Head Start

Race Directors HQ

Head Start is a podcast for race directors and anyone involved in the business of putting on races.

It doesn't matter where you're based or how many years experience you have or whether you're putting on a running race, a triathlon, an obstacle race or whatever. If you’ve got an interest in planning, organizing and growing endurance events, this is the podcast for you.

The focus of the podcast is twofold:

1) we bring you the latest and coolest innovations hitting the mass-participation endurance events industry, and

2) we bring you tips and actionable advice from industry experts to help you improve your race - one episode at a time.

Head Start is produced by RaceDirectorsHQ.com, an online resource platform and community network for race directors and race management professionals.

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Best episodes

Top 10 Head Start Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Head Start episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Head Start for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Head Start episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

Spotlight: Hood to Coast

Head Start

10/16/23 • 79 min

First run on a whim in 1982 by Oregon Road Runners Club president Bob Foote with only 8 teams participating in the inaugural race, Hood to Coast has grown from modest beginnings to become a huge success story. More than 40 years on, the race that has come to be known affectionately as “the mother of all relays” now attracts more than a thousand teams from over 40 countries to what is one of the most spectacular 200 mile courses from the top of Mt Hood to the Pacific Ocean.
So what’s the secret sauce? What is it about this race being able to sell out for the last 30 of its 40 odd race editions? And how is it even possible to pull off recruiting 3,600 volunteers, let alone training and managing them to a tee year in, year out with a core team of just a handful of people?
That’s what we’ll be digging into today with the help of my guest, Hood to Coast race director, Felicia Hubber. Felicia, being the daughter of the man who started it all and the person driving Hood to Coast’s expansion both domestically and overseas, has literally grown alongside Hood to Coast, having been born the same year as the inaugural event, and she’ll walk us through what makes Hood to Coast so special in the eyes of the thousands of people taking part, the appeal of the mountain-to-sea race concept, the mind-boggling complexities of putting on a relay race at this size, and Hood to Coast’s unique approach to volunteer recruitment and training.
In this episode:

The humble beginnings of the mother of all relays
Hood to coast: 200 miles from the top of Mt Hood to the world's largest beach party in 36 hours
The complexities of relay events
Team-building at relays: reunions, families, military and corporate teams
Enforcing HTC's many strict race rules
Managing 3,600 volunteers along a 200 mile course
HTC's unorthodox approach to volunteer recruitment: requiring local teams to provide 3 volunteers each to qualify
Streamlining volunteer training via online video training courses
The economics of relay racing for race organizers
Transitioning HTC to a B Corp
Exporting the mountain-to-sea concept overseas: HTC's international expansion

Thanks to RunSignup for supporting quality content for race directors by sponsoring this episode. More than 28,000 in-person, virtual, and hybrid events use RunSignup's free and integrated solution to save time, grow their events, and raise more. If you'd like to learn more about RunSignup's all-in-one technology solution for endurance and fundraising events visit runsignup.com.
You can find more resources on anything and everything related to race directing on our website RaceDirectorsHQ.com.
You can also share your questions about some of the things discussed in today’s episode or anything else in our Facebook group, Race Directors Hub.

Race Merchandise

Head Start

06/26/23 • 61 min

Selling merchandise is a great way to increase brand loyalty for participants outside race day, and, of course, a very good way to increase revenue from your event.
So, how do you get started selling race merchandise, both online, on packet pickup and on race day? How do you pick and test merchandise items that sell? And, very importantly, how do you manage inventory well to maximize sales while minimizing the risk of costly leftover items?
That’s what we’re going to be discussing today with my guest, Greelayer apparel President, and merchandising expert, Kim Bilancio. Kim has spent decades in the race apparel industry, where, among other things, she has been running the race merchandise programs for Hood to Coast and other prestigious events up and down the country.
And today Kim will be helping us get a feel for what race merchandising is, how it works, what types of events it is (and isn’t) best suited for, and how, when implemented right, it can help increase your race’s revenue, while giving your participants a piece of your race to keep, cherish and showcase year-round.
In this episode:

