This article is locked by Organisation for the BIG Mile
Hello and welcome to the most poorly written, most rambling race guide in the history of the world....I thought, should I treat this is an A-level submission or just brain-dump. Decide for yourself what I decided on.Above all, it was fun.
Dates
In choosing the date, I went through the race diaries to look at major events and local events. I also thought about the time of year. People have a natural race cycle with marathons, 10ks and so on and I thought that early January was a good window. Sadly we clashed with the local cross-country so missed out on a lot of the club runners, but there wasn’t a great choice. If I could have changed a bit here, I would not have clashed with XC.Advertising
Getting the early posts on threads (the story about if it went ahead or not is in my blog, this is about how it was organised) was important. We had to work out if enough people could or would come. The way we decided this was to create an entry in the race portfolio and see how many registered. I know that people just do this lightly but at least it was a measure stick. Keeping up momentum on the thread for entries was important. I did hijack a few threads to get people thinking. The Facebook notification was very useful.Budgets
The finance was a big part of the event. We had to get it right or lose our own money, or take other peoples, neither of which we wanted to do. We set a budget by calculating the cost of the things we needed to buy (Listed below) and divided by 100. This was a bit of gamble as we had to get 120 paid-up runners to allow for kids at 50%. If we got over 100 then we were to give the money to charity. We also had to account for the PayPal surcharge. So, this was our budget:Track £ 196.92
Numbers £ 60.00
PayPal surcharge £ 50.00
Die cost £ 50.00
Medals £ 110.00
Ribbons £ 30.00
Total £ 496.92
Onto this we added a 10% contingency (which we used some of). We also allowed for 15 percent of runners as kids at 50% charge. This gave us a cost of £4.97 for an adult, so we charged £5 for adults and £2.50 for kids. The final accounts are not yet complete but we overspent on medals and I think we have made a loss of a few pence….find out later.
Entries
When we saw how much it was all going to cost we knew it could not be run as casually as a normal Fetch Mile, simply due to the cost. We had to make sure that people were properly committed to the event and that costs were covered in advance. So, I decided to start online entries to ensure that we had the costs covered. I thought of going to ukresults.net or another site but I didn’t want to advertise the race to non-Fetchies. I was lucky to have my own web server and a past life as a geek so I built a web site to gather just the information I needed. Importantly, because I didn’t gather certain personal information that is normally asked for we did not fall under the remit of the data protection act. If you do this yourself then just don’t collect date of birth (get age instead) or address and you are fine. The web site collected name, Fetch name, age and predicted time. For anyone who wants it, I can send them the website to run for themselves. It is important that the entry form states “run at your own risk”.PayPal
To collect the money I used PayPal. This was a convenient method of gathering money without complicated bank stuff, although it relies on the honest of the person taking the money to run the event...which...erm....we did. It also takes a percentage of the fee but we had allowed for that in the budget. I had the online entry form setup to email me when someone entered. I took the information that I received in the email and pasted in into an Excel spreadsheet for later. Then, logged onto to PayPal and did a “Request money” thing with the email address that I had received from the online entry. I received an email from PayPal when people had paid, at which point I would update the spreadsheet to record money.The Spreadsheet
I collected the columns below so that we could organise the race. In retrospect, I would have collected a separate predicted time for 200m but I don’t think it made much difference on the day.Count – Entry Number
Number - Allocated race number
Sent – Had I sent a PayPal request
Paid – Have they paid
Name – Proper name
Fetch Name – Erm...work this out for yourself
Email – Email address
Age - Obvious
Cat – Adult or child
60m – Do they want to run 60m
200m – Do they want to run 200m
Mile – Do they want to run the mile
Time – Predicted mile time
I then used various Excel type things to create the articles and stuff. I am happy to email the spreadsheet to anyone that wants it for organising future races (with personal info removed)
Location
