Organising a charity race. Advice needed

sheiln3

Hi I'm looking to get advice about how to go about organising a race for charity. I am hoping to hold a 10k. Where should I start? How much does it cost for chips/start finish post/insurance/tee shirts/advertising,etc. As it would be for charity we would be hoping to race as much money as possible. Any advice from people who have organised raves would be great. Thanks.

sheiln3

No I have no experience in organising an event. That's a comprehensive post. Thanks for the link.

rom

sheiln3 wrote: »

No I have no experience in organising an event. That's a comprehensive post. Thanks for the link.

You are probably better off advertising it as a fun run rather than a road race so.

You don't want this to happen to you http://corkrunning.blogspot.ie/2012/04/racce-noticeras-bothair-5-mile-race-sun.html

http://corkrunning.blogspot.ie/2012/05/photos-of-ras-bothair-5-milesun-29th.html

If you say it is a fun run then it won't be expected to be done to the same level of organisation that people would expect of a road race be it for charity or for profit (which is not really important to the serious runner going for time or position). You need to be clear and up front. If you are going to have it properly timed etc.

Personally I would not like to organise any event without some experience in it first. No reason why you can not look for similar events in your area contact them and ask to help out to gain experience on what is involved and then make a decision about it.

Burgman

sheiln3 wrote: »

Any advice from people who have organised raves would be great.

This might be the wrong place to be asking.

Burgman

Actually, this question has been asked before and you would do well to read these links:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=77525392

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=64641371

When you have done that, you might spend a little bit of time considering whether you should use a race as a fundraising opportunity. What makes you think that you can make a profit from a race if you have no idea of the costs or efforts involved?

sheiln3

Thanks for the replies. Having no experience is no reason not to do it. Everyone who organises a run/race started somewhere. As for the rave it was an obvious typo considering the rest of the text. Thank you for the links and replies. It will be more a fun run than serious race. A run/race seems like a good option as a fundraiser as there is no race in my area meaning it is not an over utilised event ran for charity. It also creates a good atmosphere and fun in the town on the day. We are hoping to do this for a suicide charity and we don't want it to be a serious taboo event like the reason were fundraising. A similar event in my county last year raised a significant amount of money for a different charity.

ecoli

sheiln3 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. Having no experience is no reason not to do it. Everyone who organises a run/race started somewhere. As for the rave it was an obvious typo considering the rest of the text. Thank you for the links and replies. It will be more a fun run than serious race. A run/race seems like a good option as a fundraiser as there is no race in my area meaning it is not an over utilised event ran for charity. It also creates a good atmosphere and fun in the town on the day. We are hoping to do this for a suicide charity and we don't want it to be a serious taboo event like the reason were fundraising. A similar event in my county last year raised a significant amount of money for a different charity.

Due to the current running boom and the kinda revenue that can be generated over the last few years the race calendar has become somewhat oversaturated and as such many people have increased their expectations of what.

At the end of the day you are competing with other charity events, commercial races as well as athletic club organised races further afield than the local vicinity which is why it might not be a bad idea to try and get some experience at already established races in order to try avoid common pitfalls which can have a major impact on your revenue potential. For every successful race you see there are 2 or three which have failed and ended up not commercially viable

RayCun

sheiln3 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. Having no experience is no reason not to do it. Everyone who organises a run/race started somewhere.

A lot of them start by helping out at other races and learning the ropes:).

We don't mean to be unfriendly, but it gets a little wearying to have runners thought of as cash cows for every fundraiser, and a race something that can be just thrown together because "sure it's only a bit of fun"

rom

.

RayCun

okay, maybe you do mean to be unfriendly :pac: