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Marty Murphy
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| 2/13/2005 7:39 PM |
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I think it was Stone Man who penned an article in the flyer within the last year about declining race participation, and its negative effect on sponsers of events. I just completed the 2nd annual Everest Survival Challenge at Tanglewood the last weekend, and fear that it may be the last. The event is a blast, and unique in the world of asphalt racing. Unfortunately, its promotion was sorely lacking. Thus, the participation was down significantly from even its first year. While acknowledging the clubs disclaimer that they do not want to promote events that may not occur, couldn't the club at least have posted this event when it was clear that it would occur?
There seems to be a coalescence of races into fairly standard, staid venues. While I'm sure I'll get ragged on for this, the Club does not seem to be very proactive in promoting events in the region in which they do not have a vested interest. ( the regional running journal lists events within 15 minutes drive of W-S, yet in our race calender they do not exist). What is the mission of this club, of which I am a menber? To promote only those events in which the club has a direct interest, or to promote running in the region?
Instead of self defensive replies, I suggest that we (collectively) really examine the role of the club in promoting racing in the region.
Respectfully, Marty Murphy |
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Keith Stone
Posts:28
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| 2/13/2005 10:48 PM |
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First off, it was never "clear" it would occur. In fact, I was quite surprised it did. The club bent over backwards to help that event, which we were told was going to be cancelled last fall, only to be resurrected at literally the last minute. When the race organizer decided against using the club to do the finish line, we assumed the event was off and received no communication otherwise. Your angst should be directed at the race organizer, not the club's board.
I'm personally insulted by the implication we are not proactive and you should get your facts straight before slamming the board's VOLUNTEER members. When told the event was cancelled we tried to find someone else to run it, no one stepped up. We looked at having it as a club race on a new date due it's proximity to the Frosty 50, no one stepped up. When the race organizer decided in late December to do the event we did everything we could, including accepting inserts into the Flyer at the final hour and assisting finding required things like insurance. It wasn't in printed calendars because they decided to do it AFTER we'd gone to press.
Countless volunteer hours go to assisting local races with promotion, organization, etc. Saying we're not proactive is direct slap in the face of the people that are putting in that time.
As far as promoting other non-club races. WHY? Producing the Flyer, maintaining the web site, sending emails, all consume the club's money and volunteer time. It's not hard or costly to work with the club, so if a race isn't listed it's because they chose not to work with us, not the other way around. In light of that, shouldn't the club direct it's financial and volunteer resources to events that contribute in some way to the club's ongoing operation? How would events that DO work with the club feel if we directed our resources to events that didn't? Would you consider that a fair and appropriate use of resources?
Events don't magically appear in printed calendars or on the web site. Someone has to put them there. Someone has to validate they're accurate. That takes time. MY TIME. Should I devote my time to events associated with the club, or should I leave the promotion of non-club events to the other regional calendars. Why should I duplicate the efforts of Running Journal, active.com, Cool Running, Runner's World, etc? We are constantly adding new sources of running information to the web site, but duplicating that information is impractical.
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Marty Murphy
Posts:2
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| 2/14/2005 3:09 PM |
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| Sorry Stoneman, I obviously didn't know the background. And thanks for heeding the caveat not do get defensive.Trust me, I'm very appreciative of all you and the other volunteers do. Shy a much better job of promotion by the race director, I suspect this event will not survive. |
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Keith Stone
Posts:28
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| 2/14/2005 4:23 PM |
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The think to keep in mind Marty is that everything the club does needs someone to stand up and take charge. The club's board already has a full plate so anything extra requires someone from the general membership to step up to the plate. We can't run out and try to prop up a race without letting something else slide.
We worked very hard promoting races over the last year. We were able to turn around floundering races like our own Beat the Heat and had record turnouts at Salem Lake, Mistletoe, and Frosty 50. That was working on advance promotion, improving brochures, email content, posters, and the web site.
We can do a lot to help out an event, as long as members step up and help and the race organizer wants to work with us. We can't do miracles and when a race organizer comes to us with just a few weeks to go our hands are really tied. When they don't communicate it's an impossible job. |
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Patrick Brown
Posts:8
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| 2/15/2005 5:23 AM |
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I do think there's a big difference between promoting an event and listing an event. It would be helpful to list the local events (and perhaps footnote that we aren't involved with it somehow).
It might demonstrate to event managers what they could gain by getting our club involved when they see more people coming to their event simply because of its being listed on our club site, and if we're inclusive instead of exclusive of other events, we may promote ourselves better as we put the TCTC's website more in the center of attention. |
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Keith Stone
Posts:28
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| 2/15/2005 9:45 AM |
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We could have a separate "non verified" listing but again, that means someone (meaning me) has to take time away from something else to do it. We don't currently have a way to segregate them and everything in the listings goes out in the emails. Eventually I'd like to have a way to list things where people could put in information themselves (like you do with Cool Running or Active.Com). However, a higher priority is getting the club's membership fully online, then registration, so it's ways down the list of things to do. So at this point listing IS promoting, and will be that way until higher priority items get done.
Last weekend's event is a classic reason why it's important to have verified listings that we promote, since that race could have been cancelled as easy as it could have gone off. One of the reasons we didn't put up the Lewisville stuff as early as we normally would have was the issues they were having.
A couple local races cancel nearly every year so it's not a rare thing. Remember the big turnout at the Winston Salem/Sock'Em Dog/Millenium Marathon? Advertised in Running Journal for three years! $1,000,000 dollars in prize money! There was this little problem about no course, no permits, but heck, it was a foot race, the local running club would do all that work for free! For some reason that event never happened.
Just a year or so ago a guy advertised a five race series, all at Tanglewood, each for a different charity. Never said a word to the club and from all indications none of them ever happened.
The core point is an average race costs somewhere in the neighborhood of $3000-$5000 to put on. If you're spending that much and not using any other club service (by using chip timing for example) and you still can't come up with $40 for a years worth of promotion help, odds are you don't have the resources to put on the event in the first place.
Asking someone to write a check separates the serious race organizers from those that just have an idea but no plan. Asking them to write a check also provides a consistent policy by not putting a board member in the position of having to pick favorites. We always need to consider, can we do this for everyone that asks? If you can't without making an arbitrary decision maybe you shouldn't be doing it. |
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Mikeygone (guest)
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| 2/17/2005 7:51 AM |
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Its probably a good idea that the club did not get involved in the Everest Run last Saturday. The race was a blast but there was very little planning or organization. The whole event seemed a little shady to me. Just my .02.
Mike |
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