The indoor track was an inspiration from the other Hendo. We chose Manchester as it was local and sort of the middle of the UK, but, more importantly it was local to use for the purpose of actually running the thing. The venue was a big cost, but we had to work out how many hours we needed it for first of all, this was quite tricky and depended on the size of the track. So, we went to the track with McNewbie and tried to estimate how many we could fit in each race. The track had 4 lanes so we thought about numbers and spread over the 1st lap (which actually I thought would be 10-20 seconds average but proved to be almost nothing on average). I thought of 12 runners ... i.e. three rows of 4 at the start. Actually, this changed as I decided later that 8 races was the most we could do in the time and with 120 runners planned, I set 15 a race as the limit, on an average 0f 10 minutes a race...more of that later. This meant using the track for 3 hours play 30 minutes either side for setup, etc. The setup time was essential as we needed to run a practice race to get the marshals ready.Fetch Logo
In order to do the numbers and medals we had to get a high-resolution graphic version of the Fetch logo. We got this fro Mr Fetch via fmail.Numbers
The race numbers had a cost for the paper and ink, we could have ordered plain ones from somewhere but we took the decision to do personalised numbers. Actually, personalised numbers are not that much more expensive if you have the kit, but there are two advantages. Firstly, they were personal and therefore a bit of a momento, which is nice, secondly we could print what we needed up to the last night before the race (2am on the last night in fact). I made numbers in Microsoft Word, by creating a document for each race wave (more of waves later). I am happy to email this document to anyone that needs it for future miles. To get the numbers, I copied avatars from the website and did the rest manually. We bought Tyvek paper online from weatherwiter.com. Tyvek is the rip-stop stuff that works with safety pins and stuff. We did have a minor problem that the inkjet ink that we used was not waterproof but as we were indoors, we didn’t worry about it. If you do this in future then you need Tyvek paper and waterproof ink.Allowing people to choose their own race number was fun as it allowed people to connect to things a bit more and was more in the spirit of Fetch so that the event didn’t see to autocratic.(even though, lets be honest, it was
).I ended spending a lot of time changing numbers to people’s predicted times and changing waves but the setup of the waves was a key point to a good day, which required good predicted times, so the faffing was required.
Medals
The medals came from Running Imp. The first thing we did was to look at costs and the lead time for delivery as some took too long to order and arrive. We wanted to balance cost against actually having something that was more memorable than a standard local race medal, so, we choose the cheapest, customised medal, which was a large enough size to look good and luckily had a lead time that worked. We saved money by choosing the cheapest ribbon. We were lucky to have a sister-graphic-designer-type-person who took the Fetch logo and the BIG Mile them to create a postscript file that was useful to the people at running imp. To note, there was some light shading on the medal design that didn’t come out on the end product. They need a certain file type to get the colours right (especially as Fetch red is not pure red). We could have done with ordering the medals a week or two sooner as it took 4 weeks for them to arrive. They are very helpful but don’t forget to order ribbons as well as medals, and do give them a chase to make sure the medals come on time. When budgeting also look at the die cost as some medals are only an option for much larger races. They issue an invoice after delivery for payment within 28 days.Site visit
Once we had decided on a venue, I phoned them to make an enquiry and we came out with a rough date and time that worked for us both. It was important that we were not too early or too late so that people could travel there and back on the day if they wanted too. As it turned out, there was a Man City match in the stadium next door so our 1pm start was great. Although, the event was 3 hours we had to pay for the track for 4 hours for setup and clearing up afterwards.After we had main contact, we organised a site visit. The main purpose of the site visit was to judge the venue and picture the day and what we would need. The people at the site were brilliant with advice.
Event Requirements Form
Closer to the day we filled in an Event Requirements Form from the venue where we asked for:- Tables, 1 at the entrance for race numbers and 2 at the finish line
- PA system - very important to keep everyone informed about what was going on
- Starting blocks for 60m
- Starters rostrum – which actually McNewbie and Sioux never used
- Lap bell
- Lap count markers
Information Booklet
This was important about ‘how’ we wanted the day to run. From the first car arrival to the last trip back to the station, everything was thought through. The important things in it were....- Location
- What to do when you arrive
- The importance of a good predicted finish time
- Bring a Fetch top and think about shoes
- Parking permits
- Track info
- The map of the course
- Funnels
- Photos
- Prizes
Most important – run at your own risk (refer to the legal section).
