Tripped up by police yet again

[Veteran Runner]

A word of advice to those new to race management and a reminder to those who should know better.

Very few races in the northeast are on completely closed courses so staging events on completely open or partial closed roads is very common.

In spite of the title of this thread, the problem I'm going to describe was not the fault of the police.

While police are the best option for traffic control you should never rely on police to:
* manage your runners on the course by having police tell runners where to turn or not turn as the case may be.
* be the lead vehicle in a race unless there is someone else in the vehicle who absolutely knows every inch of the course.

Yes the police know the town and the streets but most often they do not know the exact course and as often as not will follow the traffic cones even if they have not been placed properly.

You can tell the lead vehicle where the course goes, give them a map but maps are often hard to read and so no matter what the officers have be told they will not be as wired into where the runners need to go as will a savvy volunteer.

Relative to traffic control, police are there to stop and redirect traffic and can not be expected to be watching where runners are going (or not going) when their focus is on traffic. Often traffic is unruly and drivers are upset, and cars often attempt to move when the police don't want them to, SO the police are watching cars, NOT runners.

There is a 4 way stop sign intersection which as become busier over the years so the race hired another police officer to direct traffic at the spot.

In prior years there was just a race volunteer at that spot. The volunteer coordinator (not a runner) thinking that the spot was covered by the police did not assign a volunteer there. This is one of the best volunteer coordinators I've worked but she had not run into this issue before.

I was out of state until race day so I hadn't known about the last minute addition of the officer at the trouble spot, but even then my role on race day didn't have me involved with where the potential issue would hit my radar screen. (assuming I would have even noticed the blip on the screen myself. I wasn't the RD btw, just helping another RD who has help me for years.)

The runners are supposed to go straight at this point in the course but when the officer pointed to a side road to tell some drivers they could go there, a pack of runners (none of whom knew the course) thought the pointing was for them and they turned and went way off course.

Just before that spot the road comes around a gentle corner so the next pack didn't see the runners turn and they went straight, either because it was logical or that pack leader had run the course before.

I always recommend that every police officer have a volunteer with them, a volunteer whose job is to watch and direct runners.

I also recommend that some form of ground markings be placed before and after turns for those times when no volunteer is present.

Any why might a planned volunteer not be at the turn?

Many reasons but the worse reasons are that you pulled them off their planned assignment to do something less important in the scope of the race.

Things like helping a slow shirt line and other things that seem like a thing to do but were a WRONG choice. Runners will forgive a slow shirt line but won't forgive bad course management. Every non-course thing you try to be accommodating about within an hour of the start of your race will increase your risk of screwing up your race course.

Is the mile one clock more important than a missed turn?

Having too few people at a water stop isn't good but it is better than having runners go off course.

Even delaying the start of a race while announcing that you need time to get a volunteer to an important turn is preferable to having runners go off course. Runners will accept safety and course control delays.

We have so many races around here that bad course management stories happen almost every weekend. It doesn't have to be that way, though the tendency for races to be so many other things beyond running does present tons of distractions during a very fast-closing stressful time window on race day morning.

[JimG]

As I stated during my presentation on course design and layout at RRM last weekend, it is absolutely IMPOSSIBLE to overmark a course - runners will get lost in a closet. You should have multiple directional systems in place - painted arrows, roadside signs, volunteers - and the last are the least dependable and potentially biggest source of SNAFUs.

Your point is well taken - runners will forgive most anything, but going off course (or, almost as bad, running a course that is an inaccurate distance) is a mortal sin for a race.

[Veteran Runner]

[QUOTE=JimG;1852]As I stated during my presentation on course design and layout at RRM last weekend, it is absolutely IMPOSSIBLE to overmark a course - runners will get lost in a closet. ...............QUOTE]

I have lots of hot buttons and the course is certainly a hair-trigger one for me, so it is with great embarrassment that I'll ask if there is anyway I can get your notes from your presentation.

My embarrassment is that I was there at RRM but an extremely slow INTERNET connection at the hotel caused me to miss your session. My real job is a consulting business where the majority of my customers have 7 day a week operations and I wasn't able to finish a number of open issues in a timely fashion.

After my morning run that day, logging on to their systems was worse than the dial-up connections of years ago. Where I am right now my connection is always in excess of 12,000 bps. The connections at the hotel was 285 to 400. I almost didn't make the session after yours as I walked in during the speaker introduction.

