Last Sunday was the 49th Capital 10K race in Austin. This is the largest race in Texas with 24,400 runners in this year’s race. It was my first race to run in 1979, with about 2,200 runners. In the first year you had to run faster than 54 minutes or close to that to get a tee shirt. I ran the first 12 races and missed the 13th because of a convention I had to attend. It has grown every year and is so much more than a 10K race. The number of events associated with the race has increased. The Runner’s Expo is a real attraction for any business or store associated with running. And a few are just there because of the number of people that will be there to stop by their venue even if the store is not associated with running.
Because of the huge number of runners, they put runners in “corrals” with their estimated finish time. This prevents slow runners moving to the front of the crowd and jamming things up. And the number of age categories has more than the average 10 K race. The age categories start with age 1 – 12 and go up every 5 years to 90-99 years. Categories include school groups, military groups, and others to include interest in a group entering their members to run so that particular group may qualify for an award. There are runners entered that have run almost all to the Capital 10 K races. Some are in the 30 years and 40 years category. An interesting statistic was in the Women’s Overall winners. In second, third, and fourth place were runners from Flagstaff, Arizona. Having taught at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff and knowing that the cross-country team is ranked as one of the top teams in the country I was betting that the women were members of their cross-country team.
Being the race director of this race is a full-time occupation. The number of volunteers needed is unbelievable. Think about an aid station necessary for over 24,000 runners and all the water, cups and tables to hold all of the essential items. The volunteers for keeping the course clear of spectators, the police needed for traffic control, the maintenance crew to put up barricades to block roads and intersections, and medical staff to be along the course for injuries or problems. There have been a few cases of heart attacks from runners that needed care. The race has several music groups along the way and they need to be scheduled and set up for playing to the runners as they pass by. The neighbors along the route are out in force to cheer the runners on. I remember one that offered free beer to the runners back in the pack. Groups that told stories, military marching squads are all part of the running crowd.
Then imagine over 24,000 runners at the finish area. Where are these runners moved to so they don’t clog up the remaining runners that are still out on the course. Somebody has to keep moving them out of the area to another location. I remember a group of friends who ran trying to find each other in a crowd of thousands, an almost impossible task. We told each runner that after the race the group will meet at a specified location. This way the group would all be accounted for and either go to breakfast at a nearby restaurant or get in the car and head home. Which brings up the necessary arrangement for finding parking for the large number of runners and bus transportation if the parking area is some distance away from the race start. And the start and finish are not in the same area so runners have to decide if they want to park near the start or near the finish. These are the reasons the race director is full-time In the beginning the Capital 10 K was considered the start of the summer racing season. This has changed some as there are a number of races in the months before the Capital 10 K now. But as far as races go there is only one Capital 10 K and all the events that make it special.
