Over the past five years I have either organised or been part of the organising team for around 30 open races. Yet despite ensuring that race packs go out on time, the course is well marshalled, there is plenty of water, results are produced in a timely fashion, first aid support, good pre/post race facilities are available etc I have never achieved 100% in the "Organisation box" in the Runners World ratings.
I have also attended races that didn't provide all of what I consider to be the critical organisational factors (those that I have mentioned above) and yet they have managed the coveted 100%, so what do you the runners want?
Comments
there is no easy answer to the question Wrinty - those that aren't giving your races 100% must think there is something not quite up to 100% but that will vary I am sure form runner to runner
I've never done a race I would give 100% to.
They NEVER have enough toilets!
I suppose it's because there's so many little things that go into getting a race to run smoothly and if even one goes slightly wrong, people will remember it and mark it down a little. To get 100% that would mean absolutlely everything has to be spot on which would be pretty difficult. If you get people consistantly rating it at 4 out of 5 then I'd be pretty satisfied with that, to be honest.
Having said that, of the 7 or 8 races I've done so far I did give the last one I did full marks for organisation, which was the Lee Valley 10K. I can't think of anything that went wrong, easy parking right next to the start/finish, started on time, friendly marshals at every junction, results out promptly etc. There was even enough toilets!
I'll make a note of that one Sheddy! It'll be the first race that ever did, in my (considerable) experience.
Depends what you think is "enough", I suppose.
I don't consider queing for 15 minutes to be acceptable, and I certainly don't think there are enough if the start has to be delayed to allow all those waiting to 'go' as happened earlier this year!
Well, I think there were about 15 or so, which was more than I've seen at similar sized races. When we used them about 20mins before the start we didn't even have to queue and while there was a bit of a line later I never noticed it getting particularly long.
The race started bang on time too which is usually a good sign everyone has managed to go who needed to.
The problem is that everybody wants to go right before the start. If you have 1000 runners and 500 of them want to go in the last 10 minutes then how do you handle that? Do you order 50 toilets costing several thousand pounds and putting up the race price by £2 per runner, thereby losing you entrants because you're too expensive? Or do you order less thereby keeping the price down and hope that the runners will start to queue in time so that they can all be done in time for the start? It's all a balancing act, and the same event will get you praise on having enough toilet facilities and criticism for not having enough.
Sometimes being an organiser can be a thankless task, even though you know its perfect someone will find a fault with anything in the slightest.
Re organisational 100%, I have done a few that should rate that but they tended to be either quite small (East KIlbride half, dumbarton half) and so they impress because you're not expecting great things or enormous (i.e Glasgow half or London marathon) and like Wilkie - it ALWAYS comes down to the toilets and the car parking.
It's fine to have people queuing a little longer so long as the race doesn't start before the queue ends - and have a marshal or organiser keeping the toilet queue informed.
(if you want to know how to organise a race badly then just do a big race in edinburgh - they have done SOOOO many things badly when I have been racing there).
We have order more and more toilets each year and there is always a queue (mainly ladies the blokes go in the bushes)
Its getting to the point where Portaloos are a major expense and prices will reflect this in future, each year we send out with race instructions details of parking we are lucky that we are town centre, plenty of parking
As a race director you must balance profitability with quality of service to the customer/entrant so lavs are important as is parking
I seem to remember massive lines of people at FLM so it effects all races I suppose
This is my race
http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/events/viewevent.asp?sp=&v=2&EN=45756
!
The Paddock Wood half had a huge number of runners, and a large number of toilets. There was a queue, but because there were plenty of loos, it went down quickly. That was the best race for toilets that I've done recently. If they can do it without charging huge entry, so can anyone.
Organisers could maybe consider a 'porta-urinal' for the gents? I saw them at the Tour de France event in Hyde Park a couple of years ago. They save the blokes having to queue for a pee, and that makes the queue shorter for those who need a cubicle.
I also tried using a female urinal recently. It worked very well, and I'd use one rather than queue - but I can't see them catching on.
It would probably hurt if it caught on and would hardly help your running gait ...
I've only done one race (Edinburgh marathon) where there was a porta-urinal but it can make a big difference to the loo queue. Just make sure you put really obvious signs to it, so the blokes don't stand in the queue until they finally get to the front and realise it's there.
In Paris they solved the problem a different way, all the blokes just weed everywhere!
I'm happy to pee in the bushes if there are some , but in city races there usually arent!
The major problem seems to be that race organisers use equal amounts of loos for men and women when women take longer so really they should have more loos - blackpool half was a case in point - huge queue for the ladies no queue for the mens (I just went in the mens in the end ), but it was still a great race so the loo thing doesnt ruin a race for me...
More important for me are nice marshalls, starting on time and speedy results
It could be hard to get full points because people are sometimes more likely to leave feedback when they have something negative to say?! I'm sure this is not always the case with runners but can be apparent in other areas eg those leaving feedback on hotel/trip websites.
Plus, 100% suggests perfection - perhaps people who grade less can think of one or more small improvements that would be possible and therefore a "perfect" score isn't awarded.
Orienteering races often have a mens urinal wall which tends to work well. They never split mens' and womens' portable loos as this just leads to empty toilets with people waiting. The loo question is tough because they are very expensive and as mentioned here, they are used constantly for a short period of time, then very little for the remainder. In an area where there are fewer bushes and other concealed "natural loos", it's definitely important to have more.
I'd rather pay less for an event and queue for a "reasonable" time, ie up to 5 minutes. That said, it's pretty stressful if you're in a loo queue and you should be warming up or getting to your start position. I don't envy organisers who have to make the decision!
Not seen a 100%, 100 % event but these two must be close..
98%, 99% Mick n Phil
96%, 98% Hogweed Hilly