Becoming A Race Director Part 2

Well the down time has ended. I'm back in to training again now. The last few weeks have involved a few short week night runs and a longer one at the weekend, most of which have been on hangovers and pretty painful. I'm going to head to either Rocky Raccoon 100 in Texas (again) or Susitna 100 in Alaska during February to kick the year off in proper style. I wanted to go back to RR100 this year to avenge my poor finish. It turns out that 22:54 at my first 100 miler (and by a massive margin the easiest) remains my PB. I know I can quite easily knock 3 hours off of this and potentially more like 5 but I'd like to prove it. Three things need to go right for that to happen, race day nutrition, remaining injury free and keeping the 60 mile+ chaffing at bay. Susitna would be a very different type of race. 100 miles on marked frozen trails, you are required to pull a sled with a minimum of 15lbs of equipment at all times. Food, Fuel, Stove, Sleeping Bag, Bivvy Bag, Down Clothing and a lot of water are all necessities. From experience in Antarctica running on snow ain't that easy either. I'll decide over the weekend which one to go for. I'll also be chucking my name in the hat, once again, for the Western States 100 on Saturday. I hold out no hope. Over 2000 applicants for 360 slots in a straight lottery shoot out. You do the math.

I'm now about 95% of the way there to launching the website and taking applications for our first race. August 13th 2010. North Downs Way 100 mile, 50 mile and marathon. Take your pick. Basically I am striving to put on my perfect race to run, except I won't have the joy of running on the day which is sad. I've taken what I think works the best from Badwater, Western States, UTMB, Racing The Planet, the Marathon Des Sables, Old Dominion 100, Rocky Raccoon 100 etc etc. Based on but not limited too:

-  A decent start location with plenty of space and an uncrowded relaxed feel to the start of the day. 

-  Not ripping people off for entry fees. The cost of putting something like this on is WAY more than I expected and there is no way we will even get near break even in the first year but Im prepared to take that hit to build what I hope will become the best British Ultramarathon on the circuit and the first of many races across the country (all 100 miles of course). 

-  Responding to everything and everybody personally, on e mail and within hours of receiving correspondence, not leaving it 3 weeks to get back to someone. 

-  Marking the course because I hate map reading and frankly, getting lost during, let alone at the end of a 100 mile race, is probably the most depressing thing in the entire world.

-  Offering people the ability to use drop bags so that they can be self sufficient but not have to carry everything they need for 30 hours. 

-  Putting on proper aid stations with a decent spread of gels, salt, proper food etc.

-  Getting something for finishing that you want to keep forever (a buckle, a very nice piece of metal of some description, a medal and of course a t shirt that says I RAN 100 MILES IN ONE GO SO THERE

-  Allowing crews and pacers

-  Leniant cut offs but within reason. I nearly cried for the girl who DNFd at 90 miles a few weeks ago because of the cut off. 

There will be other races in this series that provide all of the above, on easier courses so that the challenge is purely running 100 miles. There will also be races that forbid pacers, crew and are frankly really really hard so that people and hopefully myself included can test themselves against fast, beautiful, brutal, horrifically hilly, mountainous, flat and stunning courses in the incredible corners of this country that deserve 100 mile races and don't have them. 

I've invested around 3 hours a day to it over the past 4 weeks alone and its starting to take its toll but of my tick list I've so far covered everything but actually posting the registration forms to the UK Athletics Association and making a half a dozen tweaks to the website. Im hoping we'll be there by Friday so watch this space.