A new book just came out, Organizing a 5K, by Crystal Waters McCulough. We saw it on a post on Race Directors HQ, and ordered it and read it this past weekend. It is a great book for people thinking about putting on a race, as it lays out the many steps needed to come together to make a successful event happen. It is also a good book for more experienced race directors who are likely to learn at least a tip or two.
This brought up the point that there are many resources to learn from, and we would encourage all race directors and nonprofit event directors to invest in themselves and their events by spending time learning. Here are some various sources:
- Race Directors Hub Checklist
- Race Directors Hub Facebook Group – a great place to ask questions and help others.
- Championship Racing Race Director 101 – Trish Portuese put this great guide together and presented it a couple of years ago at a RunSignup Symposium.
- Road Runners Club of America has an excellent education section on their website. They also have a full certification course they put on, and a great annual conference. If you aren’t connected to local running clubs as a race director, that should be one of your early steps.
- RunSignup has a number of great resources, including our Winter Symposium, our Summer Symposium, our annual Race Trends study, Webinars, Case Studies, Viral Social Marketing Guide, and recordings from the 2019 Summer Symposium.
There are plenty more resources for race directors to learn from. The most important are connecting with other race directors and timers. If you are just starting out, ask to volunteer at some races and learn the basics – that is how many of the most successful directors started. Nothing helps more than experience.