Thursday Nighters... Promoting a Weeknight Series

by Jeff Austin
Jeff Austin of the Texas Premier Masters Team promoted the autumn Thursday night series this past year. As a first time promoter he was at first unsure of where to start but soon found the information he needed from others who had done it before. With this knowledge and help from friends and teammates he put on a successful race. VC News asked Jeff what goes into a weeknight series.

 For ten years, I have been going to races and enjoying the competition. I complain about some races and swear by others. But during all that time, I never really considered promoting a race. All of that changed in the summer of 1998. After years of promoting the twice-yearly Thursday criterium series, Jack Pritchard decided not to put on the fall series. The news was quite a blow to many riders who have always relied on the series to maintain fitness and keep their competitive juices flowing. I had always loved the series and used it to hone my time trialing skills, and it gave many of my friends a chance for some modified "motorpace" training!

I decided that it was time for Texas Premier to promote the series. I first had to devise a plan of attack, and I figured that the best place to start would be advice from the undisputed king of race promotion himself, Jack Pritchard. With about a billion races under his belt [.83 billion at press time; ed.], he is a veritable wellspring of race promotion knowledge. We deciphered all of the forms for the USCF and mailed them in with a check. The primary reason for having the series sanctioned is for the insurance that the USCF provides. Believe me, the peace of mind is well worth the cost.

The next step was to secure sponsorship. This is the toughest aspect of race promotion and one where many promoters miss the mark. You will not succeed if you expect entry fees to cover your expenses. A promoter may get lucky for a few years with a big turnout, but weather or another race on the same date can be devastating. With a little work and a little luck, I obtained enough support to cover all of the costs. All of the potential sponsors for the Texas Premier Fall Series were already involved with cycling to some extent before I contacted them. I started by calling all the bike shops in the area.

Next, I contacted cyclists who owned businesses, and I sold advertising to them. I asked for donations of cash or merchandise that I could use as prizes at the races. Most of the donations were in the form of merchandise. I estimated our expenses and shared that information with the potential sponsors. If I had needed more cash, I would have gone about it differently. Of course, this needs to be accomplished well in advance of the event, as much as a year early. In this situation, I suggest contacting the marketing departments of the corporations in the area. Tell them about your event, and see if they will meet with you. Only face-to-face meetings will generate the kind of money needed for a large event. A brochure will help, and videotape footage of a crowd watching a race is even better.

A good example is the Sprint 56K Criterium that was promoted by the Lance Armstrong Foundation during the Race for the Roses Weekend. Sponsors want to know exactly how you plan to put their name in front of a crowd at your event. I needed a race flyer, so I copied the Violet Crown flyer almost verbatim. (Should I admit that?). It was a snap, and it took only about an hour to set create a new flyer.

Finding volunteers to help with race-day tasks presented a challenge. Kristian's mom, Deborah King, and Christy made an important contribution by working registration. Also, the Texas Premier Men's team helped with the grunt work before each race. We arrived at the course several hours early each week to sweep the corners, kick the big rocks off the course, and string tape at the entrances. All of this took about an hour. When the Expo Center mowed along the course, it took longer, but that happened only twice during the series. I set up without any help three times, and it was not too bad.

I thank Susan Lesser and Dave Henderson for officiating. That freed me from the responsibility of processing race results. Susan e-mailed the results to me a few days after each race. I only had to add them to my spreadsheet and print them out. After all of the front work was finished, it was time to start racing. As luck would have it, a storm was brewing before the first race, and the wind was gusting to thirty miles an hour. Great! Naturally, I expected our first week to be a disaster. But the racers showed up, and the racing was great, although the wind was a challenge. I was a little surprised and very pleased. All five of the races had a good turnout with very competitive racing. We were very lucky that nobody crashed during the entire series, and for that, I am grateful to everyone.

Promoting the Texas Premier Fall Race Series improved my attitude toward bicycle racing. I now have a better appreciation for the people who love the racing enough to give their blood, sweat, tears, and time back to the sport. We need more of those people to keep the sport growing. All of you made my first experience with race promotion a great one. THANK YOU ALL