DON’T FORGET THE KIDS!
It’s often said kids are the future of our sport. As such, it seems more races are incorporating a kid’s fun run component as part of their overall weekend of events. And, in many cases, the kid’s events are drawing a significant number of participants, well into the hundreds and sometimes even into the thousands. Many races are emphasizing the family aspect of their events. Given this new dimension, it is equally as important to devote a lot of attention to how these “fun runs” are managed so they are safe and the kids have an enjoyable experience. A few tips and areas needing attention and decisions made are:
Kid’s Run Committee: Don’t underestimate the amount of work, resources, and manpower needed to manage a kid’s event. You may need a separate coordinator and an entirely separate committee to focus on just this one area of the overall event.
You need to determine if the kid’s races will be competitive, this is, timed and scored or not. In most cases, they are not. For most, it is more about participation than competition.
If non-competitive, you could consider ordering all bib #1’s unless you need to and want to assign a different bib number to each child for identification purposes.
Entry fees – either this can be free to the kids or charge just a nominal fee – say $5.00, to cover the cost of a t-shirt and/or other minor expenses.
Age limits – usually they involve kids 12 years old or younger, although like most things, races can decide for themselves what ages they want to structure this for.
No matter what the age limits, be prepared to handle a significantly greater number of younger kids than older kids. The largest age groups are usually 6 years old or under!
The time when you conduct the kid’s events may impact how many participants you will get. You can conduct the runs the day before the big race, the day of the race immediately before the main race, while the race is underway (least desirable) or immediately after the race and before the awards ceremony. Remember that parents may be running in the main race so you need to factor that in.
Where do you hold the kid’s event? It is usually near or at the same venue as the main race. The surface they run on is key. Ideally, it’s on grass to keep it safer. Keeping kids from tripping will be your biggest concern. Falling on grass is less dangerous than on asphalt. If you are fortunate to have a running track as your venue, that sometimes works best. Also, some races set it up so that the kids are finishing across the same finish line and finish structure as the main event.
Ideally, chart the course so the parents can see their kid the entire way.
Distances – there are no real standards here but common sense tells us to structure it were the younger kids run a shorter distance than the older kids. A possible structure could be:
Ages 4 and under – 100 yards
Ages 5 to 6 – 200 yards
Ages 7 to 8 – 400 yards
Ages 9 to 12 – 800 yards
Again, this is merely a suggested structure. For the younger kids, you should allow a parent to be able to run alongside their child.
Wave starts – most of time you don’t know how many kids you have and in which age groups so you have to make decisions on the spot as to whether you need to do multiple waves of the same age group. If so, you can divide up by gender or just randomly, again, all to make it safe…just be sure to budget the appropriate amount of time for the entire event.
If possible, ask the local police to lead each race on a police motorcycle – kids love that.
If the event is non-competitive, give out a finisher’s medal, ribbon, or gift certificate to acknowledge their participation.
T-shirts – always difficult to know how many to order and what sizes. Most of the time it is an educated guess. You can avoid this altogether by not giving the kids a shirt but giving them another item that does not require sizing.
Logistics – don’t underestimate the coordination needed. You are dealing with young kids and their parents. Be sure to have plenty of volunteers, medical presence, a good sound system and an experienced announcer, crowd control fencing, and a lot of patience.
Media – many times the kid’s event gets more media (photography) coverage than the main event so be sure to provide appropriate access for them.
Lost kids – other than a kid falling, dealing with lost kids or reuniting a kid with his parents is arguably your biggest challenge. Some races go as far as issuing identification wristbands to both the parents and the kids for safety reasons. Minimizing the number of kids who run at one time, corralling the kids once they finish, allowing space for the parents to meet their child, identifying a single location where a lost child is brought to be reunited with their parent and knowing how to treat the lost child during this time are all important factors to consider during the advance planning period.
All the above being said, nothing beats seeing a kid with a medal around their neck and a smiling face walking away with two proud parents hand in hand.