So simple

As race director I get many runners and walkers asking questions prior to a race. Most of these questions are fairly simple. "Where is the start?" Who do i make checks payable to? Where is pre- registration? Where is day of registration?" I realized years ago that simple signs saves time. I always place my START sign for folks to see. I post a sign at the day of sign up table so you know who to make checks payable to and for how much. I have signs for pre and day of tables. And I always try and post a course map. Even when folks are from out of town..... runners like to see a course map. So...in a nut shell....i no longer get asked these questions at races. Pretty cool huh?

Delalware Marathon news you can use.

Some great news concerning our 6th CCHS Delaware Marathon. Race date is Sunday, May 17, 2009. Kid's Run One for Fun will be staged on Saturday the 16th. Our new venue is Tubman Garrett Riverfront Park located next to Amtrak Station. With the new venue comes a new route. This year we will run a two loop marathon course starting at 7 am. Rather than a ten mile distance for our sister event we have decided to go with a half marathon. Start time will be 7:15 am. The popular 4 person relay will start at 7:30 am and consist of 4 legs of 6.55 miles each. For those of you who know the area here is a short description of route...for those out of town I will post map on marathon website soon. The new marathon and half marathon routes will start at Tubman Park and continue across Market Street to Water Street to West Street to the new Justinson Street to the end of the shops on the River Walk. You will then proceed on river walk back to Tubman Park. Back on river walk to EDIS which is at the end of the river walk then follow to Poplar Street to 4th Street to Walnut Street to 16th Street to N. Park Drive past the Brandywine Zoo to foot bridge across the Brandywine to foot path to Adams Street to S. Park Drive. From there you head up S. Park Drive to Lovering Ave. to Kentmere Pkwy to Bancroft Pkwy. to dead end at 9th Street. Go left to Union Street to 4th Street to Lincoln Street (Little Italy) and back to 9th Street. Continue on Bancroft Pkwy to Kentmere Pkwy to Lovering to S. Park Drive to 16th Street to King Street and follow King Street back to Tubman Park. Not as flat as in the past but i believe a much more enjoyable run. More to come.

The Answer to my ?

So what is a race director to do? I got many emails about this one.....but the two folks involved in this incident did contact me to explain what happened. Seems that the missing runner called her friend (who had just signed her up) to tell her she was not feeling good and was about to leave on vacation and thought it best not to run in the race. Since her friend already registered her she gave her race bib to another friend. He did not bother to change info on the race tag thus running in someone elses name. Make sense? Either way all they had to do was tell Barbie or I and we would have asked him to sign a waiver for insurance reasons and to scratch out her name and add his name, age and sex. Oh well....mystery solved......I think.

What is a race director to think?

A friend of mine who works for the FBI was nice enough to give me a FBI hat celebrating the 100th anniversary of the FBI.....i wear it all the time....little did i know that i would soon feel like an FBI agent. Here is why.....Our Seven Sisters Series in Dewey Beach gives away a gift package if you complete all 10 events. Our JD Shuckers event took place Sunday the 8th event in the series. I love to take photos of my races which i post on my website. It is easy for me to list names with photos by using my race software to produce a listing in numberical order. One of the photos and matching race numbers just did not make sense. The race number was assigned to a female runner 40 years of age who has completed all 7 events in the series. But some guy was wearing this race bib. I looked up the race bib on my results board and that too stated that this tag was assigned to a 40 year old female. To make matters worse the day of entry form was written out for the 40 year old female runner and signed by her friend who signed her own name. I called the missing 40 year old female and also her friend who signed her up and asked them both to call me or email me back. I have yet to hear back from either of them. What really upsets me is that this person won a medal thus taking away an award from someone who really deserves the win. What a shame. What is a race director to think? Your comments are welcome.

"Free" stuff

I pulled into my driveway and could not help but notice that UPS had delivered some boxes. I mean stacks of boxes left on my porch. How about 1000 Snicker Marathon Bars. Yep...."freebies" to give away to participants at our events. Every once in a while I get an email from companies looking to promote a product. They figure it is a great way to get their product in the runners hands. When Propel first came out they sent me about 50 cases to distribute at our events. (good thing I have a double car garage). I have been a pretty good customer ever since. Other companies that have donated in the past have been Power Bar.....Cliff Shots......Herr's Chips.......Power Gels......Gatorade and the latest has been Fuze. (I love the orange mango flavor). Back when we held the DE Marathon in Middletown Gatorade sent me 12 five gallon water containers with GATORADE printed on them. There was no way i was going to ship these used containers back. The Gatorade folks know how to market a product. They figure that I would use these water containers for years to come. How true....i still use them today. If running the Bottle & Cork this Sept. we have a surprise "Freebie" for all participants......I think you will be pleased. See you at the races

Two for the record books

Many years ago Delaware Sports Club member Doug White started to keep age group state records. He used 5 year age groups 18 under to 70 and over. Doug was the official record keeper. I would post these state records in my Sports Calendar that i use to publish years prior to the internet. As time went by I was able to develop my website races2run and Doug asked me to take over these state records and post on my website. Some records have stood for years. Others change yearly. At our 5k the Latin Way 47 year old Sandy Gibney set a new age group record with her 20:03. This time broke a 21 year old record held by Joan Mehl (20:24). Two years ago at our Bottle & Cork ten miler, Juliet Bottorff set an age group state record for 18 and under in 68:20. This past Sept. she broke her own state age group record running a 66:37. We only accept records on usatf certified routes. If records are set i ask the race director to send me the usatf certification number and complete results. Keep on racing!