Racing and Community 4

There are so many races in Minnesota now that, if you chose to run a 5K in Minneapolis on a given Saturday, it may not be the only one. The number of choices dilutes the racing population, so that you may not be racing against someone you ordinarily would race, unless you co-ordinate beforehand. Because of this, two methods have developed to get the same sub-populations racing each other: race series and teams/clubs.


In the early 1980's, most of the established races in the Twin Cities were in the western suburbs. There was a group of competitive runners near White Bear Lake, on the northeast side, and a series of races was developed that kept them running against each other. It still sort-of exists, but it fell apart, because there wasn't much to keep it going. Similarly, there was a series (and it too sort-of still exists) on the south side, in Lakeville and Farmington. The MDRA has its own statewide series - largely in the Twin Cities and it has the same general pattern as the others: one race per month, of varying distances; the MDRA series uses some of the largest races in the state, most of which have become rather expensive. There are enough people in each of these races that it's unlikely that one will interact with the same ones in several races.


In 2003, I entered a series of trail races held throughout Minnesota, of 5K to 1/2 marathon in length (and won my age class). Trail races were still small enough that one could meet all of one's competitors before or after the event. When the UMTR was being formed, I organized a series of races of 50K and 50 Miles in Minnesota and Wisconsin, as some of these were in need of entrants (a few decidedly were not) and it was a good chance for people with one particular favorite race get to meet others and try different events. Trail ultras exploded in popularity just after this and I left the management of the series when someone got involved whose only interest seemed to be marketing.


The trouble with these series is that they require one to race well at a variety of distances and over several months. Fortunately, there are now a few series of a few races over a few weeks (the Endless Summer series of trail races, for example, or the Lake Como Relays).


Teams are a second way of finding one's own people at races. Unfortunately, most teams are made of a few extremely talented runners who get free gear for wearing advertising of those who supply the gear. Clubs are much less formal and often have a much larger number of members; there are weekly runs in the Twin Cities by clubs that have hundreds running each week. These people can identify each other at races by wearing team clothes, but most frequently, they communicate after the event has been over for a day to a week; they rarely are "competing" against each other - it's more of a social support network.


What I've been trying to find a way to bring back is frequent short races, where one has an incentive to do one's best (rather than just participate) and where one sees the same people and it's possible to interact with them before or after the event. There are some efforts being made by a number of people to bring this about.


One good example of how to do things right is the NMTC fall and spring race series in the Duluth area. To get around liability insurance waivers, the races have no entry fees, but ask for a suggested donation to defray costs (I see they now have waivers for when you enter the series). The races are low-key, but competitive, and average 100-200 finishers. I'm hoping to create something similar here in the Twin Cities. If I add another post to this series, it will be of courses I'd like to see made into races.