Stay away from any race that’s pompous enough to claim to be the “First Annual xxxx”

Go to races put on by a local running club that has a good reputation in the city, for they have the know how and volunteer base to pull off a good race.
If a local club that does 6 to 8 races a year puts on one more, thats fine, do the first one.

If a professional race management company with a very good track record adds a race, fine add it to your calender, but if it’s your xxxx league, and this is their first stay well away.

There are lots of first race horror stories: Races that don’t end up coming together, don’t have the permits on time, don’t have enough experienced volunteers, don’t have enough bathrooms before the race, don’t have enough water on the course, or don’t even have a course that is the right length.

There are so many ways to totally mess it up, from confused registration to having to being unable to produce timely and accurate results.

The ‘Streakers’ are only legends in their own minds. If you want to be taken care of by a race, try volunteering at some of the other races put on by the same group. In turn they will probably comp you for the race you want to do.

Volunteers deserve and get recognition.

With our club anyone still around at the end of clean up gets a late breakfast at the IHOP on the club. If you volunteer for more than 3 races in the year you get a free Christmas party, personal praise and a gift from the club like a blanket embroidered with the club logo, jacket or something similar.

On the other hand, if you want instant recognition carry a pizza box, on one hand, all the way through the marathon, while wearing a funny costume. (There are some that do, I get to see the guy training with the pizza box).

If you want to be a streaker, run naked. If you want recognition volunteer. If you want a good race experience go to a well run race put on by a running group with a good track record.

Half Marathon. Photo by Hugo Nanni.Blaine concludes this month’s series on fitness-related things you can do locally with a look at finding a local inaugural race. A good read (NB : the term ‘streaker’ has a very different meaning in….

Still, while there is no doubt that you need to be careful with inaugural races, I think that the rewards justify the risks. Just practice due diligence.

But I think if you followed your list then it may be less likely to happen. I know that this was a pretty rare thing, it has just scared me a little about inaugural races. If a reputable group is putting it on then I’d probably still run one!