[Author’s Note: This is the final article in an eight-part series in AJW’s Taproom called Race Director Chronicles, where we profile the unsung heroes who make our sport’s racing possible.]

Michael Owen ran his first ultramarathon on the ripe previous age of 21 at The North Face 50 Mile Championships in 2010, ending tenth. Now 34, Owen continues to compete at a excessive stage in ultras throughout the nation. Nonetheless, in recent times he has additionally established himself as probably the most profitable occasion administrators within the U.S. because the mastermind behind Southeastern Ohio Path Runners (now SEOTR Occasions). In his function as director, Owen presides over six wildly profitable path runs on this particular little nook of Ohio. Not too long ago, I sat down with Owen to ask him a number of questions.

Michael Owen in race director mode. Photograph: Stu Siegfried

AJW: How lengthy have you ever been directing ultrarunning and path working occasions in Ohio?

Michael Owen: The primary race I directed was throughout graduate faculty in 2014, after I was 24 years previous. It was a bunch challenge for an occasion administration course I used to be taking. This primary race was a path half marathon on among the most rugged trails within the area, and we had 82 runners!

This was the identical time I used to be establishing a path working “membership” for the realm, known as Southeastern Ohio Path Runners, which aimed to advertise the game of path working and to foster a path working neighborhood within the area. I used to be so lucky the professor of that occasion administration class urged my group to placed on an occasion for SEOTR, and that’s what kickstarted all my occasions! That first occasion was my solely race for 2 years, but it surely grew to 180 runners in yr two, and that confirmed me there was some potential in placing on path races, and it was additionally an effective way to develop the path working neighborhood.

SEOTR as a “membership” morphed extra right into a race administration group in 2016, and is now branded as “SEOTR Occasions.” We presently host seven annual occasions with 15 race distances starting from one-mile enjoyable runs to 50 miles, with a yard extremely format occasion that has reached 229 miles.

The yr 2023 was the tenth yr of directing path races, and it’s onerous to imagine subsequent yr will kick off a second decade!

AJW: What’s the most satisfying facet of your work as a race director?

Owen: I’ve actually cherished being a part of the expansion of path working in southeastern Ohio and the broader area. Numerous my greatest mates are from this sport, and I might have by no means met them with out being a race director.

On an occasion planning stage, I’m actually drawn to particulars and group. Occasion directing is sort of a large puzzle the place there are quite a few items that have to be carried out, some at particular instances and in a particular manner, all needing to come back collectively for a last product. I benefit from the satisfaction of seeing all these items come collectively on race day. The purpose is for runners to have a tremendous expertise at your occasion, so if all these behind-the-scenes duties had been carried out nicely it’s good to know you helped present that memorable expertise for them.

Michael Owen hugs a finisher at one in all his occasions. Photograph: John Dolovacky

AJW: What makes working in Ohio so distinctive and particular?

Owen: I actually wish to advocate for Ohio path working! I believe lots of people which have by no means been to Ohio view it as a flat flyover state with a number of cornfields and farms. There’s a number of that sort of land, however Ohio additionally has an enormous quantity of land formed by glacial outwash that carved deep and steep ravines. I used to be born, raised, and nonetheless stay within the far southeast portion of Ohio, the place the land is a part of the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. We don’t have lengthy uphills, however there are steep, rugged, and really frequent uphills.

In southeast Ohio we’ve an important community of path programs at dozens of state parks, state forests, and the state’s solely Nationwide Forest. With out a big metropolitan space in southeastern Ohio. These trails will put you in some distant and much out areas, and that’s what I’m drawn to essentially the most. There’s a way of freedom, possession, and wilderness in these areas, which may actually form who you might be as a runner. I believe this ruggedness is a superb instance of the mentality of Ohio path runners, and it’s evident by the individuals from Ohio who do some fairly wonderful issues on this sport!

AJW: What are the three largest challenges you face as a race director?

