Monday, May 14, 2012

Race Interview: Mike Coulter, Race Director Cottonwood Classic

Tho-Run: This is the 17th year for the Cottonwood Classic. You don't stay around that long without a great team effort. Describe the organization in place to host the event.

Race Director, Mike Coulter:
We utilize a lot of key part-time recreation staff from the City of Thornton that are very organized and professional. I think they take pride in doing a good job at this event and have a great time! BKB has been a great partner also and the scoring has been problem free over the last several years (knock on wood!).

Tho-Run: The course is flat which makes for some super fast times. But you also draw lots of families and walkers. Why do you think Cottonwood is so popular with all types of runners and walkers?

Race Director, Mike Coulter:
We started an “Elementary Schools Division” in 2004 designed to encourage kids to get into running and practice a healthy lifestyle. Typically a teacher or parent volunteer from the school will organize a running club to train for our event and we give them a discount on the entry fee. In 2011 we had 16 schools enter with a total of 524 participants! Awards are given to the fastest coed team of four and to the schools that get the most participants.

Tho-Run: Lots of races have post race drawings, but Cottonwood really has some great sponsors for both drawings and goody bags. That takes a lot of work by a lot of people. How have you managed to get such a great response from so many businesses?

Race Director, Mike Coulter:
 Really one person, Pam Rieger! She is a part-time staff member at our Recreation Center and spends months soliciting give aways and prizes.
Last year we had a record 53 merchants donate a total of $25,941 in various items for our goody bags and post event prize drawing.

Tho-Run: Runners are always looking for competitive races. It helps that you have separate start times for runners and walkers. Is that something you've done in the past or a recent change?

Race Director, Mike Coulter:
We’ve done that for as long as I can remember. Just last year we did separate the schools division to have their own start. We’ve also always been committed to the race walking community and have offered this division. This year we are part of the Colorado Runner Race Series and in 2010 we were named the “Best 5K” by readers of Colorado Runner Magazine. Online registration is at http://www.runningguru.com/ and walk-in registration is at the Margaret Carpenter Recreation Center, 11151 Colorado Boulevard or Runners Roost, 1685 South Colorado Boulevard starting May

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Interview: Race Director Cliff Bosley Bolder Boulder


Tho-Run: Cliff we are less than a month before the Bolder Boulder. What’s more exciting-the race itself or all of the work leading up to it-work that is going on right now?

Cliff Bosley: So it kind of depends on the day and what we are doing (laughing). I used to be able to run and be able to work. The guy I used to work for who was the race director, he would let me run and work. That was fun. But the one year he said you have to make a choice, you have to work or run. And without hesitation, I decided to work. I like the pre-stuff. I like the preparation, the planning. In the less than a month mode we are executing on our planning. Registration is up and running. We just about ten days ago opened our 29th street store for registration. That’s great! Yesterday we were boxing up about 2500 shirts for the eight satellite races that are taking place over across the Middle East on eight different air bases that are going to run a satellite Bolder Boulder. And in the next two or three weeks we will be nailing down all of the professional athletes who are going to come and race. And so that’s a quick overview of all of the things that are happening.

Tho-Run: So speaking of registration do you ever look and the numbers and think, wow this is a huge number 50 to 55,000 runners and walkers depending on how close it is to race day. Do you ever look at the registration and think, what is the number going to be this year? Do we change anything up, or do we continue on with the plan?

Cliff Bosley: It is a bit of both. There is a plan and we want to continue to work the plan. Part of that plan is looking at numbers and not just to look, but for forecasting purposes,  Because if its off, we need  to say how many shirts do we need? Are we off a little bit or do we need to maybe order more in the final days? It’s those kinds of things. We may have as many as 1,200 people on race day sign up. We still get a lot of people who register on race day, most of it is weather dependent but we like to know where we are. So we are looking at numbers each day and comparing them to previous years.  Do we have enough lunches? Do we need to order more? We try to be as close to accurate as we can be.

Tho-Run: There are so many things that are impressive about the race. One of them is that last year there was a course change. I ran the new course a couple of times in the last week or so, and I like the changes. But part of the changes were a result of looking at ways to facilitate better traffic flow on race day with the buses and cars and all of the runner drop offs. Talk about some of the feedback you have received from folks on the change.

Cliff Bosley: The course change in 2011 was probably our biggest course change since the 1981. That was the year we moved the finish line from Boulder High School, that was 1980, and in 1981 we moved to Folsom Field at CU. So that was a long time in coming and a big change for us. You are exactly right the change was to be able to put the start and the finish in closer proximity to one another. And it was for to accommodate more people but also those who are coming to race. We wanted to make the experience of getting to the race, parking and finding your wave and then getting back to your car from the stadium a bit easier. So that some of the comings and goings of traffic, separate bus drop offs and car drop offs were easier to manage. For example you can now park at the stadium and jog to the start for a warm up. Or park at the start and use the jog from the stadium as part of your cool down. But because of that we think its better for the 50,000 plus folks who show up on race day.

Bolder Boulder less than four weeks away...