Why Small Races Hit Different: Vanessa Kline on Building Connection

Why Small Races Matter

Big races come with enormous crowds, recognizable names and the opportunity to tell everyone you completed that race. Smaller events cannot always match the budget or spectacle but that does not mean they offer less.

In the latest episode of The Fireside Chat, race director, pacer and ultrarunner Vanessa Kline explains what she wants every athlete to take away from one of her events.

“I want people to have a good experience,” she says. For Vanessa, that means runners leave feeling that they received value, formed connections and possibly made new friends.

Those goals say plenty about how Vanessa views race directing. The athlete is not simply another registration or bib number. The race is an opportunity to bring people together.

ADVERTISEMENT

A Race Director Who Remembers You

Through Beast Coast Productions, Vanessa organizes relatively small road and trail events around the Philadelphia region. That size allows Vanessa and her staff to know returning runners, recognize their accomplishments and watch their progress from one year to the next.

Some participants now bring their children to run, turning a race into something shared across generations.

Large races can introduce thousands of people to the sport, and Vanessa recognizes their importance. But intimacy becomes harder to create when tens of thousands of runners occupy the same course.

At a smaller race, the director may remember your name, ask about your family or prepare food themselves. That personal attention can become the detail a runner remembers long after the finish time disappears from memory.

Hard Things Can Still Be Fun

Vanessa’s perspective comes from both sides of the event. She has directed races, managed pacing teams and completed events including Badwater 135 and Vol State.

Despite those enormous challenges, her goal for a recent 100-miler was wonderfully simple: have fun and not hate running 100 miles.

That does not mean avoiding difficult goals. It means remembering why we volunteered for the difficulty.

Whether the course holds 50 runners or 50,000, the best races give us something beyond a medal. They make us feel connected to the people sharing the miles.

Listen to the full conversation with Vanessa Kline on the Everyday Athlete Podcast Network.

Listen On Apple Podcasts

ADVERTISEMENT