I would like to put together a neighborhood 5K fun run/walk around St Patrick’s Day and am looking for some pointers for those that may have done something like this before. Here are a few details:
This is in the Alexandria/Fairfax county (Virginia) area.I already have a course mapped out. It is entirely on the residential streets in my neighborhood. There is no way to avoid some steep hills unless I do 1/8 loops.I am just trying to do something fun for the neighborhood and would like it to be free, so I will not have a budget for t-shirts or prizes.I want this to be a fun and annual event.
Concerns:
The neighborhood association is hesitant to endorse this.
The neighborhood association does a great job putting on parties and other social gatherings throughout the year that where alcohol flows freely, this event won’t involve alcohol.
I obviously want this to be safe, but there will always be a risk of someone turning an ankle or tripping and injuring themselves. I obviously don’t want to be sued.Would I be required to shut down street and/or hire police officers to block traffic? During Halloween, there are a lot of kids/adults on the streets (at dark), my proposed event would be during daylight hours.
Again, I don’t have a budget and wanted to keep this free.
Thanks.
I’ve participated in a lot of races and have given this a lot of thought, but have never organized something like this.
I should be able to recruit some of my neighbors to volunteer.
If you want this to be a formal/organized event, there is going to be some cost/bureaucracy involved. Typically the local police department will look at the race route/plan when you apply for a permit and determine what policing resources are required (vs. what you can do with volunteers). I’ve never seen the police not require at least some presence, so find out what that’s going to cost you right off the bat in your planning.
The low cost option is to do it in a park or trail area where there is no vehicle traffic.
You are also typically going to need liability insurance that names whatever municipality does the permitting as an additional insured.
Thanks for the advice so far. This is just an idea that I thought would be fun and healthy to do that doesn’t focus around drinking. I wanted to keep this simple and low stress, but it seems like this can get very complicated.
If I were to advertise this as a “I am going for a run, if anybody else wants to join me, they are free to” type thing, would that change the need for police/permit/insurance?
You are also typically going to need liability insurance that names whatever municipality does the permitting as an additional insured.
See if there are any local running clubs that host events. They may have an RRCA license which your event could be covered in their blanket insurance plan…or be tacked on at a low cost.
You are also typically going to need liability insurance that names whatever municipality does the permitting as an additional insured.
See if there are any local running clubs that host events. They may have an RRCA license which your event could be covered in their blanket insurance plan…or be tacked on at a low cost.
This is a great idea. You may also want to try to get the neighborhood board to step up and sponsor the event. That way, it might fall under their insurance plan. It’s fairly cheap to get an event added onto a general liability policy. It’s much more expensive to get a separate policy for a single event.
There’s nothing like trying to organize event to make you never, ever complain again about having to pay twenty or thirty dollars for a 5K.