What race merchandising can do for your event
On-site (race day, packet pickup) vs online (registration flow, website) merchandise sales
Starting out selling race merchandise as part of your registration flow
Outsourcing merchandise sales to an apparel vendor vs doing it in-house
How small things like weather can affect merchandise sales
Guesstimating apparel sizes to order from past data and registration trends
What types of races merchandising is (and isn't) well suited for
Working on a commission vs flat-rate basis with merchandise vendors
Choosing where to set up your merch store on packet pickup and race day
Choosing products to sell in your merch store
Picking shirt styles and qualities for your store that work alongside your finisher shirt
The tech shirt vs tri blend debate
Including non-wearables in your merch offering
Including cycling kits and other specialized merch for multisport events
Printing items on-demand for registration flow merch stores
Shipping merch to participants pre-race day

Thanks to RunSignup for supporting quality content for race directors by sponsoring this episode. More than 28,000 in-person, virtual, and hybrid events use RunSignup's free and integrated solution to save time, grow their events, and raise more. If you'd like to learn more about RunSignup's all-in-one technology solution for endurance and fundraising events visit runsignup.com.
You can find more resources on anything and everything related to race directing on our website RaceDirectorsHQ.com.
You can also share your questions about race merchandising, growing your race's revenue or anything else in our Facebook group, Race Directors Hub.

How to Market Your Race in 2021

Head Start

05/31/21 • 56 min

2021 is shaping up to be a year of two halves for the endurance events industry. The first half, like most of 2020, has been an almost total write-off. The second? That is shaping up to be one of the busiest race seasons ever, with oversaturated race calendars and intense competition among events for participants making their return to racing.
So, what should you be doing to promote your race in this market? And what channels and strategies should you focus on to stand out from the competition? I’ll be getting into all that and more in today’s episode with the help of my guest, Big Run Media Managing Partner, Thomas Neuberger.
Things covered in this episode:

Lessons learned from marketing The Woodlands Marathon (sell-out event in Texas that took place in early March 2021)
How participant signup patterns have shifted towards late registration - and will remain so for the foreseeable future
Facebook ads: Do they still offer good value for marketing your race?
The rise of Instagram
The importance of race photos in expanding your race reach
Promoting your race with Strava clubs

Don't miss in this episode:

Thomas' tips for helping your race stand out among major races this fall
The one thing about your race you need to be advertising as soon as you can (hint: it's the swag!)

Thanks to GiveSignup|RunSignup for supporting quality content for race directors by sponsoring this episode. More than 21,000 in-person, virtual, and hybrid events use GiveSignup|RunSignup's free and integrated solution to save time, grow their events, and raise more. If you'd like to learn more about GiveSignup|RunSignup's all-in-one technology solution for endurance and fundraising events visit runsignup.com.
You can find more free resources on planning, promoting and organizing races on our website RaceDirectorsHQ.com.
You can also share your questions about race marketing or anything else in our race directors Facebook group, Race Directors Hub.

Supporting Female Athletes

Head Start

09/19/23 • 96 min

Racing has come a long way since the days when women were being told that running the marathon would cause your uterus to fall out. And with women now making up 54% of all race registrations in the US, according to RunSignup’s 2022 RaceTrends report, you’d think there’d be very little holding women back from racing in this third decade of the 21st century.
That, however, is not the reality for most women out there, according to today’s guest, SheRACES founder and GB team ultrarunner, Sophie Power. Whether it’s images of uniformly male start lines, lack of reasonable pregnancy deferral policies or unnecessarily aggressive race cut-off times, races still - knowingly or unknowingly - put up more visible and invisible barriers for female athletes than they should - or realize. And that means fewer women at start lines, fewer women signing up for races and fewer women thinking they belong in the world of endurance sports racing.
So what are those barriers holding women back and what can race directors do to remove them?
Well, the good news is we have a fairly good grasp of the former and some very easy fixes for the latter that in many cases require only a little thoughtfulness and little to no extra cost. Things like providing basic sanitary products for female athletes at toilet facilities and aid stations or trying harder to give female competitions the attention they deserve and female race finishers the properly fitting finisher shirt they have paid for. Simple things, in other words, that when implemented and communicated right can make female athletes feel more comfortable and more welcome in races.
In this episode:

Why inclusivity is good for business
The importance of using inclusive race imagery
How the wrong marketing copy/language can alienate participants
The effect of tight mid-course time cutoffs on slower runner participation
Using cut-off pace instead of cut-off time in race communications
Thinking harder about toilet facilities
Should race directors make sanitary products available on race day?
Offering female-fit finisher shirts
Why a lack of a pregnancy deferral policy is stopping women from signing up for your race
Could races be offering childcare support for athletes on race day?
Calling out verbal and sexual harassment in racing
Setting out race etiquette and a clear anti-harassment policy

Trail Race Safety

Head Start

06/07/21 • 79 min

On May 22nd, tragedy struck when severe weather hit the Huanghe Shilin Mountain Marathon in China. Caught between checkpoints along the 100km race course, runners found themselves exposed to hail and freezing rain at 3,000ft. When rescue teams finally reached the area, 21 people had died.
Today we're talking to Lindley Chambers: race director, first aider and former Chair of the UK Trail Running Association, about what went wrong in that fateful race and how trail race directors (and race directors of all kinds of races) can work to better prepare themselves and their events for when the worst happens.
Things covered in this episode:

Huanghe Shilin Mountain Marathon: What went wrong?
How to write a sound, common-sense risk assessment/emergency plan for your race without going overboard
Deciding on how many safety personnel you'll need
Will runners be happy to pay a premium for a safer, but more expensive, race?
Things race directors can do to better prepare participants for risks they might face in a race
Should there be more regulation and/or special certification requirements for high-risk races?
What should go into a participant mandatory gear list

References:

Why the Ultra-Race Tragedy in China Wasn’t Surprising (Outside)

Thanks to GiveSignup|RunSignup for supporting quality content for race directors by sponsoring this episode. More than 21,000 in-person, virtual, and hybrid events use GiveSignup|RunSignup's free and integrated solution to save time, grow their events, and raise more. If you'd like to learn more about GiveSignup|RunSignup's all-in-one technology solution for endurance and fundraising events, visit runsignup.com.
You can find more free resources on planning, promoting and organizing races on our website RaceDirectorsHQ.com.
You can also share your questions about race safety or anything else in our race directors Facebook group, Race Directors Hub.

[Bonus] The Space Force T-Minus 10-Miler

Head Start

04/12/22 • 61 min

What do the Marine Corps Marathon, Air Force Marathon and Army Ten Miler all have in common? They are, of course, amazing races put on to celebrate branches of the US Military that attract tens of thousands of participants every year.
Well, there’s a new race in town for 2022, set to celebrate the youngest of all military branches: the Space Force. The aptly named Space Force T-Minus 10-Miler is set to take place this December 10th at historic Cape Canaveral, and we’re going to be hearing all about it from the event’s own race director Brandon Hough in today’s star-spangled bonus episode.
So get ready for some military race history, rockets, alligators, more rockets, and some very interesting insights into working as a race director within the US government.
In this episode:

Military races: how it all begun with the Marine Corps Marathon
NAFIs and the legal structure of military races
The challenges of putting on a race inside the US government/military
The birth and mission of the US Space Force
Conceiving and launching the Space Force T-Minus 10-Miler
Mapping out a race course around historic Cape Canaveral
What to expect from the inaugural race (hint: more than rockets and alligators, although there's definitely plenty of those!)
The Sea, Air & Space Challenge

Many thanks to our podcast sponsors, RunSignup and Racecheck, for supporting our efforts to provide great, free content to the race director community:
RunSignup are the leading all-in-one technology solution for endurance and fundraising events. More than 26,000 in-person, virtual, and hybrid events use RunSignup's free and integrated solution to save time, grow their events, and raise more. Find out more at https://runsignup.com/.
Racecheck can help you collect and showcase your participant reviews on your race website, helping you more easily convert website visitors into paying participants, with the help of their Racecheck Review Box. Download yours for free today at https://organisers.racecheck.com/.
You can find more resources on anything and everything related to race directing on our website RaceDirectorsHQ.com.
You can also share your questions about today's discussion or anything else in our Facebook group, Race Directors Hub.

