Race Day Timeline
Community walks are most frequently scheduled in the morning. Depending on the complexity of signage and location, setup for the event may usually begin as early as a week prior to the event, with most activity happening a couple days prior to the walk.
Y-ME typically tries to limit the area where they hold their walk so that it doesn’t require a significant amount of resource time to shut down streets, etc. Their walk is usually non-competitive, so it also helps that they do not have to consider the requirements needed for a more competitive race environment.
The schedule for race day itself usually flows as follows:
- Event Planning Team Arrives (2.5 hours prior to walk)
- Volunteer Check-In (2 hours prior to walk)
- Sponsor Check-In and Setup (2 hours prior to walk)
- Registration Begins (1.5 hours prior to walk)
- Starting Line Setup: (30 minutes prior to walk)
- Opening Ceremonies (10 minutes prior to walk)
- Race Begins
- Main Stage Entertainment Begins (1 hour after walk begins)
- Official Main Stage Remarks (after walk concludes; at 1.5 hour mark)
- Program Officially Ends (3 hours after walk begins)
- Event Break Down Begins (after event officially ends)
Tips for Planning a Community Walk or Run
For those organizations interested in holding a community walk or run for the first time, Klug offers several suggestions that will help ensure a successful event.
- Start with warm leads, including well-connected volunteers, sponsors or large team. And define measurable outcomes.
- Evaluate competitor events in your city/location to identify their best practices and areas for improvement.
- Work with city mayor’s office and park districts to discuss required permits and your event logistics: time, location, number of participants. Make sure you’re prepared for those meetings.
- Understand your budget and make sure you keep your operating expenses to 25-30% for a new event, and some charities will strive for 15-20% of total expenses.
- Secure sponsors to absorb 100% of the operating expenses of your event.
Y-ME National Breast Cancer Organization’s mission is to ensure, through information empowerment and peer support, that no one faces breast cancer alone. More information may be found at the Y-ME website.
