May 8, 2005

Hello Race Directors,
We are pleased to be sending you the first edition of the Race Director Newsletter for 2005.

We would like to welcome Dave McGillivray (Boston Marathon Race Director and founder of DMSE) who will be writing for us on a regular basis and also assisting us to conduct surveys that might help to better understand runner's priorities and race director's challenges. Dave's first article appears in today's newsletter.

On Being A Race Director - My Job is Secure... No One Else Wants It!
by Dave McGillivray

Over the years, I have felt that race directors must feel like the crab grass in the lawn of life.

I often ask an audience the day before a race how many are running in the race? Hundreds of the folks in the room raise their hand. Then I ask, how many in the room are directing the race? No hands go up…except mine. I’m immediately reminded how the odds are truly stacked against the race director and his/her team.

For the rest of this article!

Please take our Runners Survey - results will be posted here soon

DMSE Home Page

Transponder Timing in Road Races
Courtesy of Running USA

Radio frequency ID (RFID) technology developed by Texas Instruments, enables systems such as these to deliver faster and more accurate race results than traditional systems. Both Systems have been used sucessfully in Europe and America.
For more information!
RUSA Home page

Liability Insurance
Courtesy of Road Runners Club of America (RRCA) The RRCA offers its member clubs low-cost liability insurance covering all club activities, including races, expos, meetings, etc. A one time annual premium can resolve all your club's liability insurance sanction needs. This policy is compatible with the USATF policy and will allow you to get USATF national and local sanctions.
For more information!
RRCA Home page

Upcoming Events for Race Directors

Race Director's Tips

  • Every member of your race committee should have an email address and be on-line on a regular basis (home or work or both)
  • If enough of the race committee have broadband access then using a free service (www.skype.com) to have voice conference calls will help make you more productive.
  • The race should have a generic contact email address (eg info@myrace.com) so that multiple people can maintain this email address.
  • You need a budget for all of your Internet services but you can do it all for under $250 a year.
  • Use a subscriber service (list manager) for maintaining a runner's and a volunteer's membership and for sending out newsletters and reminders.
  • Try to use the Internet to schedule all of your race planning meetings and use email to work issues that do not need a meeting to resolve.
  • If some members have difficulty in using the Internet, they have one of the members spend time bringing them up to speed.
  • Use the Internet, particularly to perform research on event management, to engage sponsors and to improve overall communications.

Feedback

We invite you to send feedback to us. We are looking at sharing some of your experience, advice and humorous moments with the rest of the race directors. Please send your comments to us for consideration.

Parting Words

Free calendar listing. Include your event in the Web's most respected and comprehensive calendar of running events. Submit your race now.

Free race results listing. Post your race results on Cool Running. Submit your race results now.

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Your own mini- website. Build your own web page and registration form in minutes with Cool Running's easy-to-use, automated event builder. Your site gets linked in the event calendar and on our race applications page. Try this affordable service now.

Online race registration. Along with our partners at Active.com, we can help you manage your race registration more easily and more efficiently by moving the process online. Contact us for rates and information.

Custom Web design. Engage our designers to build your page from scratch, tapping our years of experience with effective online event promotion. Contact us for rates and information.

Consulting. Our management team has lots of experience with successful race management. Let us help you navigate everything from scoring to insurance to promotion to merchandise. Contact us for rates and information.

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