"Men vs Women" challenge

[Nico]

Hello,

331 runners participated to our 2010 half-marathon in France.

We have prize money (equals for men and women) : 1st > 300 €, 2nd > 200 €, 3th > 150 €, 4th > 100 €, 5th > 80 €, 6th > 60 € and 7th > 40 €. No prize money for best performance. The results of the winners were 1h07'19 for men and 1h21'02 for women.

Next year we will have 500 € more to attract elite athletes.

I think prize money for best performance will not attract better athletes. An half-marathon near to our tested it and the results of the winners were not as good as ours.

I think it would be better to organize a "Men vs Women" challenge like Los Angeles Marathon. Elite women will start before men and women who don't run the challenge. A 500 € bonus will be add to the 300 € prize for the one who cross the line first. The first will earn 800 € and better athletes will be interested by such a prize.

Few questions now :

- Is it ok to calculate the interval between men start time and women start time by comparing best year results of the three best registered men and women ?
- Will women not be disturbed by the fact they will run alone, without men near to them ?
- Is it ok to tell that only women who run the challenge will perhaps earn money even if the result of a woman who will not run the challenge can be better ?
- Under which best year results can we authorized women to run the challenge : under 1h30'00 ?

Sorry for my bad english :-(

Thanks,

Nico

[JamesM]

I don't know what the goal of your race is. To me it seems strange to be offering that much prize money, going so deep, for such a little race.

I think making it a fun event, and promoting the event so people want to come and run it will grow your race better than prize money. We have some local races where there is no prize money at all, and we have thousands of people. It does help that we are in a city with lots of people around.

Most people in a well intended race have no expectation of placing in the prize money. Therefore what you give, or what gimmick you use for the elite runners makes no difference to them coming at all.

It is not the first 20 runners who make a race, it is the 2,000 who come behind. Unless you are running some form of elite only event for TV, which is a totally diffrent sort of thing, more like a track and filed event on the road, I think you are looking to grow the race in the wrong way.

We give deep prizes in all age groups in two year age groups up to 20, then five year age groups through to 75. We also try to make sure the event is a lot of fun, including good food and music after the race while waiting for the results and prizes. Our events mostly start in early morning and everyone eats breakfast after the race.

95% of the people who come are not elite, think nothing about the elites and don't know or care what you give the elite runners. But they do hang out eating and drinking during the prize giving because we raffle off a lot of stuff based on their bib number. Running shoes (coupon from store), running socks, Starbucks gift cards etc.

If you want to seriously grow your race numbers you have to grow it from the back end.

If you realy want to make your 1/2 Marathon a men v women competition, make it interesting for ALL your competitors by starting ALL the women 15 minutes ahead of the men. You have a small enough filed for this to work.
In a regular race most of the start at the back of the pack and get progressively left behind by their faster boyfriends and husbands. By giving them ALL a head start it would make your 1/2 marathon diffrent.
It would make the mens' race interesting, to run down and catch each of the women in turn.
It would make the womens' race interesting, for they get to see some of the good looking fast men as they run through, and they can see if they can, for once, cross the line ahead of their man.
Don't make it a money thing amongst the elites, just make it FUN by starting all the women 15 to 20 minutes early with clear intention that the first women will cross the line first.
You can't do this with a large filed of many thousands but with a smaller filed like yours it would work well. Before the men start instruct them to say good morning and offer worlds of encouragement to each of the women they catch and overtake. Remind them that this is part of good sportsmanship.

Make sure there is a good post race party so that the crowed, fun, food and beverages are is still there when the later arrivals finally finish. Make sure your finish is a nice place to hang out for a while. Spend your extra money on a band, food and beer.

[Nico]

Many thanks JamesM for your answser.

Our event is 6 years old. We organize it in a little town of 8,000 people and quite far from big cities. Every year runners said they like our event very much but it don't grow as fast as we would like.

Our goal is to have more runners. We are searching ways to attract them.

I think these 500 € will be used to do a lotery or to have more music bands. But we will do a "women vs men" competition like you explain it, just for fun.

Thanks,

Nico

[Trailrunnerdude]

making a race fun or interesting can help, but one important way to grow participation is to advertise. You may need to put some publicity in running-related magazines and websites and get it sanctioned by your regional or national governing bodies such as the federation francaise d'athletisme (www.athle.com). As for prize money, this is absolutely essential to attract top-quality talent and achieve notoriety for you race. If you want to have a separate start for women, I would limit it to the 20 fastest or 20 elite female runners. Otherwise, you will end up in a situation where the male runners are going to be impeded when they begin to catch the slower female runners. This could create complaints for you and problems with your federation. Most other races that do this limit the number of women who start early. A good example of a successful women's start is the Credit Union Cherry Blossom Ten miler in Washington DC.