Mastering Social Media

Head Start

05/15/23 • 91 min

Over the last decade or so, lots has changed in the social media landscape. Facebook has gone from exciting upstart to the mature granddaddy of social media, Instagram has grown by leaps and bounds to become the platform of choice for visually engaging content, and TikTok has emerged as the new contender in the battle for social media supremacy, favored mostly by younger audiences, looking for the next cool and exciting network to join.
So, how should your organic social media presence adapt to this ever-changing landscape? Should you still be spending time on Facebook? Should you be switching to an Instagram-first mentality? And what kinds of content should you post? How often? And with what purpose?
This and many many other questions is what we’ll be discussing today with the help of my guests, digital marketing pros Leigha Pindroh of Pittsburgh Marathon organizers P3R and Alex Ross of the Denver Colfax Marathon.
With tons of practical experience between them, Leigha and Alex are here to take us from high-level social media strategy all the way down to your everyday content writing tactics, including tips on managing your content schedule, mixing up value posts with marketing content, leveraging user-generated content, as well some off-the-beaten-track stuff you may not even be thinking about, like using LinkedIn to tap into your local corporate wellness market.
In this episode:

Is organic social media reach dead?
Understanding the effectiveness of your social media posts/campaigns
The most effective social media platforms for races: Facebook, Instagram
The challenges of making it on TikTok
Promoting your race to local businesses and corporates through LinkedIn
Engaging with your audience with Stories, Reels, polls
Types of content to put out through your social media
The 80:20 rule: posting 80% value posts (entertainment, education etc), 20% sales posts
Leveraging user-generated stories and other content
Hashtags, emojis: where to use and how
Designing content with an Instagram-first mentality
Planning your social media content schedule
Productivity tools: Hootsuite, Canva, Facebook Publishing tools

Thanks to RunSignup for supporting quality content for race directors by sponsoring this episode. More than 28,000 in-person, virtual, and hybrid events use RunSignup's free and integrated solution to save time, grow their events, and raise more. If you'd like to learn more about RunSignup's all-in-one technology solution for endurance and fundraising events visit runsignup.com.
You can find more resources on anything and everything related to race directing on our website RaceDirectorsHQ.com.
You can also share your questions about social media, digital marketing or anything else in our Facebook group, Race Directors Hub.

Race Trends 2021

Head Start

02/07/22 • 60 min

When you want to know what’s happening and trending in the endurance events industry by the numbers, where do you turn to? Well, for me and many people I know, the definitive source of event data for the industry is, and has been for some time, GiveSignup|RunSignup’s annual RaceTrends report.
The report leverages GiveSignup|RunSignup’s extensive registration data from almost 60,000 events to point to trends in event participation, event pricing, participant demographics, marketing effectiveness, technology adoption and a myriad other things.
The most recent edition of the report was out just last week, and the data does seem to point to a strong, but partial, recovery from 2020, with some numbers starting to converge to 2019 pre-pandemic levels.
With me today to discuss all the numbers, the trends and their implications for individual events and the industry as a whole I’m delighted to have GiveSignup|RunSignup’s own, Johanna Goode. Johanna is the driving force behind many great things coming out of GiveSignup|RunSignup, including the ever-improving annual RaceTrends report, so she is just the person to walk us through the insights and recommendations coming out of the 2021 numbers.
In this episode:

A return to normal? What 2021 registration rates are suggesting for market recovery and 2022
Event attrition/churn through the pandemic
The impact of event cancellations/postponements on participant loyalty, and ways to mitigate it
Repeat participation numbers and trends
Participation by event type
The rise and fall of virtual races through 2020-2021
Participant demographics by gender, age, event type
Solving the lagging Millenial/GenZ participation puzzle
Registration pattern shifts (are participants registering later than usual?)
Event pricing trends, and the effect of price increases on registration rates
Mobile adoption trends
Facebook, social media and participant acquisition breakdown

*** To download your free copy of the RaceTrends 2021 report go to: runsignup.com/trends ***
Thanks to GiveSignup|RunSignup for supporting quality content for race directors by sponsoring this episode. More than 22,000 in-person, virtual, and hybrid events use GiveSignup|RunSignup's free and integrated solution to save time, grow their events, and raise more. If you'd like to learn more about GiveSignup|RunSignup's all-in-one technology solution for endurance and fundraising events visit runsignup.com.
You can find more resources on anything and everything related to race directing on our website RaceDirectorsHQ.com.
You can also share your questions about about the numbers in today’s podcast, registration trends or anything else in our Facebook group, Race Directors Hub.

