However, don't expect favorable circumstances to remain unchanged forever. Technology will improve, political winds shift, businesses close, merge, or get sold, runner and sponsor expectations rise, and what used to work may not work anymore. You must be able to take advantage of the changing trends in event production rather than fall victim to them.

Here are some tips for producing better races. More information and details about these and other race management issues will be available at training sessions, through individual consultations, and in monthly e-newsletters for members of the Association of Running Event Directors.

Food, entertainment, raffles, door prizes, freebies, t- shirts, and other festival-type gimmicks will win their adoration and possibly entice them to return the following year. Don't think of the runners as fund- raising or membership prospects – most of them aren't and won't be. Their participation, though, is essential for your event, and you can leverage them to secure media coverage, corporate donors, and sponsors.

Here are some tips:

1. When developing sponsorship proposals, always think from the sponsors' point of view, not the event's point of view. What can your event offer to a sponsor to help its business?

2. The sponsorship must be a good deal for both sides. If the sponsor gives you cash and does not experience any measurable improvement in its business, it was a good deal for you, but a bad deal for the sponsor, and the sponsor may lose interest in your event.

3. Race day activities probably reach fewer people than any other aspect of your event. Your greatest sponsor entitlements are your pre-race marketing venues – printed race applications, web site, e-mail newsletters, media ads, photo opportunities, posters, and other promotional activities. Unless you have start-to-finish media coverage of your race, race day offers very little to most sponsors.

4. The cash-for-logos trade is becoming a thing of the past. When was the last time you bought something because you saw a logo on an application or printed in an ad? Companies want sponsorship deals that put a product in runner's hands or drive runners to a location where the product can be viewed and purchased.

Here are some ways the cause can help your event:

1. Your cause may attract media coverage, which will increase its visibility and prestige in the community, attract individual contributors, catch the eye of corporate donors who wish to support your cause or simply be publicly identified with it, and even snare some additional runners (from the media coverage, not the righteousness of the cause).

2. You may be able to offer photo opportunities to corporate donors and sponsors, or stage media events at a school, health care facility, social service agency, or other site where it is possible to interact with the beneficiaries of your cause.

3. Local government (suburbs and small towns more often than big cities) may cut you some slack on street closings, park usage, and permit fees.

4. Vendors who support your cause may provide product at a reduced cost or even free, treating it as a tax-deductible donation.

5. You may have access to volunteers for registration, packet pick-up, aid stations, course marshals, and other essential activities.

6. You'll reduce postage expenses by using your not- for-profit bulk permit to mail entry forms.

So, the formula for the financial success of your event is:

1) Secure cash sponsorships;

2) Secure free or discounted supplies and services (but without diminishing the quality of those items) that you would otherwise have to pay for;

3) Charge a reasonable entry fee – don't fret about being too expensive;

4) Offer on-line registration. It will increase your field and make it easier for runners to sign-up; and,

5) Do not assess runners a surcharge for registering online. Your event should absorb the cost. On-line registration saves you money – you don't have to keystroke information, you just download it into your database. And you don't have to worry about database errors since runners will enter their own data. Do everything possible, including offering discounts, to get runners to register online. It will be worth it.

To recruit runners:

1. Mail entry forms to runners: past participants in your event; participants in other events in your area; members of running clubs; subscribers to running publications.

2. Send e-mail broadcasts to runners from these same sources.

3. Arrange for entry forms to be available at running stores, health clubs, park districts, physical therapy offices, and other places frequented by runners.

4. Buy advertising (image ads are better than entry forms) in local running publications. Include the link to your web site.

5. Post a constantly updated web site with links to on-line registration and other running sites.

1. It should take no more than one click to find event information on your web site. If your event is part of another web site (hospital, park district, running club, etc.) be sure to have a button or logo on the home page that will lead directly to the event. Don't force the viewer to click through pages of classes, programs, or fund-raising activities – they aren't interested in those. The more clicks it takes to reach event information, the less likely it is that anyone will view the information.

2. Keep the web site up-to-date, even during the “off-season.” Post pictures and results from last year. At least monthly, add something new – a new sponsor, new course, feedback from community leaders, success of winners at other races, etc. If the web site isn't fresh, people will be less likely to visit it again.

3. Post all of the information you would include in a printed entry form. Graphics and art work are nice, but the content is most important.

4. Be sure your web site includes: starting time of the race(s), exact starting and ending times of packet pickup, exact location of the start line and pre-race registration and packet pickup, exact deadlines for online and mail-in registration, and contact information.

5. Include a link from your web site to your on-line registration site. Runners who view your web site expect to be able to register online. Don't force them to download and print an application or call a telephone number for an entry form.

6. ALWAYS include a contact telephone and e-mail address so runners can ask questions or request additional information. If you use a home telephone contact, use voicemail to record messages. Respond promptly to callers.