Cake
The track did not allow food into the track so we had to do the unthinkable...a mile without cake. In retrospect this was no big deal as the 3 hour event had loads of time for people to chat. So people brought cake to the evening instead.No Pacers
This was a tough one. Often at Fetch miles we all like to help each other by pacing. But, with only 15 runners per race we were worried about other people on the track. So, I decided on no pacers. This was really to make sure that races were not crowded. The theory was that by organising the waves properly then the groups would have been close enough together for them to race each other without pacers. We did relax this on the day, thanks to the snow dropping numbers.Transport
We were all trying on the thread to make sure that people had information about transport. A bit of planning had to go in to make sure that we had enough car parking and people were transported from the train station (this is Fetch after all, not the other site
). We had car parking passes so that Fetch runners could park for free during the Man City game. These were emailed out as part of the race info pack.Legal
It was important to us that Cheshire Lady and I were not held accountable for any injuries and the usual guff. I did some investigation with the people at Sport City (the track) and with English Athletics. We were guided that the same rules applied to us as to Parkruns…specifically…if you do not give out prizes or awards for effort then you are not running a competition and therefore not required to register with English Athletics and pay for insurance and a license. Also, it is important that you do not want the event to qualify for and county leagues or to offer a club runner discount. With this in place it is a question of “run at your own risk”. People don’t need to sign disclaimers so long as the entry form states this – just look at park runs.Accidental damage to equipment in the venue was covered in the hire fee but malicious damage was not. Given the audience we felt happy to take the risk.
First Aid
We had to have two first aiders on site. This was a venue recommendation and not a legal requirement. Fortunately, Cheshire Lady and I were both trained first aiders and happy to do the role. However, on the day we were far too busy and we should have had separate cover – perhaps a physio Fetch volunteer also?Data protection act
I mentioned this earlier in the online entry design but it is important that if you run something like this then you must only collect the minimum information to run your event, protect that information, and ensure that it is only used for the purpose of running the event. This meant that I did not collect date of birth or address, which I did not technically need.Spot Prizes
Importantly, spot prizes are not an award for winning and therefore not covered under legal competition rules. I approached our local running shop, Running Bear in Alderley edge and just asked out right if they would help us out. They were more than happy and gave us much more than we asked for. The plan was to have 1 spot prize for each race but we ended up with more. Giving them out at the end of the day worked as we had everyone in one place. I just randomly chose race numbers from a sheet with no names on it so I could not know who each number was.Waves
Ahh, waves, now we get to the heart of the matter. The setup of the waves was absolutely critical to making everyone’s day as positive as possible. If there was too much spread in a wave then there would be too much lapping, resulting in less fun for everyone. We needed close groups that could race each other.In the actual running of the event of the day, Cheshire Lady and I were constantly checking the time to keep us on track. Even with the predicted times and call forward times we had to constantly keep things moving so that we didn’t run out of time. It would have been very easy to take a breath after a wave and fins ourselves too far behind to fit in the 60m races – would have been a shame.
I setup the waves according to predicted time, aiming to minimise the number of seconds between slowest and fastest predicted time in each wave. This was, to be honest, a case of constant juggling until it looked correct. In fact I was juggling until the last minute. With the 200 metre track I worked on targeting less than 45 seconds gap between the predicted times. This worked well in most races but the Purple wave ended up with a big gap that I could do nothing about.
The next choice was to set a start time for each wave. I set the first race to go 15 minutes after opening, which worked fine, although Cheshire Lady and I did have to prompt the first wave runners a few time to make sure they knew to warm up and get ready. I then rounded up to the nearest 5 or 6 minutes or so, according to the slowest predicted time in each wave. So….
Wave 1, max predicted time 7 minutes, starting 1315, so allow 10 minutes and start the next race 1325.
Wave 2, max predicted time 9 minutes, starting 1325, so allow 15 minutes and start the next race 1340.