DIY PR & Mastering Earned Media

Head Start

01/10/22 • 77 min

Public relations (PR) is an integral part of running a successful brand and business. It is the art of communication and storytelling. It’s about appealing to communities and stakeholders, forging relationships with media and playing the marketing long game.
Yet, as my guest today - PR pro, Meg Treat, of Treat Public Relations - rushes to acknowledge, it often gets a bit of a bad rap.
Well, hopefully we’re going to be challenging those perceptions for you today, with a really insightful take on public relations, earned media and the power of storytelling, that definitely opened my eyes to the vast opportunities events can unlock through a thoughtful and carefully implemented PR strategy.
In this episode:

Public relations: what it is about and how it relates to your work as an event owner/director
Paid vs shared vs owned vs earned media
The importance of securing media exposure for free (=earned media)
How every race is intrinsically newsworthy and can have a story to tell
Understanding newsworthiness and unlocking/developing your race's unique story
Leveraging newsworthy topics: human interest stories, event milestones, brand partnerships.
Distributing your story/content through online and offline media outlets
Deciding when to send out (and when not to send out) a press release
Writing engaging press releases: quotes, the inverse pyramid approach, calls-to-action that work
The four ways of mining media contact information!
Crafting effective cover emails to journalists for increased media outreach success
Understanding journalist lead times and planning your PR content accordingly
Inviting media to your race using media alerts
Post-race press releases
Being your race's spokesperson: making yourself available for interviews and how to conduct them successfully

Resources:

Meg's media alert template/example & press release template/example for race directors: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/jzw8jv0qr21xfmd/AACdD1sj72NhEf3RMJk-jjaAa?dl=0 (make sure to listen to Meg's audio intro in the folder)

Thanks to GiveSignup|RunSignup for supporting quality content for race directors by sponsoring this episode. More than 22,000 in-person, virtual, and hybrid events use GiveSignup|RunSignup's free and integrated solution to save time, grow their events, and raise more. If you'd like to learn more about GiveSignup|RunSignup's all-in-one technology solution for endurance and fundraising events visit runsignup.com.
You can find more resources on anything and everything related to race directing on our website RaceDirectorsHQ.com.
You can also share your questions about public relations, earned media or anything else in our Facebook group, Race Directors Hub.

Building a Race Series

Head Start

11/08/23 • 79 min

Building a race from the ground up, as anyone who’s done it will know, is a tough business. But what about planning, coordinating and growing a whole series of races, all with a common theme and brand identity?
How do you finance and grow multiple races from scratch? How do you choose when and where to launch a new race? And how can you make use of local delivery partners to deliver new races on a budget, while ensuring your quality standards and vision are adhered to?
That’s what we’ll be discussing today with my guest Sam Heward. As the co-founder of Ultra X, the multi-stage ultraramathon world series, Sam has been at the forefront of one of the fastest-growing race series concepts of the last few years, and with his help we’re going to be taking a deep dive into the benefits and challenges of setting up a race series from scratch, including the constant strive for brand consistency, the process of cross-pollinating ideas and small successes between events, and some of the difficulties of coordinating equipment, staff and sponsorship sales across multiple event locations.
In this episode:

Spotting gaps in the endurance event market
Putting together a business plan and testing the waters
Developing a brand that matches the race series' values and mission, and sets it up for long-term success
Finding your race series' unique selling proposition in a crowded market
Growing a race series through repeat participation
Engaging with your audience through multiple channels year-round
Outsourcing event planning and operations to local event delivery partners
Using registration fees to bootstrap growth
Learning and iterating faster with multiple similar events around the year
The challenges of negotiating series-wide sponsors across multiple regions

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FAQ

How many episodes does Head Start have?

Head Start currently has 84 episodes available.

What topics does Head Start cover?

The podcast is about Marketing, Triathlon, Running, Podcasts and Sports.

What is the most popular episode on Head Start?

The episode title 'Carbon Neutral Race Production' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on Head Start?

The average episode length on Head Start is 73 minutes.

How often are episodes of Head Start released?

Episodes of Head Start are typically released every 14 days.

When was the first episode of Head Start?

The first episode of Head Start was released on Apr 20, 2021.

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Head Start

Race Directors HQ

Top 10 Head Start Episodes

FAQ

How many episodes does Head Start have?

What topics does Head Start cover?

What is the most popular episode on Head Start?

What is the average episode length on Head Start?

How often are episodes of Head Start released?

When was the first episode of Head Start?

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