Last month nearly 60 Ontario running Race Directors gathered at Acme Works in Toronto for Athletics Ontario’s first Annual Race Director Summit. Sheryl Preston, Athletics Ontario’s Road Running Coordinator spearheaded and organized what turned into an hugely successful event. The day was what felt like a large reunion to some and a new beginning to others.  The day was saturated with highly educated speakers with the emphasis on the sharing of knowledge to help to cultivate not only safe and accurate races, but races that become a lifelong memory to Ontario’s running population.
Emcee’d by Steve Fleck, one of Canada’s top race announcers, the day began with Chris Troyanos who is the medical director of the Boston Marathon and the Executive Director of the International Institute of Race Medicine (IIRM), in Boston Massechusets.  Chris partnering with his coworker Lowell Greib, who also works with IIRM as well as with the Sport Lab in Hunstville, spoke on highly important details of Risk Management from the medical perspective in running races. This was followed up by a further conversation on how by Jason Robinson of Toronto, an Associate at the Sports Law and Strategy Group on Toronto who also spoke about event Risk Management from his angle.  The focus shifted to effective marketing and social media advertising, and creating partnerships with two enlightening and informative speeches both by Kris Mychasiw, Managing Partner of the Surin Group in Montreal, and followed up by Brandan Laan, VP of Sales at Race Roster.
The afternoon was filled with race-specific conversation beginning with Peter Donato of Good Times Running and Road Race Results, followed up with Jeff Moyle from the Army Run. Â They both highlighted the importance of standing out of the crowd, and thinking outside of the box to create a unique experience for participants of an event, or of a challenge. Â We were honoured to also host Alan Brookes and Charlotte Brookes, who are Race Directors with the Canada Running Series (CRS) speaking about the absolute essentials that Race Directors must practice, and followed up with Erin Roza, of CRS who had an informative discussion about the volunteer experience and volunteer retention.
We finished the day off with John Lofranco of Athletics Canada, who gave feedback from past survey’s and introduced the importance of Provincial Sport Organizations such as Athletics Ontario in the sport of running. Lastly, Sheryl Preston the Road Running Coordinator for Athletics Ontario, who organized this day’s event, discussed the anticipated increased involvement Athletics Ontario has to help provide credible resources and quality assurance to our road running community at whole.
The Athletics Ontario Race Director Summit last month was what felt like the official start of a revived era for Athletics Ontario’s involvement in Road Running.  Athletics Ontario plans to not only offer this event on an annual basis within the Greater Toronto area, we also continue to offer sanctioning and  insurance Ontario running races and clubs, to ensure the safety, accuracy and quality assurance of races and clubs.  Athletics Ontario also provides recreational and competitive membership to our running community.
Stay tuned for our upcoming announcement and partnership in the working with Ontario Masters Athletics for a 2018 provincial road championship (to include a Sub-masters age group), along with a partnership with MEC for a 2018 Trail Running Championship.
Last, but certainly not least, a very well deserved shout out to the sponsors that helped to make this day happen (Please see links below):
Race Roster as the title sponsor and registration platform for the event  ; they offer very easy and effective race registration platforms (among many other services).  The Printing House extraordinarily high quality (and QUICK!) work with our banner and name-tags for the event. Thank you also for Good Times Running, and Road Race Results for help with marketing and promotion along with Henley Financial and Wealth Management for providing refreshments and helping to coordinate the day.
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Sponsors
Henley Financial and Wealth Management
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Speaker Connected Resources
International Institute of Race Medicine
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Please “Like† our Facebook Run Ontario Page to stay informed
Please email sherylpreston@athleticsontario.ca with any questions regarding:
- Resources for your upcoming running race, current or upcoming running club
- Access to Athletics Canada Race Director Guide
- Race sanctioning (accreditation) and insurance
- Club or athlete registration and athlete membership
- 2018 Provincial Road and Trail championships
- Involvement in next year’s summit as a speaker or a participant