What Makes Races Successful?

[Andrew Gardner]

We all have favorites- as I speed towards another year of Middlebury Carnival, I'm curious about bits to add....what makes a really successful race?

[Marshall Greene]

Two simple and yet often overlooked aspects of a great ski race:

1. Enough bathrooms. No one likes to miss their start because their waiting in line, nor do people like to miss their warmup, miss testing skis, etc. Indoor bathrooms are an added bonus.

2. Quick and accurate results. How many times have you stood around waiting hours for results? The longer you wait, the more you start to wonder if they're correct. And then when organizers post one set of results only to take them down to make corrections, you have no faith at all. This has happened at the smallest local race and at National Championships so don't feel like I'm singling anyone out here.

Ok, so these two don't by themselves make a successful race really. In fact, this might be the most superficial of answers. And to some degree, they are sometimes a bit out of the organizers control. But on the other hand, they are both very important and NECESSARY to have a good race.

[Eli Brown]

warm buildings

[Eric Nevalainen]

I'm going to have to say volunteers. From the people standing out at the food stops freezing their butts off, working the gate, registration, setting up the course, grooming, etc, volunteers are very often the critical component in running a successful event.

[hallsey]

lots of middlebury swag as prizes

[Barret Dunbar]

the best races have well set trails on decent snow, really good organizers and VOLUNTEERS

[Luke Siebert]

Communication- its great to know whats going on when. If there are delays, its great to know about it, and why.

A couple years ago I was going to the Rumford JOQ from Jackson, NH. I woke up early, checked NENSA.net for an update on the conditions and race status, and they said it was a go as of early that morning. So we went. Drove an hour and a half, got to Black Mountain and found it abandoned. They had called off the race between 7:30 and 9 without being able to tell anyone about it. Not fun at all, 3 hours wasted when I could have been skiing on the good trails in Jackson.

So- communicate with the racers and volunteers, make sure everyone knows whats going on.

[Harrison Harb]

free food

[jcork]

A banging sound system, a la Spring Gulch, is always nice ...

Seriously, in order:

1) Good grooming
2) A realistic schedule, and a race day that is kept on schedule
3) Power for waxing (which won't shut off when four irons are plugged in)
4) A somewhat sheltered area to wax -- doesn't have to be indoors, but definitely not just a field
5) Staff/volunteers that understand that racers might need to warm-up and coaches need to test on the course, and that we're smart enough to not interfer in a race. (No disrespect to all the excellent volunteers out there.)
6) As mentioned: Quick, accurate results
7) Coaches' meetings that last maybe 15 minutes (unless there are ample growlers of the local; then it can go longer)
8) Did I mention good grooming?
9) Local schwag for participants and winners
10) Some of that world-famous Middlebury chili

[jcork]

Yo, strike that -- those are all things which benefit coaches and racers. C'mon -- we're suckers; we'll show up regardless. I think that you should concentrate on making the race successful in regards to creating a spectacle.

If I were promoting a race, I'd be looking at:

+ Short, multi-lap courses and mass-starts
+ Easy access to places of interest (i.e. groomed spectator trails). Houghton and SoHo do that well; Hermod's is a hard hill, but it's [sort of-famous] because if you die there, everyone will see
+ Good announcers giving on-course updates
+ Cheap coffee/energy drinks/bake-sale goods. Yeah, that's cheesy, but I've spent a lot of money at the Salcha bake sale in my day
+ We're limited in junior/college programs, but a beer garden raises mad money and also contributes to ...
+ Rowdy specators -- attracted by promotion in whatever media you can con
+ Music and/or a bunch of noise-makers. I don't care if it's a CD, a drum circle or a bunch of cowbells -- if you bring a race through some sort of cacophony, everyone will remember it
+ Bonfires and/or warm buildings

Basically: Think the Holmenkollen.

[Right now, I'm thinking someone could promote the hell out of some races at Chester Bowl ...]

[Eric Pepper]

I'm with Cork minus the cow bells, they kill me.

[jcork]

A valid point from Pepper.

Cowbell as shrill, Norwegian-style cheering = Banned
Cowbell as Blue Öyster Cult-esque percussion instrument = OK

[Jonathan Rova]

Chester bowl could be like the mini, mini-me of Holmenkollen. Ski jumps, plenty of access to trails, plenty of opportunity for cacophony and potential for rowdiness, lots of old Scandinavian ladies to bake and brew coffee. Center of a good population base. I think the whole town is set up for a weekend of races. A sprint, a relay, a pursuit, maybe even a derby, all in three days. But Chesterkollen has it all, even, more cowbell.