Organising a race

fjw

Can anyone tell me is it necessary to get A.A.I approval when you are organising a road race .

pconn062

Necessary? No. Advisable? Yes.

MrCreosote

Just curious- what does AAI approval offer that makes it advisable?

pconn062

MrCreosote wrote: »

Just curious- what does AAI approval offer that makes it advisable?

As far as I'm aware (from my own limited experience of being involved with race organisation) a race can only get a AAI permit if a club is involved with the organisation, either as a main organiser or by applying for the permit on behalf of the organiser. And usually when a club is involved with a race, the chances are that it will be better organised and the course will have been properly measured with a Jones counter (I think this could be mandatory). But the rules with regards to permits are to be overhauled from what I understand, now that there are so many races on the calender and so many permits being granted, clubs will be given first choice with regards to date selection and no other competing races will be allowed to be held within a certain distance in the same weekend (or something to that effect).

robinph

You will need permission from the Gardai though if you are going to be running on roads, and they will probably charge you a hefty fee based on the numbers and therefore how much road closures or personnel might be needed.

fjw

The A.A.I charge 100 euro for up to 1000 entrants and 250 if there are more ,the insurance they insist on is about another 250. There isn't much left for charity if you have to register with aai

RayCun

fjw wrote: »

The A.A.I charge 100 euro for up to 1000 entrants and 250 if there are more ,the insurance they insist on is about another 250. There isn't much left for charity if you have to register with aai

Organise a pub quiz.
If you're trying to save money by not getting insurance, I don't want to go anywhere near your race.

fjw

You were fairly quick to assume we were trying to save money on the insurance,if you are able to read, my original question was to do with the necessity to register with the AAI. Only a fool would organise a road race without insurance.

RayCun

And you complained that the AAI insists on 250 euro of insurance.

You want to raise money for charity, fine.
But why are you picking a road race as your means of raising money? You don't appear to want to do it properly.

fjw

I am from a town of 15000 with a fledgling athletic club (affiliated) we decided a road race would be a good way to raise money for charity and give our club some exposure. I am very surprised with your attitude and your willingness to judge. There is enough begrudges and knockers out there, I thought this forum is here to help and support other members especially those that are trying to promote athletics and tackle obesity. Maybe I caught you on a bad day or are you always this judgmental

fjw

I am from a town of 15000 with a fledgling athletic club (affiliated) we decided a road race would be a good way to raise money for charity and give our club some exposure. I am very surprised with your attitude and your willingness to judge. There is enough begrudges and knockers out there, I thought this forum is here to help and support other members especially those that are trying to promote athletics and tackle obesity. Maybe I caught you on a bad day or are you always this judgmental

pconn062

fjw wrote: »

I am from a town of 15000 with a fledgling athletic club (affiliated) we decided a road race would be a good way to raise money for charity and give our club some exposure. I am very surprised with your attitude and your willingness to judge. There is enough begrudges and knockers out there, I thought this forum is here to help and support other members especially those that are trying to promote athletics and tackle obesity. Maybe I caught you on a bad day or are you always this judgmental

Unfortunately there are now somany races being organised purely with the intention of raising money for charity, and a lot (not all )of them have no permit and are badly organised and provide very little in the way of value for the runner. Organizing a race is very tricky and unless you have someone with previous experience of doing it and all the avenues involved, then there are much easier ways of raising money for charity. Here is an example check list of everything needed to organise a race. Now while it is a very comprehensive list and you don't need to think about everything on it, it gives you an idea of what's involved.

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

Personally speaking, as there is now such a wide selection of races on the calender, I tend to avoid races that are not AAI sanctioned.

fjw

Thanks for the link, it is just what we needed.You have restored my faith in this site!!!!!

rom

pconn062 wrote: »

I tend to avoid races that are not AAI sanctioned.

+1

Timmaay

fjw wrote: »

I am from a town of 15000 with a fledgling athletic club (affiliated) we decided a road race would be a good way to raise money for charity and give our club some exposure.

To be honest just because you are an athletics club, and not a random charity group/local GAA team etc doesn't mean that you's will have the knowhow, and experance to organize a race (which in fairness you probably appreciate by the sound of ya!). What I would strongly suggest is you go get the help from people in another nearby athletics club, who do have experience of organizing races.

