I’m Race director for an olympic distance race in my hometown. The race is put on by Set-upinc who if any of you are familiar with them run triathlons in the Southeast about as smooth as anyone. We have a great local committee that at times makes me feel like a name on a piece of paper for USAT sanctioning. Not a bad deal at all. The problem I’m having is I want to do the race. It is my hometown, my family and friends will be there. What do you people think about RD’s competing in the race they are directing? If anyone knows where USAT stands on this issue that would be great, also. Set-upinc has told me to go for it, but a committee member and another RD for the local half IM think other wise. Any advice or opinions would be great! Thanks…
“What do you people think about RD’s competing in the race they are directing?”
Your call, but what happens if you are needed for something important while the race is going on. It’s not like they could easily identify you on the swim or quickly find you on the bike course. The RD has taken on certain responsibilities that could make doing the race a bit of a conflict. I guess the exception would be if you have a strong support team and can delegate, but it still probably wouldn’t sit well with many of the competitors.
I have to disagree with C’guy on this one. While I agree that you could be needed, a good (and willing) support staff can take care of most things once the race has started. As a competitor, it would not bother me in the least. You have no advantage, you still have to cover the same distances and chances are you’ve been too busy to train. A really well thought out briefing with your number two would be in order before the race though and maybe pick up a pager in T1 to reach you in an emergency.
J
i don’t see any element of gray here. you are either the RD, or you are a participant. there are a thousand areas of reasoning behind this.
not knowing your background as either i won’t offer those specifics unless asked. even if USAT were to say it is okay…it is not.
does not matter how large the supporting cast may be. you are either running the show, or running in the show.
I don’t see a problem with it…I beleive Vigorito of Tricolumbia has done the very race he’s RD’ed.
Just make sure you put a competent co-RD in charge while you’re gone.
Once you agree to be a Race Director, I think you have to go with the “Captain of the Ship” concept. You might have a stellar crew, but if the ship hits a rock, all anyone is going to care about is where the captain was at the time.
You could probably get away with it 99 times out of 100 with out any serious consequences but the 100th time you’ll end up in a world of trouble.
I’ve never run a triathlon but I have put on age group swim meets. USA Swimming and YMCA Swimming have very specific duties and responsibilties for a meet director. I’d bet USA Triathlon has the same.
You might want to look into whether you can formally transfer your duties for the day.
I think the key issue is what your raceday responsibilities will be versus those handled by Bill or Jeremy from Set-Up. If they are “in charge” on race day and most of your roll has been securing permits, organizing the local police, getting volunteers etc. (things done prior to the race) then race. If however you will or conceivably could be expected to oversee some things during the race, don’t race.
Which race is it?
The race directors I know seem to put in grueling day without racing. It may be mental, rather than physical but a hard effort just the same. Your family and friends should come out and support you as RD. That should be enough for the day.
I can understand the temptation – after all you’ve put your heart into this event and want to experience what you have “built”. However, there are too many reasons not to race it. The RD wears many hats throughout the planning and execution of the event. Even with all the support you have for every explicit task, the RD still has an implicit responsibility to enhance the event in every possible way until the job is done. You are more valuable to the event on race day if you are not racing.
If your second in command (2ic) can take over race day leadership duties and be point man, then perhaps doing your own race is not such a bad thing. It will let you see first hand what is good and what is bad about your own event. You’ll see it from the eye of the participant, who happens to be your customer and it will give you a first hand account of the 10-100 items that need to be improved for the next year. Again, the only way to do it is to essentially shed your RD hat on race day and pass it to the 2ic. Once you are done, you can take over the 2ic role (don’t try to take over being the general on the battlefield cause you won’t know where the battles are being fought).
I know for one, Graham Fraser raced in several of his events in Ontario years ago and he also raced Ironman Florida as president of Ironman North America. As an athlete first and an RD second, he has been able to use his personal experiences in his own events to up the quality of his offering. I commend him for that. Again, the key is to have the right team running the show on race day. Based on your post and the track record of Set-Upinc (I rraced Duke Half Ironman last Sep), it should not be a huge issue !
Dev
From a complete outsiders perspective, it appears you have 2 camps of responses, and both have a different perspective on what a RD does. Specifically what a RD does on race day. Having never been to a Tri before I have no hesitaion in asking.
What are you RD obligations? That should help clear up the picture.
An RD competing in his own race is a complete conflict of interest. I have seen firsthand how bad this can be. I competed in a tri series for years and the RD raced almost every race. He was a fairly good triathlete and would win some of his own races and he did not like to be beaten. I don’t want to create drama so I’m not going to get into the details but basically if you happened to beat the RD there were times that unfair things happened to you…it’s a conflict of interest to begin with and when someone (the RD) who is really competitive is making the calls- unfair things can happen.
I’ve seen a particular race director I know do a lot of his own races; as a top elite, no less. It’s never bothered me at all and I’ve never heard anyone complain about it. And the races pretty much always run smoothly because he has a great staff. Most of us show up on race morning to have fun at a well run race. If we do “compete,” with others in any way, its friendly competition against a few people we know. So, IMO, I see neither a conflict of interest nor a lessening of the overall race experience due to his participation.
I went back and edited out the name of the RD… I don’t think its necessary to name names either favorably or unfavorably here.
They will only complain if you win…
Support Crew
The fact that you question it enough to post it means you see enough inherent conflict so as not to do it.
Thanks everyone for the respones. I think the responses are pretty much right on with my feelings. Conflicted! I know that I need to be the one in charge and that is what I will be doing. Participating in Tri’s got me the experience to be asked to be the race director in the first place. I can miss one race as a participant and give back to the sport I love and make it the best race I can. In response to an earlier post, the race is the Festival of Flowers Olympic distance in Greenwood SC. As RD, anyone in the Southeast looking for a great venue on Lake Greenwood for an Olympic Distance race bring it on. I will be there cheering you on and trying to give you the best race possible! Thanks
I think if you agree to run up that last hill at the finish line 20 times before the race began, you should be allowed to race!
Seriously steep mutha’, that hill! Hopefully, I’ll be able to do this race again this year, it is a very well run event.
BTW, I’ll be at the Lake Murray race this Sunday…looks like it will be wetsuit-legal, too, which is fortunate for me, as I’ve been stuck working WAY too much and not swimming enough to be comfortable in my first open water swim of the year. Are you doing this one?
Titan,
I would love to run up that hill. I will be at Lake Murray also. The weather looks to be perfect. I did clemson last week. Glad to be back in open water instead of a pool. Hope to see you there. I've got a P3 SL and I will look out for you.......Good luck