No matter how meticulous your planning, sooner or later something unexpected is going to occur that is going to require you to make on-the-spot decisions. Veteran race directors Dave McGillivray and Sean Ryan offer some tips on what to do (and not do) when disaster happens.
Read MoreLately, I’ve been running in a lot of road races in preparation for the World Marathon Challenge (in fact, when you read this, I'll be a week from landing in Antarctica for the first of seven marathons). I haven’t participated in this many races in such a short period of time in 20 years. Back then, however, I was running fairly well, like in the 6-minutes per mile range. Now I’m closer to 7-minutes or even 8-minutes a mile. It’s a different experience running with the masses versus running closer toward the front with the faster and more competitive folks.
Read MoreAs event directors, our focus tends to be on making sure our course is an accurate and safe one, that we have plenty of water to distribute, that our race starts on time and that we deliver quick and accurate results…all extremely important aspects of producing a successful event.
Read MoreEveryone has pet peeves. As race directors, we, too, have pet peeves—a lot of them—that drive us all insane. Knowing that misery loves company sometimes, I’ve listed a few of my race pet peeves, which I know all of you can identify with:
Every now and then it feels good to be recognized when people know who you are, what you do and what you have done. Then there are times when it might be better not to be recognized at all, or as I like to call it “being incognito."
Read MoreWhen managing our races, we tend to focus a lot on the elite leaders in the race: we make sure they go in the right direction, they follow our lead vehicles, and they're cheered on by thousands of spectators. However, what about the last runner(s)?
Read MoreRules and policies — the U.S. government has the Bill of Rights, the Catholic religion has the Ten Commandments, but what does the sport of road racing have? Not a whole lot, really.
Read MoreI've been a runner for most of my life, and I love running in races. I've volunteered at a handful, too, and recently realized I would love to make it a career—working for something like, say, the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon series. How should I go about meeting the right people and gaining the experience to do this?
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