Owen: Being a race director requires downside fixing, rapidly adapting to altering conditions, and considering quick when obstacles come up. Going through the COVID-19 pandemic as a race director was essentially the most difficult second in my profession, however I wish to assume it gave me extra instruments and perspective to face future challenges!

I’m so lucky to have a devoted base of volunteers at our occasions, in addition to a pair key employees members who work on bigger duties, however volunteer coordination and planning is among the most essential components of my race directing. With out having a serious metropolis populus to attract from, we’ve restricted useful resource swimming pools, plus a lot of the path runners within the space will likely be working the races! Volunteer recruitment, coaching, planning, and execution is among the largest areas that I’m centered on whereas planning an occasion, as a result of it’s so essential in offering an excellent expertise to runners. My longer distance races have single-loop programs that require extra assist stations — which is the expertise I need to give our runners — but it surely offers logistical hurdles to get the allowing, the variety of individuals signed up, and the gear to these places.

Climate has been difficult at a few of my occasions. Climate could make or break the turnout of the occasion, add security issues, or create robust conditions almost about canceling, suspending, or delaying an occasion. I’m often glued to climate forecasts as my occasions strategy and alter or enact plans primarily based on what the climate will likely be.

Lastly, I’ve discovered it onerous over time to handle my private run coaching throughout race directing. In the course of the busy instances of race directing, I usually find yourself not working as a lot as I hope. Folks typically remark to me that I’m fortunate as a runner that I get to be concerned in working for my job, however typically it’s onerous to separate private working from race directing, and on the finish of the day I simply need to not take into consideration working. In the course of the yard extremely I direct, I find yourself not sleeping for a number of days straight, and people sorts of occasions are onerous to bodily bounce again from. Fortunately, these are challenges that may be labored by, and I wouldn’t need to do it in another way!

AJW: What adjustments have you ever seen within the sport because you started directing occasions? Optimistic? Unfavorable? Each?

Owen: The game has grown a lot worldwide prior to now decade, which I’m grateful to profit from, however that has created adjustments that may doubtlessly be destructive. Nonetheless, I wish to assume that development is all the time a web optimistic. One of many adjustments I’ve acknowledged is a shift away from “club-based” occasions to occasions being a part of a enterprise construction. I bought into the game by working grassroots occasions placed on by golf equipment like West Virginia Mountain Path Runners (WVMTR), so I’ll all the time have an affinity towards these sorts of occasions.

However with the expansion of path working, I imagine having people directing races as a profession is the brand new regular. To supply top-level races, there virtually must be somebody devoted to it full-time. On the identical time, I believe there must be a community-focused strategy to occasions nonetheless, the place the race director is a neighborhood one that understands and is a part of that neighborhood. I couldn’t think about directing a race in a spot I wasn’t from or aware of.

AJW: What are you trying ahead to most within the 2024 occasion season?

Owen: I look ahead to rising our present occasions and getting them nearer and nearer to the imaginative and prescient that I’ve for them. I like to have a look at our lineup of occasions as every serving a singular function. A few of our occasions are extra superior and provide a giant problem to veteran path runners and ultrarunners, however different occasions are extra suited to first-time runners and youth. For the neighborhood to develop, I believe it’s essential to concentrate on all these areas, and never simply the massive, lengthy, and onerous races — as grandiose and interesting as these sorts of occasions are. I believe our occasions are to the purpose in 2024 the place we are able to begin specializing in these areas of development extra, and I look ahead to greeting all these new runners on the end line!

Bottoms up!

AJW’s Beer of the Week

This week’s Beer of the Week comes, appropriately sufficient, from Ohio. Wooly Pig Farm Brewery in Fresno, Ohio, is house to 1899 Outdated Pils, a improbable, traditional, old-fashioned German pilsner that’s gentle and crisp. A splendidly easy pilsner, 1899 goes nicely with absolutely anything however particularly traditional U.S. Midwestern barbecue.

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