A Guide to Directing Small Charity Road Races

By John Allison

A guide to directing small road races to benefit charitable organizations. The advice contained in this book is based on my experience directing such races. Though it cannot possibly cover every eventuality you could encounter, I hope that it helps you think of something you might not have considered, and helps you create a great race that runners want to run every year.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jul 2, 2016
• ISBN: 9781365234644

John Allison

Born in a hidden village deep within the British Alps, John Allison came into this world a respectable baby with style and taste. Having been exposed to American comics at an early age, he spent decades honing his keen mind and his massive body in order to burn out this colonial cultural infection. One of the longest continuously publishing independent web-based cartoonists, John has plied his trade since the late nineties moving from Bobbins to Scary Go Round to Bad Machinery, developing the deeply weird world of Tackleford long after many of his fellow artists were ground into dust and bones by Time Itself. He has only once shed a single tear, but you only meet Sergio Aragonés for the first time once. John resides in Letchworth Garden City, England, and is known to his fellow villagers only as He Who Has Conquered.

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A Guide to Directing Small Charity Road Races

A Guide to Directing Small Races for Charity

By John Allison

Running With Amanda Race Timing Service, LLC

Chapter 1

Are You Sure You Want to Do This?

If people knew how hard I had to work to gain my mastery, it would not seem so wonderful at all. 

― Michelangelo Buonarroti

I cannot tell you how many times people have asked me to organize a race for them, like it takes nothing more than a stroke of a pen to create a great race that raises a lot of money for a wonderful cause…out of thin air.

The truth is a well-run race LOOKS like it is an easy thing to accomplish. But the work it took to make that great race happen is more than most people can handle.

This guide is not intended for use by directors of large, for profit races. The advice contained in these pages is intended to help inexperienced race directors put together a great small race to raise money for charity.

If you decide to put on a race for charity, chances are you are extremely passionate about the cause. You might have a large group of friends and acquaintances who are just as passionate. But odds are that few really share your passion. That means, more than likely, few are going to roll up their sleeves and jump on board to do the work it is going to take to make your race great.

And it is not just the work to consider. How well do you handle stress? Because I promise you will be stressed.

There is stress related to costs. There is stress related to weather. There is stress related to help. There is stress related to participants. And there is the ever-present stress of wondering if you have thought of everything! Even if you did think of everything, what you prepared for can still get messed up by people and things you cannot control.

Regardless how early you open your registration period, most