Resources · Checklist

The race organizer’s checklist.

Everything below is standard practice — the things veteran race directors, city special-events offices and running organizations broadly agree on. It's the checklist we wish someone had handed us before our first event. The first phases are open below — the rest, and the printable PDF, unlock with four quick fields, right on this page.

Prefer it as a PDF for the planning meeting?

Foundation

12+ months out

Decisions made here are the ones you cannot cheaply change later. Everything below flows from date, distance and course concept.

Pick the date — and check it against every other event within driving distance
Race calendars, school schedules, city events, and the weather history for that weekend. A great race on the wrong date is a small race.
Fix the distance(s) and whether you'll offer more than one
Draft the course concept and drive it
Note every intersection, rail crossing, bridge and pinch point now — each one becomes a permit conversation later.
Set the budget with a 15–20% contingency line
Form the core team: race director, course, volunteers, medical, finance
Establish the legal entity (or fiscal sponsor for charity races)
Open the conversation with the city's special-events office
They will tell you the real permit timeline, which is longer than the published one.
Get liability insurance quotes — most permits require proof of coverage

Permissions & partners

9–12 months out

The long-lead-time items. Every one of these is controlled by someone else's calendar, not yours.

Submit permit applications: city, parks, police, and DOT for any state road
Bind insurance and issue certificates naming the city and venues as additional insured
Book the timing company
Good ones are gone 9+ months out for prime weekends.
Engage a medical director and agree the EMS plan with local providers
Open registration — even a simple page captures early demand
Get the course professionally measured and certified if you'll advertise the distance
Certification is what makes 'marathon' a fact rather than a claim.
Start sponsorship outreach with a real deck and real numbers
Reserve start/finish venues, staging areas and parking

Course & people

6–9 months out

The event starts becoming physical: who stands where, what gets built, what gets ordered.

Finalize the traffic-control plan with police — every closure, every officer post
Open volunteer recruitment
Plan roughly one volunteer per 10 runners across the whole operation; recruit more than the model says you need.
Plan aid stations every 1.5–2 miles, each with a captain
Order shirts, medals and awards — 12+ week lead times are normal
Plan toilets: a common rule is one unit per 75–100 runners at the start
Book rentals: barricades, cones, tables, tents, generators, radios
Map marshal posts: every turn, every merge, every open intersection
Order signage: mile markers, turn arrows, 'road closed', spectator wayfinding

The plan on paper

3–6 months out

If it only exists in your head, it isn't a plan. This is the phase where the event becomes transferable to other people.

Write the communication plan: channels, who calls what, escalation order
Decide now how a marshal reports a runner down — not on race morning.
Write contingency plans: heat, lightning, wind, no-show volunteers, course breach
Assign volunteers to posts and publish the roster
Lock the elite/seeded field and bib assignments
Confirm finish-line build: structure, timing mats, chute, medical tent position
Publish runner instructions: parking, packet pickup, corrals, gear check
Walk the full course with the police commander and note every disagreement
Schedule packet pickup venue and staffing

Race week

The last seven days

Nothing new gets invented this week. Race week is execution of decisions already made.

Mark the course: mile points, turn arrows, cone lines
Stage equipment to aid stations and checkpoints
Brief every captain — course, medical, aid, finish, parking
Test radios and the phone tree; publish the final contact sheet
Reconfirm police, EMS, timing and toilets in writing
Watch the forecast and pre-agree the triggers for each contingency plan
Run packet pickup
Load-in per a written schedule with names attached to every task

Race morning

Before the gun

The checklist gets short and hard: verify, don't assume. Every 'probably fine' is a mile-9 surprise.

Sweep the full course for overnight hazards and missing signage
Check in every marshal — a post you didn't verify is a post that's empty
Confirm every aid station stocked and staffed
Confirm medical in position with clear access routes
Test timing mats with live bibs
Station lead and sweep vehicles
Open corrals and run the announcement schedule

During & after

Gun to teardown

The race runs on awareness; the aftermath runs on records. Both depend on what you can see and what you wrote down.

Track the field: lead vehicle, sweep, and the gap between them
Log every incident as it happens — time, place, who responded
The after-action review is only as good as the record. Memory reconstructs; logs report.
Resupply aid stations from the roving vehicle
Reopen roads on the rolling schedule agreed with police
Post results and handle timing disputes at a named table
Sweep the course — confirm the last runner and the last cone are both in
Thank volunteers and sponsors by name, within the week
Hold the after-action review while it's fresh; write down next year's fixes
Reconcile the budget against actuals

You're two phases in

Unlock the other five — and the printable PDF.

Four fields, ten seconds. The page stays right here, and the full checklist opens where you left off.

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