Nailing Race Day

It’s probably fair to say that when it comes to a race director’s calendar, it doesn’t get much bigger than race day. It’s the day your race comes alive and a day you and your team have been working towards for months.Whether it’s your first race or your hundredth, everyone goes into race day a bit like a standup comedian walking on stage for their first gig - with a mix of excitement and, well, dread is probably a good word for it. A million things are going through your head. Does everyone know what they have to do? Are we going to run on schedule? And what do I do if this or that happens? Today I have the pleasure of being joined on the podcast by Crisp McDonald, a race director and timer with more than a thousand races under his belt. Crisp is also RunSignup’s RaceDay Expert and, as such, has been training race directors and timers on what to expect on race day and how best to prepare for all the curve balls a live event might throw at you. In this episode:Planning your event site and start/finish line Setting up a clear line of communication with your event teamBalancing how much you do on race day vs setting things up in advance (e.g. pre-marking your race course)Figuring out how long tasks take on race day and when to start setting things upSharing resources across different tasks throughout race dayThe importance of team leadsThe effectiveness of seasoned volunteers, and how to inspire loyalty among volunteers to your event/brand/causeHow to reduce volunteer no-show rates, by recruiting volunteer groups instead of individualsInspiring volunteers to take ownership of their work, through fun race day volunteer competitionsThe importance of recognizing and thanking volunteers before race dayContingency planning: being prepared for switching your in-person race to a virtual raceEmergency planning: figuring out what to prepare forThe role of onsite EMS units, and where to station themHaving a protocol for tracking runners who drop out of the racePutting together a key person contact list Anticipating weather changes and what to do when the weather shifts rapidlyThe role of cancellation insurance for races in higher-risk locationsThe task matrix: who's doing what when on race daySetting up a race command centerCommunicating with your team: phones vs radios vs appsRace day registrations: what you need to be able to take registrations on race dayDynamic bib assignment: what is it? how does it work? Packet pick-up: pre-packing packets vs putting them together on the flySetting up your race course: what order to do things inTearing down your race course: the benefits of a rolling tear-downShipping out race results to participants after they finish the raceDebriefing after the raceThanks to GiveSignup|RunSignup for supporting quality content for race directors by sponsoring this episode. More than 22,000 in-person, virtual, and hybrid events use GiveSignup|RunSignup's free and integrated solution to save time, grow their events, and raise more. If you'd like to learn more about GiveSignup|RunSignup's all-in-one technology solution for endurance and fundraising events visit runsignup.com.You can find more resources on anything and everything related to race directing on our website RaceDirectorsHQ.com.You can also share your questions about race day prep or anything else in our Facebook group, Race Directors Hub.Send us Fan Mail