The rest of the story on Sunday's debacle is that I flew back Saturday night specifically so I could be at the race described in my previous message.

The race is two distances, a 10 miler and a 5K. Both follow a course that looks like the letter "P" with the start/finish being at the bottom.

Both fields of runners have to turn right as they get to the middle of the P and the 5K runners have to go straight back to the finish after they do the loop.

The 10 milers have to turn left after the first loop to do a 2nd loop, and then go straight on the final loop.

At the turn we have an officer and cruiser and I'm there with my sound equipment to direct runners. As you can imagine my message gets complicated later when the slower 5K runners/walkers mix with the slower 10 milers and fast 10 milers.

This year they threw me a curve and didn't have different bib number ranges for the events so often I did not know which (distance) speech to give as runners approached. I try to give individualize service [smile]

I had to recruit a volunteer to stand just after the turn to help the deaf headphone users verify whether they were going the wrong way. My sound system is crystal clear but the headphone user's claim that "I can hear everything that is going on around me." is pure unadulterated BS for many of them.

For me, I'd let them go off course or miss the turn for their distance but then they wouldn't own up to their own culpability and give the innocent RD grief about their own mistake. And we need inspired RDs way more than we need some self-absorbed runners.

This year I brought some extra signs which were at waist and overhead height and two signs that the volunteer after the turn held as a double check for runners after they went straight.

All this is positioned on the course just before the curve beyond which the runners got confused by the officers actions. The "best laid plans" as they say.

The good news is the race raises a large amount of money for cancer research, a nice 5 digit number for a race of less than 1000 runners.

[Trailrunnerdude]

In prior years there was just a race volunteer at that spot. The volunteer coordinator (not a runner) thinking that the spot was covered by the police did not assign a volunteer there. This is one of the best volunteer coordinators I've worked but she had not run into this issue before.

Not to sound too harsh, but this volunteer coordinator should not have assumed that this spot nor this function would be covered by the police. More importantly, this example underscores one of the least-publicized difficulties in dealing with race organizers - the discounting of course logistics and course marshals. Too often, people from entities such as charities, but also some running clubs, who want to put on a race don't realize the importance of adequate signage, course markings and people (marshals). In some cases, these people even disregard recommendations about these functions as if the RD is crying wolf.

[JamesM]

Two true, the course is job #1. Even if the timing system goes down, the shirts do not arrive, the food blows away and the heavens open, all will be forgiven so long as the course, from the start to the finish line is intact and the runners stay on course.

One should always assume that a police man, even when on paid special duty, can be pulled away at any time if there is a real emergency.

The statement "SO the police are watching cars, NOT runners" is so true. They don't have eyes in the back of their heads and are already dealing with traffic coming from at least 3 different directions.

You can't over cone a course. We use LOTS of small cones in addition to any full sized road cones that may be needed. The road cones are for cars, to keep them away from runners. The smaller cones or disk cones are for runners to show them the turns and direction.

Most the off course runners that I have seen are either becuase of an off course lead vehicle or because of a reliance on the idea that the police, in addition to their duty to manage cars, will also direct runners. (While facing the other way).

When helping out with local races that are not "our" races, I have found one of the most useful things one can do is get on a bike, and go down the course in advance of the race and just check that the police and volunteers on each junction know:

• Which way the runners will be going? - (What direction they are coming from and what direction they exit the junction)
• Which lane are the runners going to take when exiting the junction? (which side of the cones?)
• What time they are expecting the head of the race to come through?
• How they intend to arrange the cones when the race advances?
• What are they expecting to see? (Front runners, wheel chair or lead car)
• I also ask, once the race is coming through, in what direction will you redirect the traffic?

Often they are miss informed about at least one issue. Frequently this is the most important issue, which direction and lane the runners will take when exiting the junction.

Some times they mistake the lead car, if it's a police car, for just a supervisor who has come to check up on them, and so don't quickly move to block the road. Informing them of the order of battle, the order of the head of the race helps them understand it when it's headed their way.

This conversation is best carried out from a bicycle, becuase you can draw up along side a cop who is standing in the middle of the junction, or quickly dismount and walk over to them. It is a lot more difficult from a car becuase you have to find a place to park, get out and walk over.

From a bike you can check that water stops are ready, volunteers are on post, and cones ready to be deployed in the correct formation. It's easy to talk pull up and talk directly to the people who will do the job.

