So on the 21st of October I ran my first race as a race director, the Stort30 so I thought I would do a blog about the race from the directors point of view.
Background
I have been thinking of organising a few trail races of my own on routes I train on or think would be good race routes in my own area. There are few ultra races in the Essex/Herts area’s and I thought I could organise a few fun informal races on pretty routes. In July this year I took the plunge and set up a company called Challenge Running Ltd and began to organise my first race the Stort30.
Planning
Until you plan a race it may seem like a simple thing to do and not very complicated. It was more complicated and expensive than I thought. If I wanted to do it well and put on a race that people would come to and more importantly come back to then I had to do it right. I set up a website and email addresses to advertise the race and company. I researched insurance and as I was doing this as a commercial venture the standard UK Athletics insurance was not going to cover it properly so I used someone recommended by another race organsiser though it was not cheap and I bought an annual policy in the end to cover all my planned events. I obtained a race permit through the Trail Running Association and this took a bit of work to plan it all out and produce all the details in advance to then apply for the permit. As my event was going to run along the Stort Navigation which is Managed and owned by the Canal and Rivers Trust so I needed to obtain permission from them to run this event. This was to prove quite difficult as their was no other events using this waterway and as my event is new it took a few months to finalise this and included writing H&S policies and a full risk assessment and signing agreements to abide by several rules.
I had to plan lots of things like organising kit and writing the route description and booking my running clubs clubhouse as the start and finish venue. All this was starting to add up both in the amount of time and money being spent on this race. This meant that I had to get more entries to ensure I did not lose money on this venture.
Entries
I had a limit of 100 runners on my permit and I did not anticipate getting near this number as it was a new event. the entries came in slow and steady over the next few weeks and slowly I began to get enough entries in to think it was a viable option that may actually pay for itself. Up until three weeks before race day race day I only had about 34 entries and as there is a three week order time on the T-Shirts I guessed how many more entries I would get and ordered 50 T-Shirts.
Volunteers
If this race was to go ahead and be a success then I really needed a team of willing and helpful enthusiastic volunteers. I put out a request on Facebook and Twitter and on Runners World and Fetcheveyone. What I got was a fantastic team of of volunteers who were mostly runners who already did ultra’s or were thinking about it and wanted to see what it was all about. A few members of my running club (Bishop’s Stortford RC) also turned out to volunteer as well as the club lending me some signs and equipment. I was of course helped as always by me great family, Sue, Becky and Laura.
Race Day
An early start on race day with me and my daughter Laura down at the start venue at 6:30am to start setting up the venue. I had been out the evening before putting up some signs and Allan Rumbles had run the route the day before as a test of the route description. At 7:30am runners and volunteers started to arrive. It was really great to see faces I already knew from other races and and meet new faces in the running world. I handed out kit and instructions to the volunteers and set them off to their Checkpoints and continued to organise the race and chat to runners.Then it was time for the race briefing, I waffled a bit about the rules and broke the news about the two laps of the field on the way out and one on the way back.
Then it was nearly time for the start at 9am. I got everyone outside and myself and Laura with the AirHorn stood at the start and then with a sound of the Horn they were off.
Off they went around the field for two laps to spread out the field before getting onto the roads and the canal side. Right from the off it was clear that there were a few runners who were going to give this race a good bashing and they went off fairly fast. All the runners cleared the field and went off down the road safely with marshals looking after them at the few road crossings before they reach the canal. Then they were of along the scenic part of the route and 28 miles of out and back riverside trails.
After the recent heavy rain there was a few sections that had slippy mud on the top surface and that made for interesting running for a few runners in road shoes and one runner who chose to wear 5 fingers and slipped over in the mud and unfortunately had to retire from the race. I popped along to each of the checkpoints to watch the first runners through and ensure the CP had everything they needed. The volunteers were doing an amazing job and making the race fun for all. The sweets and coke/squash were going down a treat and all the runners seemed to be enjoying the race at the first 2 CPs. My Fiance and Daughters were running the turnaround CP and doing a great job. A friend from running club was helping out and his girlfriend was taking great photos along the route. All was going to plan and the weather was being kind. The sweepers were doing a grand job of looking after people even though they were not allowed a cattle prod as requested!
They particularly helped a guy called Ozgur who had some ITB issues and was struggling with flexing his knee, they stayed with him for all the way back and he completed when he thought he would not make it to the finish line. Thanks Ben and Allan.
The Finish
I then went to the finish and opened up the club house building and started to prepare for the first runner coming in, it was Richard Aston who flew round the final lap of the field to finish in 3:29:52!
second came Nick Greene who had a cracking run and was smiling as usual. Third placed runner was quite a bit back due to somehow getting lost following a river on the way back and losing 40mins! He then decided to vent his frustration at getting lost by being abusive to myself at the finish. Shame really as I let it bother me a bit. Then the runners started to trickle in at a steady rate and they all had positive comments and constructive feedback which made me feel much better. Then came first lady Naomi Newton-Fisher who finished in another great benchmark course record in a time of 4:57:38.
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| Naomi finishing |
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| Richard Finishing |
All the runner filtered in and even a little drizzle do not dampen spirits and the free tea and coffe afterwards seemed to warm most up afterwards. People stayed for a bit then showered and changed and headed off. The last two guys that came in were Michael Crawley and Mike Inkster who used it as a training run for Operation Long Run next year (please google it) an epic non stop tag team run around Britain.
Thanks to http://www.ultramarathonrunningstore.com for sponsoring the prizes for first male and female runners and Keith for presenting the winners with the Ultra Aspire Handheld bottles. Thanks.
Summary
It was hard work but in the end I think it was worth it and I hope everyone enjoyed the race and it goes from strength to strength and the numbers increase to make this a regular race in the calender. A big thanks to all those that helped to make this the race it was and will be in the future.
Our next race is the much tougher St Peters Way Ultra a 45mile off road ultra on February 24th which will take you across beautiful central Essex to the coast. It will be a tough race that will require navigation and could be fun if the weather is bad. have a look at the website on http://www.challenge-running.co.uk