Become a Race Director: A Volunteer’s Wisdom

I have been volunteering at trail races for almost a decade.  In April of this year, I was hanging out with a fellow Race Director when he got an email asking about purchasing a local race.  It was a looped 1-mile course that had been going on for 5 years and I had volunteered there a few years back. I knew it was perfect for a first race and when he said he wasn’t interested, I immediately said, “I’d buy it.”  Making the call, I purchased the race with less than 5 months until race day.  I had become a race director.

Learned So Much

I leaned on my friend in the business for advice and made some of my own decisions. Some were great and some could have been better.  I learned so much over the past 5 months and was able to put on a successful race (a 53% increase in registration over the previous year) with spectacular responses from the runners.  I hit my “A goal”.

Rookie Mistakes

I made a bunch of rookie mistakes but knew that a key to success is being flexible, so I had plans with contingencies. I knew those plans might not work so I was just able to adapt as we went. In the end, I focused on making an event that was fun with decorations (including a glow run), great aid station food with variety, clean bathrooms, and a clearly marked course.  These are all things I have been hearing at aid stations when volunteering. 

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Back in Full Force

What I realized as I was packing up all the gear is that I felt something.  Something I hadn’t felt since before COVID.  I saw the trail community back in full force.  It was beautiful to watch and be a part of.  Many runners were helping each other with gear, advice, and taking laps together on the 1-mile looped course when one runner wanted to take a break.  Together they were stronger. Together, we as a community, are stronger.  

A Success in My Eyes

Why is my first race a success in my eyes?  The runners all said they want to come back and bring friends. One runner, who is running 29 marathons this year got her first 100-mile buckle, and she wasn’t alone.  We had 115 runners over multiple races from 6-Hour to 72-Hour races. Of the 49 runners who started the 48-Hour, 70-Hour or 100-Mile races, 35 went home with a shiny new 100-mile buckle (72% got a buckle).  The crazy thing is many of them hadn’t done more than a 50k.  We had an 81-year-old and his daughter both get buckles. There was a lady who started to develop blisters within the first two hours. I helped tape her feet and away she went. After a few hours, she decided shoes weren’t fashionable anymore and did the rest in socks and sandals, earning her first buckle as well.  

The Glue

I am a Race Director to create an environment for anyone to go be amazing. We prep the food and set the stage, but it is the athletes that need to make that commitment to not give up.

I absolutely need to mention the most important part of any race, by far.  The volunteers are the glue that holds it all together.  They fill your bottles, keep the food stocked, push down the poop piles in the portable restrooms so it smells better (okay, that’s the RD’s job), timing, and motivating runners when they are feeling down. My race was a success because of the selfless volunteers, many are my close personal friends who gave up their time to support others in our community.  

A Request to Each of You

With that being said, I will make a request to each of you.  If you have run a race and been helped by a volunteer, please help at a race near you.  These races can’t continue without volunteers, and we typically see the same 100 faces at all the races.  While they are amazing volunteers, they do need a rest, and our races will do that much better with more support. Who knows, you may become a race director like me and realize that helping people be awesome is so much easier than running the actual race, and you get all the views. 

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