Calmer heads prevail

Recently, I timed a race which went very extremely well for everyone.  The participants had a great time, the race directors were happy and there absolutely no issues with the data or timing.  It was what we would call a flawless race.  When I got home, I got this nasty email from a participant informing how we really fumbled the ball and didn't manage our timing properly.  His anger and frustration were over the "fact" that his time was incorrect and that our timing was not managed well otherwise his time would have been accurate and reported correctly.&nb

Garbage In Garbage Out

A few weeks ago I was at a race preparing to time a Jingle Bell run.  I was working with one of the volunteers to enter their race day information.  I'm not quite sure what was going on at the registration table but there were missing ages, gender changes and lots of bib reassignments.  It was creating quite a mess with their registration sheet.  As we were trying to decipher the information she made the comment that it was no wonder that timing was often messed up.  I had to smile and simply said that it was all in a day's work.  Ask any timer and they

End of Year Reflection

As we start to close out 2015, it is both a time of reflection and a look forward.  It has been a very busy year for us and we're looking forward to an even busier 2016.  For the race directors, we have certainly enjoyed working with so many of you.  It's always a pleasure to work with some great race directors to host their events.  There are many causes for which these events are held and to the race director and their team, those events help to raise much needed funds to support their operations.  It is great to be a part of that.  To the participant

Website Upgrade

Athlete Guild is constantly trying to improve the website experience for the growing list of athletes.  As we expand our operations, we're adding new events in a growing list of communities.  This is great for everyone but it has caused a problem for you specifically with our featured events and event search feature on our website.  If you live in San Antonio for example, you would rather see events in the local area first rather than several hours away.  To resolve that issue, we have added location awareness to our site.  What this means is that when you navig

Constant Improvement

It's been said that if you aren't making mistakes, then you aren't trying hard enough and improving.  I know that I have certainly made my fair share of mistakes over the years.  I certainly hope that it means that I'm getting better.  I know that as a company, Athlete Guild is constantly trying to improve the way that we do things and we certainly have made mistakes along the way.  As most in life discover though, it's not a matter of whether you make a mistake, but a matter of how you handle it.  Do you learn from those mistakes or do you simpl

Reap What you Sow

Reap what you sow is an old saying that simply means that in order to have success you must expend effort.  This has application for so many areas of life.  It is especially true in the racing business.  Whether you are a competitor trying to improve your time, or a race director hosting an event, you get back what you put into it.  I hear a complaint from race directors a lot regarding the number of events that are taking place.  Whereas on a given weekend several years ago, there might have been 2 or 3, now it is not uncommon to find twice that many or more. 

Go or No Go

One of the hardest decisions that a race director or organizer faces is whether to cancel or postpone a race when conditions warrant it.  It is never an easy decision and certainly one that race directors would prefer not to make.  We have had several events over the years that have had to cancel for one reason or another.  Some have been because a race director got nervous when registrations weren't coming through fast enough and in our estimation, pulled the plug early.  We've had one that used the weather as an excuse to cancel but the truth was that she was g

Race Operations

As a race director and event coordinator, we get the opportunity to work with a lot of different organizations and venues.  Some are incredible to work with while others make you wish you had never started.  I've been dealing with a particular venue in San Antonio lately that has made me really rethink our operations.  They have been so difficult to work with that it makes the effort not even worth the effort.  We do our best to try and make the event as memorable as we possibly can for the participants, but the venue has so many restrictions and requirements that it

Happy Birthday

This month marks a major milestone for Athlete Guild.  We turn 5 years old!  While those of us within the company have been in the business for much longer than that; the company itself is turning 5.  It's an exciting time for us.  It's amazing to look back at the last 5 years and see where we have come from.  It started out as a simple idea to work with a few local charities and provide quality and affordable services, but quickly grew from there.  We're now one of the largest event management and timing companies in the country.  It has been