Toughest 10K Galveston Event Report

Good morning today working the Toughest 10K Galveston down on the Island!

Hard to believe that it had been nine years since I worked that race the last time in 2016, which was the sixth straight race from its inception in 2011.

It is also the race that launched the Texas Bridge Series.

Don’t let anybody fool you that putting on a race isn’t hard work, even from my role as an announcer.

Somebody out there is chuckling, “How hard is it to read names from a computer screen and paper for results?”

For that, honestly, it isn’t hard, yet there is an art to both.

However, most race directors that I work with draw on my race experience to handle the start and the finish line areas, which frees them up to tackle other issues that arise.

Doesn’t mean I run amok, but I do have latitude to handle situations as if I was them.

And that is one of the things that William and Jeremy Fermo with 3 Bros Running Company have trusted me with, and I appreciate that.

The only picture from the finish line that I was able to snap this morning!

If you’ve ever done the Toughest 10K Galveston before, you know that there isn’t a ton of parking at the start.

Maybe the first year, with less than 700 runners, we did, but for many years, and including today, runners parked off-site and were shuttled in and back out.

One of the earliest issues that came up is that there were still a certain number of folks who were waiting on shuttles to get back and carry them to the start.

Knowing how many overall runners that were registered, courtesy of Run Houston Timing’s Greg Zarate, my recommendation was that we don’t delay the start, especially because 90-95% were on the grounds of the Galveston County Daily News parking lot.

I don’t know whether the delay was with the shuttles or people just got there late and thought it all would go faster.

And part of the recommendation to start on time came also with the understanding that Greg would be able to keep the starting timing mats available for a little longer than usual to ensure that we gave everyone the opportunity to have a chip time – and not just a gun time.

I believe that there might have been fewer than five that had a gun time.

Grant Bue did a great job with our National Anthem this morning and what I love most about when Grant sings is that it simple and direct – and with authority.

I hadn’t seen Grant in awhile and it was good to visit with him before the start of the race.

One of the other things that was discussed pre-race had to do with the inflatable at the start line.

We had a separated start and finish by about 75 yards, and I told John Nguyen that if they could get it moved in between 10 and 35 minutes after the start to leave it up – just from an image and picture-taking standpoint.

That worked out well.

One of the other assets to these races is the Clear Lake Amateur Radio Club team, led by Curtis Tallman.

I took a load off of his people today when I told him that I didn’t necessarily need to know who the first finishers were – by bib number.  I’m sure I was the guilty party – maybe – back when I did Robby Sabban’s races, but I did have a heads-up when the first runner was getting off of the bridge so that the team could be positioned with the finish line tape.

And, again, I really enjoy working with Greg.  

Sets me up well with the reader, and we had absolutely zero issues at the awards ceremony with somebody saying that they should have been in a particular spot.

However, I know that when I was announcing names that he was getting a lot of questions from people so he mitigated the potential for problems.

Only one other issue popped up and we all worked as a team to get it figured out.

The first overall female was a masters runner from Katy.

In second was a 20-something runner from Houston.

However, the more experienced runner came up after and pointed out that the 20-something athlete had a faster chip time than she did – meaning that (having looked back now) she might have been on one of the shuttle buses that arrived right as we were getting started.

Now normally the general rule is that overall winners are those who cross the line first, but William and Jeremy had a statement on their website that all awards would be done by chip time.

It didn’t matter to the runner from Katy.

She came to Greg and felt like the runner from Houston should be first overall – and was totally cool with it.  (I can tell you that I’ve seen a handful of situations over the years where that could have been a nasty situation.)

Kudos to Lacie Bedwell for being a thoughtful individual.

So that lifts the lid on the day a little bit.

Like I said, it’s work, but I enjoy doing the things that I do to manage those situations that come up and work with other people just like me that want to do the best for athletes that spend their hard-earned monies.

Great to have Lance Phegley with raceshots.net and his two photographers out there today, Bill (I think) and Julio.

Also really appreciate the Hensleys with the Sea Rim Striders who have been at both events of the Texas Bridge Series.  

Enjoyed talking shop a little bit with Brandi this morning about their Turkey Trot race in Beaumont coming up next month.

They were super helpful managing a sound situation in Kemah.

Speaking of sound, Steve Curry’s Skygod team member has done yeoman’s work and has been super flexible for his.  

He has busted his butt to make sure that we had sound in the right spots at the right time.

Robby brought Skygod to the table when the crowds at the Bridge Series races were more than what my equipment – at the time – was able to handle.

And even though it is an extra expense that William and Jeremy incur, I think it is money well spent in that it is loud enough to be heard – and as a result this morning, for example, we had mostly everybody lined up ready for the start.

My comment always is, “I love it when people listen.”  I know my schoolteacher daughter would readily agree with that sentiment!

One of the reasons I decided to do a little more this fall is because of the people that I get to see and interact with.

It was good to see the following:  Josh Rivas, Dusty Cook, Tanci Foster, Kathryn Vidal, Anthony Mireles and Andrew Rennie.  I’m afraid that I’m missing somebody here.

Also had a great visit at the very end with Ben Harvie and Connie Lawrence.  Appreciate their kind words and support through the years.

Little long, but it was too much for a Facebook post.

Next up is the third and final race of the Texas Bridge Series, the La Porte By The Bay Half Marathon coming up in November.