Catalina Island Lions Club hosts the oldest Trail Run in California with the 50 Mile run celebrating it's 43rd year. Don't forget it's little brother 50K which is 6 years old
Station locations are critical to supporting our aid stations and tracking runners for success and if by bad chance failure, we track the runners to make sure they are moving successfully between aid stations and tracking stations.
It was very obvious to me how important tracking runners during ultras was/is. The need to know where everybody is at and track them through our stations provides information to race support teams, family and friends.
The most important part is to keep our runners safe and when they need help, we are their for them.
What does that mean for our planning?
We position resources at critical locations with aid stations and timing nodes.
We support our locations with enough resources to provide accurate reporting of runner numbers, we provide timely updates to the Runner Tracking system with whatever means is available.
Other critical coordination is Logistics, Island Logistics are not easy, limited number of vehicles are allowed in the interior of Catalina, team members share rides, coordinate drop offs and pickups as part of the long race schedule
Weather planning is also part of the equation, running events in January can bring inclimate weather yet the race will continue so you have to be prepared, protect electronics, protect your person and ensure that the race communications continue
Always plan for things to go wrong but you can only carry a backpack of equipment, so you have to decide wisely on what you will carry with you.
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