Franchising Road Races

An article from runningtimes.com

Road Races Undergo Franchising Boom

Does national branding help or hurt local racing communities?

By Jim Gerweck

As featured in the June 2010 issue of Running Times Magazine

Runners might be among the most individualistic of athletes, and their sport tends to reflect that, especially in the competitive venue of road racing. Not only are there seemingly infinite choices of distances, especially if you're in a tradition-bound area like the Northeast, but the level of sophistication and organization of said races exhibits an almost equally wide variance. You can run everything from highly professional events with chip timing, overflowing expos and goody bags, and signage and entertainment to rival a Super Bowl or World Series, all the way down to local fun runs with little more than a start line chalked on the ground and a few volunteers with popsicle sticks and a stopwatch at the finish.

Such variety provides the spice of our racing life; most of us have entered at least one mom-and-pop race because we were in the area on business or vacation, or because the entry form looked cool, and come away putting it on our list of top-10 lifetime runs. But just as you can have the most incredible meal at some dilapidated roadside diner, it's possible to experience the running equivalent of ptomaine poisoning in a race with a mismarked course, no water stops, and messed up results that take weeks before they're posted--if ever. That may be an acceptable risk if it's a low-key event in your hometown, or a race you're entering just to get in a group run in a strange locale, but not if it's one that requires a considerable investment of time, energy and funds, like a marathon halfway across the country.

Travelers often opt for the bland yet safe familiarity of McDonald's. In the same way, many runners have begun looking for events that offer some race-experience familiarity and consistency, even if that means sacrificing some uniqueness. This attitude has become more prevalent as the racing ranks are swelled by beginning runners. For many of them, the act of covering the distance is challenging and exciting enough; they have neither the need nor the desire to seek something unique that more experienced competitors might want.

Read on here.