Chase of Champions Survey

This is a long post - please read and complete the online survey at the bottom

As most of you are aware, the long standing Chase of Champions road race has been discontinued this year. Many of us were upset to hear the news when it was announced last November, and discussed running an unofficial Chase of Champions. Well, time has moved very quickly, and if we plan to do this, we need to pick a date, and start to spread the word.

Here are some thoughts. . .

1. No Frills - This will be a run-at-your-on-risk group run. I can stand at the start and keep an "official" time for finishers, but this will be nothing special. There will be no expo, no goody bags, no t-shirts and no awards.
2. Race Numbers - Frank is going to check with Raleigh Running Outfitters to see if we can obtain 50 race numbers for those who want to run the race. This would help promote their store, and we could also promote the City of Oaks Marathon, which many of us seem interested in running. As an alternative I can order 100 very generic race numbers for about $15 if they do not want to help. I am hoping they will, so we can help promote the closest running store to Rocky Mount. Of course we could also have no numbers at all.
3. Race Distance - The Chase had a 5k and a 10k. I am on the fence as to how we should handle this. From a logistics stand point, it would be easiest if we just picked one route and had everyone run it. I understand however that some may want to only run the 5k, so maybe that would be the best distance. Most everybody in this email would probably prefer to run a 10k however. I am leaning towards just running a 10k event for this year just to keep it simple. What are your thoughts?
4. Water Stops - Keeping with the "no frills" mentioned under number one, water stops are not planned right now. However, if anyone has friends or family members that would be willing to man a water table, we could easily set one up. I have a eight foot table, a water cooler, and can get cups. All we need is a person to put the cups on the table.
5. The Date - This is a big one. We need to pick a date. Once we do, I will write to the Rocky Mount Telegram, and try to start spreading the word. I need to know what dates work best for you. I will go with the majority, so someone will get left out. I want to prove that Rocky Mount can still support this race so right now I am looking at the numbers.
6. Promotion - I realize this "race" is more-or-less a "run". For that reason, I do not expect people to come out in mass numbers to participate. The best we can do on our budget (which is zero) is word of mouth. As previously mentioned, I will also write the paper. Lastly, I can make a few fliers that we can put up around town to.
7. Charity - I think we may have some more success with this event if we try to do something positive with it. I had an idea a few weeks ago, that I think will work nicely with the event, and may get a little local attention. I propose we use this event to encourage runners to bring in their used (but clean) running shoes. There are lots of shoe donation programs already in existence (link). The easiest thing would be to use one of the charities listed in the Runners World link. Another option would be to contact the Nash County schools to see if the high school coaches would be interested in getting some used shoes for their track athletes without the funds to purchase their own. Just a thought. . . anyone interested in placing some phone calls?

We need to work fast to pull this off, but I firmly believe Rocky Mount needs and wants the Chase of Champions to survive. This year will be a down year, but with everyone pitching in to help, and showing up to run, we can prove that the Chase will be back in 2008.

To simplify things for me, I made a quick online survey, so I don't need to tabulate email responses. This should take about two minutes to complete. Share this email with any runners that I do not have on my distribution. Also, feel free to post comments if you have something to share with the group. Thanks!