Boardtown Area Check List for Race Planning

• Decide on your purpose and/or expectations. If you have a specific charity in mind for which you hope to raise funds, plan carefully your expenditures, your registration fee, and whether or not to seek sponsors. Races are not always profitable; they can, in fact, be costly for those who direct them
• Decide on distance
• Choose a date
• Design t-shirts
• Order shirts
• Create a route by beginning at desired finish line and go backward from there to measure. Gmaps Pedometer could be useful in exploring routes
• Contact law enforcement officials for all official permission, route assistance, escorts, etc
• Decide on division of awards
• Advertise with newspaper ads, flyers. Also, get your entry forms done and placed in various spots: all athletic clubs, cafes, coffee shops, etc where runners might frequent
• Get Volunteers. At least one at every intersection, for safety as well as for directing runners, one at each mile marker, a finish line crew (3-6 people), results crew (3-4 people), and some to help with registration, t-shirts, etc beforehand
• Be sure that your registration/starting area has sufficient restrooms for runners. The finish area should have some, too
• Get a clock for the finish line plus stop watches for each mile marker. (You may rent the finish clock from Boardtown Runners for $25)
• Plan post-race refreshments, and award “ceremony”
• Learn how to handle the finish line, the clock, the finish cards, etc. Some sort of finish “shoot” needs to be fashioned with cones or other apparatus
• Learn how to do the results
• Depending on length of race and weather conditions, you might need to plan on aid stations along the route. If the distance of the race is 5K (3.1 miles) and the weather is cool, you can manage without an aid station. Otherwise, one is recommended every 2 miles or less

Registration Forms

• A heading with name of race, date, time, location, distance
• Blanks for the participants to fill out with name, age, sex, address, t-shirt size
• A medical waiver with a place for signature of participant
• Entry fee information
• Name and address of race director
• Other information as needed, such as the “reason” for the race, if applicable, a map of the course, etc.

Clock Information

The clock is hand-held with a tape-roll which creates a print-out of the time of each runner as he/she crosses the finish line. The clock handler presses a button to START when the race begins, and presses another button each time a runner completes the race.

Cards

Have 3X5 index cards which have been numbered, with large hand-written numerals, 1-??(the greatest number of expected participants). Additionally, include on each card a standardized spot for NAME, SEX, AGE, and TIME.

As each runner crosses the line, a volunteer will hand him/her an index card containing the number of his/her overall finish place (first to cross the line gets card #1, etc, etc) Then, the runner is instructed to take the card to the results table. There, a volunteer writes down his/her name, age, sex. Later, when the volunteers get the tape from the clock handler, they will write down the times of the finishers on their cards.

After the cards are filled out completely, they can be separated into Male-Female stacks, then into age group stacks. From these stacks, the results volunteers can make lists of winners of awards.

NOTE: If you advertise the race as a "run/walk", you will need to include awards in the walk category. Runners might very well stop and walk, which is totally as they wish, but walkers must not run to be considered for a walking award.

Expenses You Will Probably Incur

• T-Shirts
• Reprinting of registration forms
• Refreshments
• Awards
• Escort Services
• Clock Rental

For explanation of any information above or for further assistance, contact:
Marcie White (323-5935) marciew@netdoor.com
Mike White (418-5634) mike@saffairs.msstate.edu
Paul Williams (324-0961) pwilliams@pss.msstate.edu
Jim Harden (324-3025) harden@ece.msstate.edu