Forums >Racing>Your Favorite Races
Misinformation Officer
What are your favorite races--any distance, any location?
Why did they make your list?
Runs like a dj mixing songs while wearing festive outfits.5k PR 5/31/21 24:21
10k PR 5/23 54:43
HM PR 1/2024 1:59:10
an amazing likeness
Here's a few...
Acceptable at a dance, invaluable in a shipwreck.
Wow! Those all sound lovely.
Wondering if you tackled any of the suggested races from your previous ask ?
Yes! That's what inspired me to branch out on the distance part of the question, but I couldn't find the old thread on my phone! Thanks for linking.
Flying Monkey in Nashville because Trent sucks. Javelina Jundred near Phoenix because I suck.
Best answer yet!
Living History Farms in Des Moines Iowa because XC races with lots of competitors, creek crossings and mud are just a lot of fun and it's short enough I still feel like I'm running fast (historically anything 8k - 8miles changes by year).
Psycho Wyco in Kansas for similar reasons but it's got some solid hills to go with the mud but it's in second place because the 10 mile option isn't very popular and by the time I'm 5 miles into the race I'm usually running solo.
1600 - 5:23 (2018), 5k - 19:33 (2018), 10k - 41:20 (2021), half - 1:38:57 (2018), Marathon - 3:37:17 (2018)
Village people
Bumping this thread. Other than swag, what sort of things attracts you to a race? We are considering starting a 5km race to fundraise for our cross country season. We usually do a big relay race with about 10 miles ther schools but we might be losing that location and it doesn’t really net us a whole lot of money. One thing we are going to try and do is make it a fast route. I like the hand made bib ideas posted above and who doesn’t love pie.
Are we there, yet?
I think that will depend on who you want to attract. For "serious" runners an accurately measured course, preferably certified with mile splits clearly marked, chip timed, quick results available, ease of parking, adequate rest room facilities or PoPs, 5 year age groups for awards.
If you're trying to attract more "fun" runners, then emphasis probably needs to be on race swag, post race food, raffles, stroller and dog friendly.
2024 Races:
03/09 - Livingston Oval Ultra 6-Hour, 22.88 miles
05/11 - D3 50K, 9:11:09 05/25 - What the Duck 12-Hour
06/17 - 6 Days in the Dome 12-Hour.
That is great. Thank you.
Waltons ThreadLord
I think that will depend on who you want to attract. For "serious" runners an accurately measured course, preferably certified with mile splits clearly marked, chip timed, quick results available, ease of parking, adequate rest room facilities or PoPs, 5 year age groups for awards. If you're trying to attract more "fun" runners, then emphasis probably needs to be on race swag, post race food, raffles, stroller and dog friendly.
Thoroughly agree.
Also, the audience affects the season and time of day. For serious runners, avoid hot weather and run early. For a more family-oriented fun run, you can go accept warmer temps and start later in the morning (or have an evening race).
5k 23:48.45 (3/22); 4M 31:26 (2/22); 5M 38:55 (11/23); 10k 49:24 (10/22); 10M 1:29:33 (2/24); Half 1:48:32 (10/22); Marathon 4:29:58 (11/23)Upcoming races: Running is Back 10k, 5/12; Greta's Run 5k, 5/19
As far as fundraising goes (and you may already have this covered), you really need to consider how you are getting sponsors and donations. We have a 5k at my workplace and I'd guess for my department maybe 25% of what we raise is actually from registrations. For this event, we have about a 4 month fundraising window and it may include things like restaurant nights or raffles that happen outside the actual race. We have the advantage of a development office that handles overall race logistics, title sponsors and in kind donations.
Something that I really is that they have a separate course for the 1 mile family walk.
It has been a few years since I have put on a small local race so some things may have changed. 5Ks are probably the best for fundraising since families can run/walk together if they want to raise money for the charity. Swag (medals and t-shirts) are more important for charity 5Ks. I would go longer 5 miles, 10K, or even a half marathon if you want to get the more serious runner; half marathons have become one of the most popular races. Technical shirts or some other race premium are more important for the serious runners.
In all cases you need to set up a budget for your event and determine whether you want to break even or make a profit (for donation to a charity or to support the event in future years). Generally your registration fees will not cover your races expenses. You will need sponsors to cover things like liability insurance, police presence, medical support, permit fees, post race food, advertising, printing, notifying residents along your course of your event, etc.
I agree with a lot of what's been said already. I was the RD for a local 5k for 10 years. It wasn't a huge money maker but we did turn a "profit" for the parent org (which was all about providing recreation opportunities mostly track and cross country for kids).
I think a 5k is logistically the easiest and is in the sweet spot where you can attract "serious" runners, families, weekend warriors, people pushing strollers, dog walkers, etc. It's also pretty much completely weatherproof. Very hot, or very cold, or very wet weather will generally cancel a longer race but you can put on a 5k in anything. We had everythign from 100 degree temps at race time, to a tropical storm with 6 inches of standing water on the field where we finished and it didn't matter. The runners didn't care since it was only a 5k.
In our case the registration fees, which were very reasonable, *did* cover all of our expenses and more. We had a few sponsors, but we also ran it very much on the cheap relying on connections and and had a built-in audience of familes in the town who would support the event without expecting tremendous frills. Our marketing was word of mouth, an email list, a couple social media posts and a press release to the town papers. All basically free except for our (mostly my) time.
We had t-shirts for all runners, medals for the kids age group winners, pint glasses for the adult age group winners. We had a pretty fast and very accurately measured (by me) but not certied course, the last 1/3 mile of which was on grass, round the perimmeter of a park making for great specating.
One year we offered some small prize money 3 deep for men and women, and a few years we offered course record prize meony. The former didn't really do much except skew the field slightly in terms of a few more fast runners, the latter actually created some excitement from the spectators but didn't change the race economics at all. After a few tries we scrapped all prize money and it just made things simpler.
We kept expenses very minimal. Our permit from the town was $26. The parent org had insurance with a rider for our event, which was very cheap. We didn't pay for a police detail but instead just told the police we what was up and they would generally send a car or two to help with traffic control -- the deal was since we weren't paying, they just sent on-duty officers which meant if they got a call and had to leave we were on our own but that rarely happened.
We also intentionally nevery tried to make it a big event because the park and surrounding roads woldn't really support it, and plus I didn't want to deal with the added stress. We had no parking lot -- it was all street parking or people could walk from the center of town where there were a few small public parking lots. The sweet spot for us waas around 300 registrants. At that level, we coud return mabye $2,500 in "profit" which would help fund some programs but it wasn't THE major money maker for the org.
Runners run