Gotta’ Run: What does a race director do and how to be a good one?
Published 2:00 am Saturday, September 12, 2026
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Getting your
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In Rowan County, we have 32 races scheduled for this year and add to that a bunch of middle school and high school cross country races too. All of these must have someone who organizes them and is the final decision maker. I spent the late morning on Wednesday measuring and marking the 5K course for Saturday’s Run for the Word 5K and Fun Run, all held to help fund the South Rowan area Bible teachers. Lynn Furr is one of those good race directors, and she went along to make sure the course was right.
Race directors have a long list of things to do, in fact SRR shares a couple lists of to-do guidelines. Race planning usually starts 4-5 months ahead of the event. The first things done are to name the race, set a date, secure a course and start finding major sponsors. Hopefully the aspiring race director has plenty of help in the first year, especially when all of these things are new. If the race has been held before, most of these major tasks are ready to go, especially if the race met participant and proceed expectations during the previous year.
Then co...