I recommend having lead bikes at the head of the race, AND one or two trouble shooting bikes in advance of the race, manned by experienced people who will recognize a problem, have the authority to fix it on the fly, and ask questions as they travel down the course.

[hillrunr]

So true. As long as runners are not led off the course, nearly everything will be forgiven. Course management has to be the top priority, no matter what else happens.

I totally agree that you can't overmark a course. The best markings are those which also give the runners advance notice. One race I have run that does very well in this regard begins painting arrows on the street a half block before a turn, has signs up before the turns, and has cones around the turn. In addition to that, they have volunteers at all of the turns directing runners. They even mark several cross-streets where you go straight just to avoid confusion. Nothing is left to chance.

A comment on marking. As RD, you know your course very well. Instead of thinking as RD, go out on the course ahead of time and imagine that you don't know the course. What can you do to make it crystal clear to everyone? Again, there is no such thing as overmarking but undermarking is common.

Also, something that has bothered me at times as a near the front but rarely in the front runner. Don't think a pace vehicle/bike will solve all your problems. The pace vehicle/bike will get the leader and anyone within sight through the course correctly (assuming the individual in charge of this has gone over the course before race time and is 100% certain of the course). Often, though, there will be large gaps between runners toward the front of a race. It's common for runners in the top 10-20 in smaller events to have nobody in sight in front of them. They are on their own out there and they can lead a lot of others off of the course if you don't ensure they can follow the course. When marking a course, always assume that there is going to be someone in the race who can't simply follow the person in front of them.

[JamesM]

I agree that coning and marking are #1, and with regard to the comment
".. often there will be large gaps between runners toward the front of a race. It's common for runners in the top 10-20 in smaller events to have nobody in sight in front of them."

This is why a group of bicyclists makes a much better race lead than a car, becuase one or two of them can drop back to fill gaps and lead the second, third or other groups when larger gaps appear in the race.

Bicycles are silent, emit no fumes and are good company for runners. They are far superior leaders to cars or motorbikes.

From a bike I have:

• Jumped off to re-position displaced road cones
• Checked volenteers know what they are meant to be doing
• Charged ahead to get errant cars of the course
• Started split clocks
• Moved slower runners aside when faster runners come through on a two loop course
• Rendered simple emergency services
• Told other riders to drop back and lead secondary packs
• 'Corked' cars that attempted to access the course
• Jumped off to direct traffic
• Accompanied the last runner all the way home

On a longer race, having a trailing bike following the back of the race allows you to tell people if there is still people out there. The trailing bike gives the water stops permission to pack up, and prevents the crews removing cones, clocks and markings from getting head of the back end of the race. Pick some one with a sunny disposition who will enthuse the people a the rear, having a friendly chat with them, not have them thinking he or she is breathing down their necks.

[hillrunr]

I'm also a fan of pace bikes instead of vehicles for many of the reasons you mentioned. If multiple pace bikes is an option, that's a great way to use them. I've seen it done (correctly) a couple of times and it's been very helpful (note: it doesn't help to have 3 bikes with the leader and none dropping back to lead the others - make sure the people on the pace bikes understand this concept and know when to drop back). However, even when doing that, I'd still stress that one shouldn't assume that there will be nobody on the course essentially running blind, only relying on course markings. My theory when marking a course is simple: even if you have a pace vehicle or bike and even if you have people directing the runners at every intersection, mark it as if the runners will be completely on their own to figure out where the course goes.

[Cannon]

Our event runs on a paved trail so bicycles are the only lead vehicle option, save maybe a golf cart. But even if I had the choice, I would still use bikes and if I ever had the chance to be a lead runner, I think I would prefer to have bikes rather than motor vehicles.

When the last entrants are walkers in a full marathon, the trailing bicycle becomes a bit problematic. Maybe a volunteer to walk the back of the pack, compensated by a free entry?

[Trailrunnerdude]

When the last entrants are walkers in a full marathon, the trailing bicycle becomes a bit problematic. Maybe a volunteer to walk the back of the pack, compensated by a free entry?

I agree, the person on the trail bike will have a hard time staying on it because of the slow pace if he/she tries to stay behind the last participants. I would suggest using a bus to follow them. This way, if they abandon or if the police decide to open the roads back up they can get on the bus instead of being stranded on the course.