New Format Provides Ease-of-use for Viewers and Streamlined Updating for Event Directors; All Event Directors Serving 5 or More Years Eligible for Listing
March 15, 2022 — In conjunction with the celebration of 40 years of publishing Road Race Management Newsletter, the company is launching a newly-reconfigured version of its Longest Serving Race Director Rankings. The listing, which debuted in 2019, will now allow any race director who has directed the same race for five years or more to be included by completing an easy-to-use form available here. Race directors already on the list have just been emailed a link allowing them to update easily their listings through 2021. Virtual races held during the pandemic in 2020 and 2021 will be counted towards each race director’s years served. While nearly all race directors’ years of service are continuous, those who may have missed a year but who later returned as director are eligible to be listed. Starting in 2022, emails will be sent out in mid-December for updating each individual’s status for the current year.
Laddie Lawrence stood at the top of the list at the end of 2019 with an impressive record of directing the Westport Summer Series for 56 years. Click Here for an interview with Lawrence, which appeared in the August 2020 issue of Road Race Management newsletter. Many other luminaries in the race directing world follow closely behind Lawrence, including James Balcome of the Manchester Road Race (44 years), Dusty Rhodes of the Boston 10K for Women (43 years) and Jon Hughes of the Lady Track Shack 5K (42 years).
The listings are searchable by a number of different criteria including race distance, country, state, and gender. Biographical data and photos of the directors will be listed if supplied.
Road Race Management Editor and Publisher Phil Stewart said, “These rankings will allow race directors in the U.S. and around the world to push back against being called ‘unsung heroes’ and finally be recognized for their years of service to runners. Plus it will promote some friendly competition among them to see where they stand in the rankings. As of right now, there are 19 directors who have been around longer than Road Race Management newsletter, which was founded in January, 1982.”
The rankings list, which appears on Road Race Management’s website at https://www.rrm.com/act/resources/lsrd.asp, is free to users. There is a limited amount of advertising space available on the site for running industry companies interested in having their product appear on what is expected to be a highly-trafficked site by individuals with deep roots in the race directing community. Details about advertising may be obtained by emailing Phil Stewart at pstewart@rrm.com.
The site was developed by Ryan Morris of DelMoPRO, a timing & data management/event services company based in Cape May, NJ.
In addition to the re-launch of the Longest-Serving Race Director site, the February-March double issue of Road Race Management newsletter covered key moments in the race directing/running world over the last 40 years, complete with historic photos from many of these moments. This special commemorative issue is available to non-members for $15. Click here to order the 40-year retrospective issue of Road Race Management newsletter.
“It’s been a tremendous run for 40-years,” said RRM Editor and Publisher Phil Stewart, “from the days of pull-tag timing and sorting mailed-in entries on dining room tables, through the rise of running as a mass participation sport, to the impact of technological advances including the internet, web, transponder timing, social media and more. Throughout all of it, RRM has been honored to provide coverage for the race directing community.”
About Road Race Management, Inc.
Road Race Management, Inc. is the publisher of Road Race Management newsletter, offered exclusively to Road Race Management Members. Annual membership dues are $118.
In addition, Road Race Management is the organizer of the country’s oldest annual Race Directors’ Meeting and Trade Exhibit, dating back to 1983. The meeting is known for providing well-researched presentations from leading running industry speakers in a relaxed atmosphere ideally suited for both race directors and trade show exhibitors to get to know each other. The 2022 meeting will be held December 8-10 in Hollywood, FL (six miles from the Fort Lauderdale airport).
RRM is also the publisher of Organizing Running Events: The Complete Guide to Staging a Successful Road Race, an over 500-page compendium covering every aspect of race directing for the directors of events of all sizes. The book serves as the textbook for the RRCA’s Race Director Certification course.
Road Race Management also publishes the RRM E-News, a free, twice-monthly overview of the key stories in the running industry. Individuals can sign up to receive the E-News here.
Other RRM on-line sites include the free Online Guide to Prize Money Races and Elite Athletes, which provides detailed information about prize money events for elite athletes, and elite athlete contacts and links to athlete bios for event directors; and the Doping Sanctions Site, a listing of all current and past doping cheats, which is used by race directors who wish to ensure they do not invite any athlete who has ever served a doping suspension to their event.