I've organized countless races myself, not nearly as easy to make money on them as it might appear (especially in the 1st year of one, no reputation, and almost inevitably come up again countless obstacles that end up limited competitor numbers). My 1st experience as a race director was the unbelievable fun of getting handed the role 3weeks before a big enough 5k afew years back, On hindsight I was totally out of my depth ha, the race was a decent success in the end, but I sweat looking back at some of the stupid mistakes/oversights that were made which only lady luck resulted in a disaster being averted on ha!

250quid for 1000+ competitors.......trust me, you DO NOT want 1000+ runners to showup at your very 1st race!!! Anything above 500 and you are into lots of traffic management/road closure issues, course congestion, registration queues, complex startline setups to segregated athletes of different abilities.

fjw

Thanks for the reply! I understand the work that goes into organising an event of this magnitude that is why I was looking for advice and pointers. I just felt that ray cun automatically thought the worst. Maybe I got him on a bad day (hopefully) but that attitude is part of the reason this country is finding it hard to crawl out of the mess it is in. Ie say no and judge before you have all the facts. Thanks again and I will contact my nearest ac,which is 35 miles away

RayCun

:pac:
or maybe the problem was that people got in way over their heads with 'great ideas' and created a horrible mess :pac:

Timmaay

Sorry I probably didn't make the point clear in my last comment, If I were you I'd just apply for a normal 100quid permit, and offically limit your race numbers to 1000 max (which in fairness you are unlightly to hit), how much of a crowd you will get for the race is a total unknown but unless you do serious promotion (1000s of fliers through letterboxes, lots of radio/paper advertising etc etc which will all cost money), then its a safe enough bet that the numbers will be less than 500.

fjw

Ray ,out with it what is your problem .you come across as being a stuck up so and so that is just using this forum to knock people's ideas and pontificate to others

Hard Worker

Most County Councils won't permit a road race unless you have a permit from the Governing Body, and rightly so in my opinion.

Hard Worker

fjw wrote: »

Ray ,out with it what is your problem .you come across as being a stuck up so and so that is just using this forum to knock people's ideas and pontificate to others

RayCun is one of the most helpful people on the ART forum. You seem to have got a bit narked because he gave an opinion, one which I also agree with.

fjw

yes I got narked but that was because he was so quick to assume we are cowboys out to make a quick buck where in fact we are in this for the long haul.when we have the race up and running maybe ray will be our guest of honour,don't worry we will have full insurance and may even be AAI registered.i will buy him a pint if he is not happy with our effort.
Just one question ( I'm nearly afraid to ask) in the AAI rules is it true that only AAI members can run in approved races ,because we want to get everyone we can to run and maybe enjoy it and hopefully join our club.is this rule enforced

rom

Hard Worker wrote: »

RayCun is one of the most helpful people on the ART forum. You seem to have got a bit narked because he gave an opinion, one which I also agree with.

I totally disagree with you. Its the AR forum now

pconn062

fjw wrote: »

yes I got narked but that was because he was so quick to assume we are cowboys out to make a quick buck where in fact we are in this for the long haul.when we have the race up and running maybe ray will be our guest of honour,don't worry we will have full insurance and may even be AAI registered.i will buy him a pint if he is not happy with our effort.
Just one question ( I'm nearly afraid to ask) in the AAI rules is it true that only AAI members can run in approved races ,because we want to get everyone we can to run and maybe enjoy it and hopefully join our club.is this rule enforced

No, anyone can run in a permitted race. It's only some championship races where only AAI members can compete.

Hard Worker

fjw wrote: »

Just one question ( I'm nearly afraid to ask) in the AAI rules is it true that only AAI members can run in approved races ,because we want to get everyone we can to run and maybe enjoy it and hopefully join our club.is this rule enforced

What kind of club is it?
The AAI / IAAF rules state that their members cannot run in non permit events. Perhaps that's the rule you mean? Therefore, if you organise a race without a permit, any AAI member would leave themselves open to suspension. It's very rarely enforced though. However, I think if someone from my own Club organised, or assisted with the organising of a non permit event, the Club would probably suspend them. Most clubs have a serious dislike of non permit events.