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We have an EagleEye photo finish system for timing track meets, and it was very good for the price. Don't know much about their new RFID system but will look into it and report back in a future issue...

COMPLETELY disagree here. I direct 2 dozen+ events each year, and all courses are marked using spray chalk. The only problems I have had have come during some winter events where snow/sand obscure...

I use a sandbag used to weight down soccer goals. Seems the schools/parks & rec department always seem to leave at least one a season laying around after they put away the equipment. Can't beat that...

I think for a Series to be successful the races have to be scheduled over a relatively short time frame.

Here in SW CT there are 3 extremely successful and long running series. I direct one in the...

Sounds about right, but you have to subtract the number who have snuck off to the woods/bushes to do their business.

Throwing this out to wiser minds than mine for advice:

Sunday the 2nd race (15 km) of 33rd Boston Buildup Winter Series is scheduled her in SW CT. We got about 4+ inches of snow last night, roads...

I was timing a Thanksgiving 5 km today. After the race the director (who was in her first year and not a runner) asked, "If everything in this country is measured in miles, why do we have 5 km...

I haven't printed a paper entry for an established event in close to 5 years. All advertising is done via website & email blast to 4,500+ runners, and all registration is online. I won't even mail an...

Tom's suggestions are all excellent. One thing to make sure of is that you post the signs indicating the alpha breakdown (A-G, etc) HIGH so that people can see which line to get in. I was at a NYRR...

Doug, please let us know if you find anything out from them. I've emailed the Czech company that supplied these to the Prague race for their manufacturing source.

http://www.rrm.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=1&pictureid=1
This is something I saw for the first time at a race at the Hervis Prague Half Marathon in March. This is a brilliant idea, IMHO. In the...

http://www.rrm.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=1&pictureid=1
This is a brilliant idea, IMHO. In the space of one PortaPottie you have a structure that will accommodate 4 times as many runners (if...

True dat.

On another note, anyone have any experience w/ HydraPouch/HyrdraPour?

http://hydrapouch.com/

Looks pretty neat, and the thought of eliminating or greatly reducing paper cups is...

They're called "sachets" and are quite common in parts of Europe (generally the Spanish-speaking countries), South Africa, and South America. The advantages are no spilling, sanitary (no handling by...

I've made a big effort to get runners to recycle their pins & bibs after the race - we've made announcements and signs, and put out collection bins, but I've found the only effective way is to have...

Something I saw at the Prague Half Marathon last month was free-standing urinals. Basically a 3-sided pedestal about 5-6 ft. high, w/ urinal fitting on each side. There were small "wings" to provide...

I've directed a series of winter races for 3+ decades, and given the weather in New England, have had to postpone a number of times (last year 2 of the 4 events were rescheduled). Three of the races...

I've directed the Boston Buildup Winter Series through 32 CT winters, and over that time we've had to postpone several races (last year, though, was the first time we ever had to postpone 2 events)....

In other ways than cold-calling. A website, listing in RRM, etc. are all good, as is word-of-mouth. There are several periods in the year (spring/fall/Thanksgiving) when there are more events on the...

Remember to watch your cones, especially if you have 2 or more races going on at once!

From Dave Monti at Race Results Weekly:

Wow, that brings back (not so good) memories. A local running store still has the 2 or 3 they bought back in the 80s. What a pain - always seemed to run short/out of paper @ the worst time. But what...

The HS athletic dept. probably has dozens they'd let you use, perhaps for a small donation to their booster fund. Just be sure to clean and get them back by Monday's practice sessions.

I've thought of numerous physical punishments, but most of them run afoul of existing laws.

Thankfully, the introduction of transponder timing has virtually eliminated the problem, at least from...

Just as most marathons prohibit runners younger than 16 or 18 from competing, I believe there should be rules protecting equally young people from being forced to direct races ;)

To answer your...

In addition to race directing, I also have a screen printing business. We never cold call people - we seem to have enough business from word of mouth.

That said, maybe feign enthusiasm and ask...