You get the idea. This meant that as soon as one race had *started* we had to be on the PA telling the runners for the next wave to get ready. As soon as one race finished there was a scurry to get the results into the computer and clear for the start of the next wave. We had to have the spreadsheets all ready for the marshals to type straight into to make this as simple as possible. While that was happening we would call the next runners onto the track. This was essential to making sure that everyone got to run and the event finished on time. It felt a bit hurried to the marshals but I’m informed that that the Fetch general public felt informed, happy and unhurried.
Having the wave colour on the bottom of the printed race numbers was excellent.
The organisation of the track
Setup the finish line and bell etc, and measure the 9m....that was about it.Call forward times
It was important that people realised that they had to be ready to run as soon as a race finished, rather than watching the end then thinking about warming up. Cheshire Lady had the job of tracking time and keeping the event moving....essential to not running over, also communicating with the race director to prompt him for PA messages to organise people. Also, prompting people individually to think about warming up. The timing did seem to go well but it took effort to keep the pace up.-
Marshal Jobs
Cheshire Lady and I thought about the jobs needed on the day and what was needed to let the races go smoothly without overdoing it. Importantly, we needed at least 2 people for each job and a few spares so that the marshals could warm up and run their own races.The roles were:
**1** Race Director: Important that the race director is not tied to anyone role so that they could look after the general running of the event
**2** Runner preparation: Their job was to get the runners for the next wave ready so that we could keep to the timetable and so that runners felt informed and ready for their wave with no surprises
**3** Race Starter: The person blowing the whistle to start the race. It was important that this was not the person holding the stopwatch so that there was no conflict.
**4** Lap counter: This person had the job of ticking off the laps from 8 to 0 and ringing the bell for each runner’s final lap
**5** Race Timer: Armed with a stopwatch, The race timer starts the stopwatch in time with the race starter then shouts out times as people crossed the line (occasionally I echoed these times on the PA), then, as each runner finishes, calls out the time to the results recorder
**6** Time recorder: The time recorder writes down the times that the race timer calls out. Its important to note that the don’t call “6:25”, “6.27” etc but they call out the change in minutes then only the seconds.
**7** Position recorder: The person at the end of the funnel who records the runner numbers of the finishers in the order that they finish.
**8** Results Collator: The person at the computer who takes the times and finish numbers and puts them together on the spreadsheet. They then printed out the results for people to read. We could have done without the printer – it was just too slow and too much effort.
**9** Photos: Nice to have an official photographer
Printouts
We prepared a number of printouts for the day>>> Waves – the list of waves and start times for people to refer to
>>> Time recording – an empty sheet with 15 boxes for each wave to record the finish times of the runners
>>> Race Number recording - an empty sheet with 15 boxes for each wave to record the finish race numbers of the runners
>>> Lap counter – a big sheet to tick off the laps for each runner in each race
Important Bit
We had to remember that the mile is 1609 metres. On a normal outdoor track the mile line is clearly marked but it isn’t on an indoor so we had to get a measuring tape and mark 9 metres back from the start line to make sure we did the full mile.On the Computer
We prepared a spreadsheet with two columns for each wave, one to collate the times and one for the race numbers and to put it together. Again, this spreadsheet is available to anyone that wants it. The results collator filled in the boxes. We setup a printer so that we could print out results so that runners would not hassle the results coordinator while she was busy.Timing
So, the way the race went was this……>>> The corral people got the runners for the next race ready
>>> I warned them on the PA to warm up
>>> As soon as one race was finished I went on the Pa to tell the runners for the next race to get on the track and finish their warm-up
>>> As the results were being collated on the computer I asked the next wave runners to form up on the start line
>>> I announced the runners for a good cheer (nice for moral but also good to make sure we had everyone ready to run and that the results collators had time to do their thing)
>>> We got the marshals in position and ready to go. I did the “ready” thing
>>> The starter made eye contact with the timer and …ready…steady….blow
>>> As the lead runner passed the line the lap counter changed the board, at the last lap for each runner they rang the bell
>>> As the runners finished the timer shouts out the time and the recorder writes it down
>>> I tried to direct them down the funnel with varying degrees of success
>>> The funnel folk recorded the race numbers in order of finish
>>> After the last runner finished the results collator got into the swing and we started from the top
>>> Repeat 8 times