The local 5K is the new yard sale!
Have a bake sale instead.
I have over the last few weeks been contacted by multiple race directors of local 5K races. Some are established some are brand new. They all want help. They want our club’s time and consulting energy. They want to borrow our stuff, attach their event to our insurance waiver, email our registration list and plumb our networks for capable volunteers.
Doesn’t anyone know how hard it is to pull off a local road race? News Flash! There is no money in it folks. You should take your enthusiasm and energy and just start calling people asking them for donations for your charity. Leave the race part out of it. You will gross many more times the amount of charitable contributions than trying to generate it through a local race.
I don’t hate your charity. I think your charity is a wonderful cause. Unfortunately pulling off a local road race is a labor of love, not a financial windfall. You may even lose money! There are easier ways to get a couple $k for your charity. It’s expensive. Even if all your volunteers are unpaid, it’s still expensive. Understand that it is expensive to buy 200 t-shirts, water, food, timing, porta-potties, tents – the list is long. They all want to get paid.
Are you planning on using a local school for your HQ? Are you planning on running on the public roads? You are going to need permits and for permits you will need insurance waivers. Understand that the police and the local officials will expect to get paid. If your event is on a weekend they will want overtime in large blocks.
Do the math with me. You get 200 runners at $20 per head. That’s $4k. Let’s say your t-shirts are $4; that’s $800. Leaving $3,200, which is ironically what the police detail may cost you.
You say that you will get sponsors to cover everything? Great! What about the other 30 races this time of year that are already asking your local supermarket for water and food donations? Folks – look at the race calendar. You can’t swing a dead cat without hitting 10 local 5K’s on every weekend between September and November.
Have a bake sale or a car wash instead. Unless there is something unique about your offering you’re just taking money from some other local race and some other local charity. Think hard on this. I know the barrier to entry seems low, but the competition is fierce and there is only so much charity to go around in the local racing scene.
Is it a road race or a charity? You need to decide. It’s a difficult line to walk and it’s hard to be both.
What is different about your race? (‘We support xyz charity’ isn’t a good answer)
What is your new race adding to our community that we didn’t have before?
What are your top three selling points?
Draw a 10 mile circle around your starting line. That is your market. Are there any other similar races within that circle, plus or minus 30 days? If so you will be competing for revenue, participants and sponsors. Is that really what you want to do? Maybe your charity can put their charity out of business?
Am I wrong?