Race Timing Strategies for small races

[Blaine Hawkes]

I race direct an annual 5K for my children's school. I would love to have a chip timed system, but there aren't enough participants yet to cover the costs. We ran it manual and that process worked without a hitch, but getting the times in the computer, the results sorted and the prizes handed out took way too long. Is there a better/faster system that can be used?

thanks
Blaine

[Sasha Pachev]

Fast Running Blog has a race timing system that races that comply with our Promotion Rules are welcome to use free of charge. Comes with an operator that knows how to run it for a bonus.

[Jon Allen]

Blaine- is it a fundraiser for the school (i.e. anyone can run), or is it a race of school kids?  I'm trying to figure out how in the world Sasha's endorsement rules apply to an elementary school race...

Certified length?  My elementary school races were 6 times around the soccer field.
Prize money, including for masters?  Not too many master's in elementary school...
Free elite runners entry?  Doubtful there are any 17:00 5k elementary kids...

Just the thought is making me laugh. 

On a serious note, I don't have any ideas for a timing system.

[allie]

it is a fundraiser for the school, and anyone can run. it actually has the potential to grow into a decent-sized race. i ran it this year and it is a very nice, flat, honest course. oh, and it's for a middle school 

[Sasha Pachev]

A race will qualify as long as the principles behind the rules are followed. Slate Canyon Mile/5 K was a PTA elementary school fundraiser and it managed to qualify. If there is a will there is a way for just about any type of race. In fact, if a race collects no entry fees, has no sponsors, does not have a raffle, and otherwise demonstrates that it has absolutely nothing, I will promote and time it for free as well if the course is accurate.

[Blaine Hawkes]

Thanks for the replies everyone. The race is a fundraiser. It is open to the public, we collect fees, give out prizes, do a raffle and plan on it growing. I'll look into the rules again. They looked rather daunting when I reviewed them before. This next year the plan is to have a monsoon-free run.

[Sasha Pachev]

I am rather perplexed as to why people find those rules "daunting". You are basically asked to make sure you have first a race and then whatever else you may want to attach to it, not the other way around. I tried to make it as easy as possible with the absolute minimum impact on the bottom line. For example, you are allowed to ask the elites to volunteer and you do not even have to give them a shirt and can ask them not to eat any of the race food, just give them a free bib to race with.If somebody is counting the cost of those extra bibs, I'll make special elite bibs with barcodes and bring them to your race! If you can live with that, you can comply with the rules no problem.

Should I word them differently? Is that the problem?

Or maybe having to move the best prizes from the raffle into the performance rewards is the "daunting" part?

[Michelle Lowry]

It's the raffle part that's the daunting part, in my view, as a race director.  It is easy to give elite entries.  It is not easy to explain to the 98% of participants who are there for a fun recreational activity (some are there to support a cause) that bigger prizes should go to the fast.  It's also not easy, if you are having prizes donated, to commit to you that the donated prizes will go to the winners instead of in the drawing.  It's asking the race director to move away from the norm, and while you will definitely argue your rules are the best way to run a race, joe jogger might not agree, and race directors have to balance the desires of their constituents. 

Whether your rules are right or wrong, they are daunting.

[Blaine Hawkes]

I'll give you a run down on how the race was run last year and let me know if this would qualify under your guidelines:

We charged $15 per runner if they were connected to the school somehow ($20 if they were just public who saw the posters)
The race was mapped using mapmyrun.com, two garmins, and two vehicles slowly driving the course. We gave it the benefit of the doubt on length and made sure we were registering 3.2 miles in case of possible error.

Participants received a shirt, bag with various donated items and entry into the raffle. We had 1 drink station along the course and a pretty good spread at the end of the race which included Smoothie King offering small smoothies to the finishers.

We manually timed the race and collected the bottoms of the bibs as the racers finished. We had two timing systems (a big clock and a small hand held timer)
Prizes included: Pair of shoes to 1st place man, 1st place woman to finish,
additional prizes: 2nd and third place overall finishers and then 1st place finishers in a broad age group category
We also awarded a prize to the top three school student finishers
Additional raffle prizes were given out to everyone who participated

I don't know why I should give the elites an automatic entry into the race. I can see the reasoning behind making sure the course is true. Are there places that I can rent a calibrated wheel from?

If I give out a prize that is worth a $100 does, that work instead of a cash prize?

 

[Sasha Pachev]

A wheel can be bought online for around $30. You are welcome to borrow mine as well. To calibrate it you just measure 100 meters on the track several times or some other known trusted distance and make sure it gives you the correct distance.

Elites come to your race to perform. Having them at your race, having them mingle with the crowd, creates an opportunity for the average runner to learn how to run faster. Your race results also look more presentable.

You do not charge a musician to enter his own concert. You do not charge pro basketball players arena fees or something stupid like that. Even though, unlike many elite runners, they actually could afford to pay it.

A race director that fails to comprehend the above concepts stands zero chance of receiving any support from the Fast Running Blog. I put the time into this site to promote fast running. It is Fast Running Blog. Yes, "fast" is relative, and we welcome everybody regardless of their level of ability, but do not get this wrong - here at Fast Running Blog we value FAST! Any disrespect to FAST will not be tolerated. When you are charging petty fees a guy with talent that lays everything on the line to be FAST you are showing disrespect to the very idea of FAST .

Regarding prizes. In your case, I believe you can afford a small cash prize, e.g $50 for the winner.  In-kind prizes can be given in addition but not instead unless it is something that can be easily sold for $200 or more.

Regarding the raffle - random prize must not exceed earned prize. Period. Otherwise, you may just as well drive to Nevada to gamble.

Michelle - the distribution of raffle prizes is easy. For each item you receive make an estimate of its value. Give the highest value prize to the winner of the battle of genders. Second highest to the second place in the battle of genders. So on until the value of the prize drops below your lowest cash award.

If somebody fails to understand why the best prize should go to the race winner... Well, why call that event a race then? Call it The Fun Gambling Party with a 5 K Jog! Oh, wait. Utah is one of the few states where gambling is illegal. So we call it a 5 K race instead. This reminds me of the time I drove to St. George once to run in the half marathon. A LOT of traffic on a Friday night. I ignorantly wondered if Painter's half really got that popular. Then when I got there Steve Hooper enlightened me - I-15 south leads to Mesquite and Las Vegas.

[Blaine Hawkes]

Sasha,
Thank you for the information. The purpose of holding the race is to return as much (of the money raised) to the school as possible while holding a fair race that rewards those people who show up. If offering a cash prize instead of an "in-kind" prize is more an incentive to people to come and by offering a free entry to elite runners ripples out and encourages more people to participate then it is worth it.