RACE DIRECTOR PET PEEVES – PART TWO
By popular demand, I have been asked to provide a few more race director pet peeves. I suppose misery loves company here. I am sure you all can identify with most, if not all, of these.
Although maybe not really a big deal to you, it is amusing to see runners at the very end of your race who sprint like hell to the finish line with a grimace on their face almost knocking over people around them when you know they walked most of the way. Why are they sprinting now?
T-shirt sizing – runners who complain about not getting their correct t-shirt size when they signed up for the race at the very last minute or on race morning and months after you had to place the order for the shirts.
Elites – the idea of giving away prize money is to attract elite runners and promote their participation and attract media attention. If they just sign up on race day or a few days before, it limits how much you can promote their participation. However, they end up earning your prize money and then just leave. I’ve always wanted to state (but never have) that to be eligible for prize money, you must sign up for the race at least two weeks in advance. Should be a two-way street, right?
Permits – when a city or town will not issue a permit to conduct your race until a few months before your race – how are you suppose to promote it in advance if they won’t permit it until shortly before it is scheduled to happen?
Runners who complain that a course was too difficult, like saying that the Mt. Washington Road Race is too hilly even though there is only ONE hill!! Does every race course have to be flat and fast?
When you ask a runner “how was the race” and their very first reply is “the weather was awful”…like we have anything to do with the weather. What about the race itself, how was that? Unfortunately, many times people remember the weather conditions more than how well managed the race was.
Headphones – even after constantly highly discouraging the use of headphones in your race, you stand at the finish line watching the runners cross and you notice that three out of four of them are wearing headphones.
Wheelchair participants who sign up at the last minute, especially fast ones. You didn’t expect them and thus may not have a plan or have an extra lead vehicle for them. This actually can end up being very dangerous. Why can’t they give you at least a week or two notice so you can plan properly?
Road re-openings – although you state clearly in all your race information that there is a cut off time and that participants must be able to finish the race under a certain time, some “runners/walkers” feel they still have a right to be out in the middle of the road once you start re-opening to traffic and refuse to get into a trail vehicle. This is probably one of our greatest challenges in the sport today. Some then say just direct these slower participants onto the sidewalks – well, what if there aren’t any sidewalks?
Race packets – for some participants, the value of the race is more dependant upon and measured by what is in the goodie bag versus how well organized the race is. Interestingly though, many races are now doing away with goodie bags.
Bounced checks – for those of us who still accept checks as a form of payment (versus just online registration), nothing is more irritating then finding out weeks after the race that a check bounced and someone stiffed you for the entry fee and now it is up to you to chase them down for the money.
Don’t you hate it when the port-o-john vendor delivers your units and then places some of them at 90 degree angles to one another? How are runners supposed to line up in front of them?
Banner tows – your major sponsor is a running shoe company and then you look up in the sky right before the start of your race and there is plane flying around towing a banner with another shoe company’s name steering you in the face.
So, does it sound like I am a disgruntled race director? I’m really not. It’s just fun to share a few peeves, which I know all of you have experienced in your event management careers. Sometimes we all just have to grin and bear it and accept it as part of the job. After all, we all love doing this stuff, right?