Scottsdale Fit City 5k

Fit City 5k in downtown Scottsdale was a nice little run. However, they didn’t want it to be a little run. The weather the last 3 days has been miserable to say the least. I think that a lot of runners stayed away because of the weather and flooding. One runner I spoke to said that the press release stated that the race was hoping to draw a thousand runners. Only 200 numbers were handed out and slightly less than that ran it.
The race course had to be altered due to the flooding in the area and it forced them to run a double looped course; basically around the block twice. I actually didn’t mind the course and my time was very fast but the double looping of a race can and was a real problem. The second loop was slightly smaller than the first and had a turn off towards the finish. There was a volunteer there but a crowd in front of me was the victim of the volunteer’s friendliness. Instead of repeating “first lap straight, second lap turn” she was cheering for the slow runners and even talking to kids in strollers. For once I wasn’t the guy who was sent astray but did see a couple people in front of me that ran extra. Since the course had to be altered no one was familiar with what to do and it was a tough situation, but I don’t blame the organizers.
Since the course was an improv I really won’t spend much time describing it; but rather spend time on the highlights and lowlights of the experience. The T shirt was a Dry fit style shirt in bright red. I’m not a big fan of red unless it has a Buckeye on it, but it isn’t too bad. The back is covered with sponsor’s names and I’m sure they’re not super happy that there were more left over than were handed out. The Goodie bag came in the form of a reusable grocery bag style and was the same bright red color. In my efforts to go greener as I get older, I’ll probably use it. There was also an additional bag that one of the vendors was giving away if you wanted it.
I hope the organizers send out questionnaires or something to help improve this race. I’m not sure they would get a thousand people for several years, but there are plenty of tricks to attract more participants. Step one, offer awards. I was surprised to find out that they didn’t have age divisions at all. Your race won’t last long without awards. Step two, offer awards that are not created on your home computer! I didn’t actually see the award certificates they gave out since they only went to the top three overall, but when pieces of paper are involved they’re usually pretty cheesy. I paid $25 to enter a 5k that had a zillion sponsors, put a little of that back into some awards or prizes; the more unique the better.
I was pleasantly surprised that the race was D tag timed, with only 200 participants that is definitely overkill but again they anticipated a substantially larger crowd. They also had a really cool idea for posting the results at the sight. There was a tent with a large television under it. A laptop was feeding the television the results and they were scrolling continuously and instantaneously. Trust me; runners love to know how they did, and the sooner the better!
Although this year’s race gets a C+ because of losing runners, I will give it a go again next year. I’m going to assume that the issues with losing people will be resolved by being able to run the intended course. Had no one been lost I would have given a B- and having awards would put the race in the A- range. I think it can only peak at A- because the course view has little hope of being visually nice, but again, we didn’t run the intended course, so I’ll reserve judgment until next year.