What happens when race directors collaborate

When it comes to races, a wise and seasoned runner (Malcolm Pain) told me that the competition should be between the runners, not the organizers. He’s right. Over the last year, Nova Scotia’s four largest marathons (Blue Nose, Johnny Miles, Maritime Race Weekend and Valley Harvest) have collaborated. (And might I say, our economy has seen the rewards!)We meet once a month to discuss obstacles, share advice and brainstorm how to improve our road races. We even volunteer at each other’s events.

This year, we’re organizing a water station for the Blue Nose Marathon. Each race director has their own way of doing things, so I went to their water station training this week to get everything just right. Bonus: I learned three new ideas to incorporate into my own race. These are new tactics that I’m planning to adopt:

1. Use old plastic signage to hold layers of cups at water stations instead of sheets of cardboard which sags in wind and rainy conditions.
2. Use a long wooden spool to stir the Gatorade (we’ve been using big plastic spoons, but it’s been hard to reach the bottom of the jug).
3. Make a group thread in WhatsApp for water station leaders to communicate where the bulk of runners are on the route.

Even after five years of being a race director, I continue to learn from my peers when I volunteer at other events. (Clearly it’s never too late to teach an old dog new tricks.) Maritime Race Weekend trains water station volunteers through a fun video, so it was interesting to see how Blue Nose approaches training. Plus I couldn’t help but notice their impressive instruction manual. After attending their water station training, I’m also going to beef-up our handout. I have to say that using their layout map design would be a big upgrade to what we currently provide for instructions.

Nova Scotia is fortunate to have a signature event like Blue Nose Marathon. I’m constantly amazed at the amount of detail and logistics involved with their race. Their passionate team works tirelessly twelve months of the year to ensure Halifax has a world class event and I’m proud to contribute a tiny part as a volunteer on race weekend.