The following is part 2 of a 4-part series written by Dr. David Horton and addressing the finer points of directing an ultramarathon.  This week, David continues with his list of what he thinks it takes to be a good race director.  For part 1 of this series, read here.

11. Entry Fee: Sometime this is not an easy decision to make.   Overall, you look at the other ultras held in your area and see what they charge.  You also have to consider what you are going to give as awards and the cost to put on the race.   When my costs go up, the entry fee goes up.   The more you charge, the more runners expect.

12. Time Cut-Offs: This is another difficult decision to make.  You can look at comparable length and difficulty of other races in your area.  But the only real way to tell is to go out and run it.   Before the first year of the Hellgate 100K, I went out and ran the entire course starting at the projected start time of 12:01 A.M.  I had thought about having the race time limit of 16.5 hours.  When it took me almost 15 hours to do it in training, I knew that was not enough time, so I increased the limit to 18 hours, where it still stands after 7 years.

13. Awards: This is an area where you can make or break your race and your budget as well.  For many years at the Masochist, I gave a trophy to all finishers.  Many runners like trophies, especially maybe first-timers.  Belt buckles are also nice awards at some races.  Awards vary per race.  But for those of you who have been running ultras for many years, do you NEED another belt buckle or another trophy?  Of course, therein lies the dilemma  for a race director . . . who do you try to please?  After many years of giving trophies, I decided to present runners with awards they can use in this sport, such as shorts, jackets, technical tops, and other items.   I think I made a good decision by all accounts.  But this is in keeping with your budgets as well.

14. Age Group Awards:  Do you give awards to the top 3, 5, or 10?  Do you give the same number of overall awards to females as you do males?  Typically, I give special awards to the top 10 males and the top 5 females.  Is that fair?  No, not to the males.  Do you give awards to males and females over 50, 60, or over 70?  These can be difficult decisions but is the perrogrative of the race director.

15. Unique Awards: I think it can be very cool if you have some kind of unique awards.  We did have a fastest couple award and team awards.  This became a difficult thing to determine, so we dropped those awards.   We also have a “Fastest Fat Boy” award (finisher over 200 lbs.).  We still have the Best Blood award in all our races which generates a lot of interest.  At the Masochist, there is a Mountain Man/Woman award (top local male and female finisher), and the Horses Rear-end award for the last official finisher.

16. Multiple Finish Awards: Events are built on new runners coming to your race and runners coming back year after year.  Typically, awards are given for multiples of 10 and sometimes 5.   After many years of an event and many runners coming back and back, it can become a real expense, but a good one too.

17. How to Build your Event?: Advertising in Ultrarunning magazine is the best way to get the word out.  Go to other ultras and take applications and hand them out and sell your event to them.   Races don’t become popular overnight without some work involved.

18. Make your event a part of a series: Clark Zealand and I have the Lynchburg Ultra Series (LUS) and the Beast Series here in Central Virginia.  Clark directs the Terrapin Mountain 50K, the Grindstone 100, and the MMTR 50 Miler.  I direct the Holiday Lake 50K, the Promise Land 50K, and the Hellgate 100K.  The LUS is made up of the three 50Ks and the MMTR 50 Miler.  The Beast is made up of those of six events.   I have no doubt that having these series of races increases the number of runners at our events.

19. Permission and Insurance: The US Forest Service requires that you have insurance, the Park Service and many other institutions, require that you have insurance.   This insurance is fairly inexpensive with the USA Track and Field.  I usually get insurance in January for all events for the entire year.  Permission from the USFS and Park Service can take some time.  You should be getting permission and insurance from 2 – 6 months ahead of race date.

20. Sponsorship: Basically, the events I have directed are sponsored by the runner’s entry fee.   I have been fortunate over the years to have Montrail being the major sponsor of our events.  I have also had a few other local sponsors as well.  Patagonia has also helped sponsor our events.   With the hard times we are having now, it is difficult to get any financial support.  Usually support is in the form of reduced prices on products that you can use as awards.   Sponsors have to see that they are getting exposure for their company.

21. Medical Help: You need some medical help for your event.   How do you get that?  Join the local running club and see who they use or if they have some members who are doctors.  Of course, the best doctors are the ones who are also experienced runners.  We are EXTREMELY fortunate in our events here in Central Virginia to have Dr. Geroge Wortley.  He has run several ultras and does not flake out at the first sign of blood.  In fact, I think he likes good blood more than me.

So, are you ready to start and direct a race?   Be ready for more work and stress than you can ever imagine and more rewards than you ever thought possible.

In a forthcoming article, I will talk about race day and race weekend.

In Christ

David Horton

Tagged as: david horton, ultrarunning