Team Challenge...

To the local Cleveland running clubs:

 The July 4th Bay Days 5 Miler, a well organized event with a great tradition put on by the Cleveland West Road Runners Club, offers a running team competition.

 

The Strongsville Thursday Night Runners (TNR) will be sending one or more teams and are challenging other area running clubs to do the same.

 

Team categories are men, women, coed, and high school.

Scoring is handled by the CWRRC race organizers.

Details are on the race form/flyer attached.

Please share with other clubs/groups.

Hope to see you there!

Mike Ryan

Strongsville Thursday Night Runners (TNR)

strongsvilleTNRgroup@yahoo.com

BayDays2013form.pdf 129K   View   Download

Grand Prix Series News ...

Grand Prix Series - Participation Awards

This year in addition to awards for scoring and placing in the Overall and Age Group categories we are adding a new twist for our members.

Throughout the season we will give out some prizes just by participating.

1. Participate in  a May race (West End Y5k or Madison Red Bird5k)  AND  Flag Day 5k (June)
2. Participate in a July Race - Painesville Sunrise5m  or Bnai Brith5k
3. Participate in an August  Race - St Gabriel5k or Mentor Fest 5m
4. Participate in a September Race - Potato Stomp9m or Run for the Grapes5K
5. Participate in Bridge to Bridge 11m or 5k
6. Participate in  Autumn Leaves 5m (Nov)

Winning name will be drawn following the qualifying event when possible or at the following Club meeting.

2013 Grand Prix Report

The Grand Prix Race Series has been a part of the club for many years.  One goal has been to promote friendly competition among our members.  A second goal has been to support local area races that want to be included.

For 2013 planning we had a committee (Donna Crooks, John Welsh, Jeremy Verdi, Kelly Chandler, John Distler and myself) that  provided input.  We met over the winter to determine how we could make this better and improve participation. We also tried to talk with people at meetings and group runs to get some feedback for moving forward.

We recognize that our club makeup is changing. Our 2012 membership group included more than 100 members age 40-49. This age group was also most active in last year’s grand prix.   We also recognize that we are happily retaining our mature members and have added a new category of 70 and over.  To promote running to our young family members we will have two 5k races this year that only 19 and under can score in. 

Everyone who participates in a race will score a minimum of 5 age group points. A new element this year is a weighted participation system that will also award 3-10 pts per race based on race distance. There will also be drawings during the season that will award some prizes just for participating.

We have made an effort to spread the races more evenly over the running season.  Locations and distances (5k to Marathon) take into account our member demographic.  With early registration, the cost of many of these races is low and they are nicely run events.

Flag Day and Autumn Leaves are NERC club races and benefit our scholarship fund. Two of the races are also a part of the Ashtabula Distance Runners series and an additional two are part of the Lake Health Running Series. Choosing to run any of these races gives even more value for your efforts.

If all goes as planned, more of our members will receive a little payback for their investment in Grand Prix Races.   In the bigger picture- the many good causes that these local races promote will also see a growth in their race bottom line.

2013 Grand Prix Schedule

How to Host a Successful Road Race

Road races, whether they are a 5k, 5 mile, or marathon have become an institution in this country.  Viewed by individuals and organizations alike as a way to bring people together to accomplish goals, either by competition, exhilaration of the finish, or raising funds for charities. Road races are more influential than ever.  We all have our favorite race and reasons why it is our favorite.  Is it the post-race refreshments, a scenic course, or incredible SWAG that gives us these feelings, it is different to everyone.  I was asked to post on here to give everyone a little insight as to what are the basics to making a successful road race.  As part of my job I time races for Greater Cleveland XC Running, Racing, and Promotions.  We time an average of 30 races a year, including Friday Night Lights, Captains’ Run, Red Bird Run, and do promotions for many others including the Lake Health Series.  I have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to smooth successful race.  As much as I would hate to admit it even as we grow we have made mistakes of our own, so as I learned the hard way hopefully you won’t have to. 

Ok, so Rule #1 for success is that you have to be different:

Anyone can throw together another weekend morning 5k but how will you differentiate yourself from any number of other races going on at that time.  Even changing the time of the race can be that IT factor.  Friday Night Lights is our most successful race.  It is held on a Friday night (obviously) under the stadium “Lights” at Mentor High School.  The race doesn’t start until 9pm.  This gives it something that this area has not seen.  It pulls people in from over an hour away because the course is also quite fast.  This makes for a good marketing tool because it is not what people are used to. 

On to Rule # 2 Timing:

I’m not talking about chip vs. hand timed.

This is the age old story of David vs. Goliath on a Sunday morning.  We all know what we are doing that 3^rd Sunday in July…  That’s the Johnnycake Jog.  It would be hard to have a successful expansive race on that day, or even the day prior.  Yes, sure you can have maybe 50-100 people but it will be hard to get much more than that because nearly 3,000 of North East Ohio’s running community will be gearing up for its biggest 5 mile.  So use a race calendar and figure out what days are good days to hold your race…  It may just be the thing that gets you the numbers you need.

Rule # 3 Sponsors:

Sponsors are crucial to a road races success.  They hand you the money or supplies you need to fund your race or make it runnable by anyone and all they ask is that you put their logo on the back of a t-shirt?   Sounds like a fair trade to me.  A very good race director will spend months in advance readying for their race including gathering all the necessary supplies which include, food, water, awards, door prizes, shirts, timing, and course prep.  Sending out letters, e mails, or phone calls to local establishments is a great way to get backing for your race.  Most places will donate something, at least some cash so you can afford timing for your race, or food for after.  So hit up those businesses you know of, your friends’ businesses, and the ones that are in direct correlation with your race.  So to use Johnnycake Jog again, the course runs right past the Target on rt. 20, well Target donates thousands of bottles of H2O, also volunteers and promotion of the race.  Pretty smart. 

That brings me to Rules # 4 and #5  Workers and Course work.

I lump these together because the course work is done by your workers.  
 
So, there are ton ton ton of high schools in lake county.  I cannot even begin to count them.  These are a great place to get workers,  if you were unaware most high schools require a certain amount of volunteer hours for graduation, and if they don’t Colleges like it on high school transcripts.  Your local XC or track teams are usually your best bet, but if you got other sports, you could pull in some people that wouldn’t normally go to a road race, because their kid or friend is volunteering at it.  This is a trade secret so don’t post it on facebook that I am telling you, but it is your number one way of getting kids to volunteer and the community familiar with your race.  Now course work is probably more important than #5 but the first 4 rules are basic necessities.  So if anyone has gotten lost on a course before, you know how frustrating it is.  MARK YOUR COURSES PEOPLE, you can’t depend on police, or volunteers to know their way around your course, but runners are usually used to reading arrows if they are visible enough.  There are some people out there with poor senses of direction so you won’t always be able to please everybody, but go through it with someone that has not run your course before and see if they can get through it, also make maps available, then they can’t blame you for their mistake!

There are other keys to having a successful road race, but every race although the same at its core, is ultimately different, so it sometimes takes a year or two of bumps to get to the point where you can spend most of your time marketing it and less time preparing because you know your Do’s and Don’ts.  

Follow these basics and you are definitely on your way.  - John Distler

p.s.   I did not cover timing because this is an informational blog, not an infomercial blog.  If you want to talk about timing you can email me at distler@secondsoleohio.com