twitter levels the playing field and really expands your reach,” he says, noting that you need to set up a website before you start tweeting your event. As well, using a common hashtag like #5KRun can really up your participation because it opens the event to travellers who might find themselves in your town and would appreciate joining in a race rather than fitting in their run on their own.

Meanwhile, Laan and Wilder took event promotion one step further and founded The Runners’ Feed, an online forum for all topics running related, including events like their Rock the Road 10K.

Offer your participants exceptional value

“We serve cake and a relaxed atmosphere in a beautiful urban park beside a farmers’ market where you can connect with other runners,” says Leiper. The cake costs $250-$300, but he says it is well worth it because it’s what most participants remember. Personal connections can also offer value, without costign money. Leiper makes a point of knowing the names of participants at his run and following up with them in person on any questions they might have asked before the race. “When they feel like it’s their race, we’ve done a good job,” says Leiper.

Along with the quality sit-down dinner they offer their runners, Peggy and George Sarson offer beautiful finishing medals and great swag. “We have a new medal every year,” says Sarson. “And we typically offer duffle bags or backpacks upon registration.”

Muldoon and Gauthier priced their race to pay for the event with donated food and prizes. “We charged $12 for the early bird rate; $15 on the day of; $5 for children and free for children three and under.” The course was urban and rural, like their community, and they received a lot of positive feedback about the route.

As a race director, says Laan, you’ll be making hundreds of decisions, especially leading up to the day of your race. If you ask yourself, ‘What would make my participants happier?’ you’ll make the right decision that’s good for your participants and good for your race.