Ideas to make your race event stand out from the crowd

The number of road races is increasing since the slow down because of the pandemic.  There is a race almost every weekend in central Texas and there are a few weekends where runners have a choice of two or three races to choose from.  To encourage runners to sign up for your race what can race organizers offer the runners to choose your race?  There are several options that may be the deciding factor to have runners sign up for your race.  Some choices include the T-shirt design that runners will like.  How about a different award to age group winners that other races do not offer?  Age groups that attract runners such a five year age difference rather than the usual 10 years age groups and maybe more than the usual three deep in age group awards.  After facing this problem of getting runners to enter races there are several good ideas I have seen, or tried, to encourage runners to enter.

One good example of doing something different is the Bluebonnet Lions Thankful Turkey 5K race next Saturday in San Marcos.  The awards are a perfect example of a way to celebrate Thanksgiving.  Instead of standard trophies for age group winners they offer a turkey for first place, a ham for second place, and a choice of pumpkin or apple pie for third place.  What better award can you have then a meal for Thanksgiving?  And to make another change to encourage runners the organizers offer a different range of age categories.  The usual standard of age group awards is under 19 years; 20 – 29 years, etc.  The different age categories for Thankful Turkey 5K are from under 10 years, 11 – 17; 18 – 27; 28 – 37; 38 – 47; and on up to 78 – 99 years.  The different age categories will find some runners choosing this race because now that runner that always beat you in the standard age categories is now in a different age group and you might win that meal for Thanksgiving.  I know several runners look forward to this race as they are hoping the result of running a fast race is a Thanksgiving meal on Thursday.  Just think, that fast running nine-year-old son or daughter, or 80 year grandparent might win a turkey or ham.

There are several races that are trying to offer an award that other races cannot copy.  Hill Country Trophy can now put photos, painting, or art work on an award.  The Bobcat Prowl 5K offers a big medal with a painting of a bobcat by Bob Pankey on the front to the top finishers.  And there is a chance that the artist himself will be there to autograph it for award winners.   For the Better Half Marathon the awards were a plaque with a painting by the race namesake that no other race could copy.  One unusual award we had for the Country Roads Half Marathon was a small wooden box with a watch inside to put on a desk or table.  A very useful award to put on a desk as a decorative piece

I tried to offer a different race tee shirt for entering my race.  One year is was a fluorescent orange race shirt.  This proved to be popular for runners that were also bike riders as it offered visibility on the road.  The next year we changed the color to a bright lime green race shirt.  Another year the race shirt was a long sleeved three quarter zip shirt.  The shirt was well liked but more as a shirt to wear around town than in a race it turned out.  Another year we offered a wind breaker for the race “shirt.” It was a nice change from the standard race T-shirt but it was something that would only be worn during colder weather.  At one of the earlier races the race shirt was a sleeveless hooded T-shirt.  This was a popular shirt but trying to find a similar shirt for the next race was difficult.  It turned out to be a one of a kind shirt and I have not seen another one like it years later. And the same process of putting a photo or painting on the award can also be put on the race shirt.  BJ’s Tees can put a copy of a photo or painting on race shirt that can be an incentive to run your race.  I imagine Bob Pankey could autograph a race tee shirt as well as the medal.

For race organizers trying to attract runners to enter a race it often takes some different approach to make the race a success.  Whether it is changing the type of award or a different race shirt, the promotion of the race needs to be something that other races do not offer.  It adds one more item for race organizers.  Not only must you put on an organized and successful race but now you have to be a creative thinking person also.  Being a race director and organizer just became more complicated.