In the first two instalments of the Road Racing in North America series we interviewed team owners, directors and then the racers themselves to get their perspectives on what is a challenging time in the sport domestically. For the third instalment we talk to the people who make the races happen, the race organizers who have brave the headwinds to bring us high quality events season after season.
From a business perspective, race organizers can be seen as the hub in the wheel of professional bike racing. We need racers to put on the show, team owners and directors to get them there and fans to entertain. But above all, the sport needs a stage to perform on and an audience to entertain. Without high quality racing events on the calendar, the show can’t go on.
However, despite their immense role in the road racing ecosystem, race organizers take a lot of flack from all sides. I know because just like so many racers, I often bemoaned inconvenient date changes, annoying course adjustments and seemingly lean prize purses throughout my career. Team owners and directors can join in, complaining about entry fees, officiating and travel costs. And of course, the local community may become hostile overnight if the race manages to offend the wrong resident. Race organizers can even be seen as dispassionate about the sport itself, prioritizing their bottom line above the racing itself. However, after interviewing half a dozen of the most successful race directors in North America, I can now see just how flawed a premise that is.
The Armed Forces Cycling Classic Clarendon Cup on Saturday in down town Arlington, Virginia was a fast 100 kilometer street course and PEZ photographer, Darrell Parks was there for the action
Armed Forces Cycling Classic race director Rob Laybourn answered my first question like a man who has been asked a version of it many times before: “Rumors of road racing’s death have been greatly exaggerated”. I’m not sure what Mark Twain would think about criteriums, but the grounded optimism in the famous line was refreshing. Laybourn went on to describe the domestic road racing as a cooperative ecosystem wherein racers, owners and organizers can collaborate to produce an ever-better entertainment product for fans and sponsors. It is a natural metaphor in business but it is worth emphasizing in a sport that so often descends into finger pointing in times of contraction like the one we are contending with now.
In addition to Rob, I had the privilege to speak with the people in charge of some of the biggest races on the domestic calendar like the Tour of the Gila, Tour of America’s Dairyland, The Alabama Cycling Classic and The Bucks County Classic. As Rob says in another adage “Road Racing is Crit Racing and Crit Racing is Road Racing”. So, in this article we speak to all parties and examine the unique strategies and common threads that keep the current calendar alive and could guide the resurgence in racing that we all hope for.
Community Support and Understanding the Market
The necessity of community support was a prominent theme in our first article speaking with owners of two of the few remaining high end teams in North America. That same thread of community runs through every one of the sustainable, successful races on the North American calendar. Races are inextricably tied to the cities and towns that host them, without local buy-in, no event can survive for long. If on the other hand, you can produce an event that captures the attention and even the hearts of the surrounding communities, you are well on your way.
Laybourn highlights this in his business approach: “Races aren’t an athlete-driven service, they are marketing properties. Fan experience and entertainment value have to be number one”. Even a cursory look at the economics of putting on a professional level race bolsters this perspective. If you have a phenomenally popular pro stage race that draws 15-20 teams in both men’s and women’s fields and can charge a healthy $1000 entry fee, that will only amount to $60-80,000 in revenue.
That number may sound like a lot but is also a capped value since road racing fields are limited in size no matter how popular the race becomes. Any race director will tell you that even police and road closure costs alone can easily soar past the healthy registration revenue figure. According to Marilyn Cullinane, race director of Alabama’s Anniston Cycling Classic, the cost of putting on a new single day professional road race at closer to $250,000, and other race directors gave similar estimates. It’s a staggering figure and requires a revenue stream that would be nearly impossible to reach through entry fees alone.
For many of the race directors I spoke to, the lifeblood of their races is non-industry sponsorship. This support most often comes from the surrounding community and requires a kind of sales-oriented approach. To get his D.C.-based event off the ground, Laybourn recalls doggedly “knocking on a hundred doors and getting to a “Yes” two or three times” in his early sponsorship hunt to support his race.
Laura Reppert, who recently became the Race Director of the venerable Bucks Country Classic, also puts a high priority on producing a rewarding community experience through the race. It was a big job to take over, Bucks is celebrating its 20th edition this year, but Reppert seems to have a deep understanding of her product. She says “sponsorship dollars are not as important as creating commitment to the event. You need to create a vested interest (with sponsors and the community) to keep the event running year after year no matter what.” Laura is already an expert event organizer, she organized 27 last year. Still, when it comes to Bucks County she is constantly looking for ways to sharpen her approach – she worked 15 races last year across the country – ”learning something new at every one”.
Different Models for Success
Bill Koch, the director of the long running, Wisconsin based criterium series, Tour of America’s Dairyland, worked in sales for the Campbell Soup corporation for 25 years before he dove into race organization. He was also quick to emphasize the importance of an “old-fashioned business approach” to building a successful race. When he and three partners took over from the flagging Super Week race franchise in 2009, he too was soon knocking on doors selling his new version of the race. I asked Bill why he thought TOAD succeeded where Super Week and so many other events faded away and he referred back to fundamental best business practices: “Get your foot in the door, have a story to tell, keep things simple and organized and keep your word”.
TOAD may share some business philosophy with the Armed Forces Cycling Classic events but it operates on a different business model. Indeed, as I spoke to each race director it seemed that every event has evolved its own economic approach to survive in North America’s harsh racing ecosystem. In Bill Koch’s words TOAD has been designed to be something of a “bike race in a box”. For a fee, a community can host a fully hands-off, bike racing entertainment product that is a TOAD event. The product must be appealing – there are currently 11 host communities with a stop on the Tour. For each small town, the bike race serves as the cornerstone for one of the main community events of the year.
The Tour of the Gila takes yet another angle in preserving what has become one of the most storied stage races on the continent. Every spring since 1987, Gila has taken over the small town of Silver City, NM to host one of the premier stage races in the country. The mountainous terrain and thin air has provided a launch pad for numerous of cycling’s superstars like Kristin Armstrong and Sepp Kuss while achieving epic status on the calendar.
Even with that sparkling track record, race directors Jack Brennan and Michael Engleman say it is still a yearly struggle to survive. Silver City for all its passion for the race, only has ten thousand residents and big name corporate sponsors are difficult to find. Rather than traditional dollars and cents sales pitch, Engleman says Gila relies on presenting “the story of the race and its impact on the community and on the sport itself”. By telling that incredible story, Brennan and Engleman have managed to inspire unparalleled levels of community and state government support for what is now a beloved institution on New Mexico’s event calendar. Englemen says “local sponsorships start at one hundred dollars” and that “every relationship, even with small donors, matters”.
The Anniston Cycling Classic is another “small-town” race that has carved out its place as a big stop on the North American professional circuit. Race Director Marilyn Cullinane can confidently say that the ACC and its feature race the Sunny King Criterium represent “the event of the year” for Anniston and its 21,000 residents. Like all promoters, Cullinane is always on the hunt for sponsors but she also works to augment that revenue stream and promote her race in different ways.
The ACC offers one of the most well developed “VIP” experiences of any race on the calendar, Cullinane estimates that the race’s VIP tent draws an extraordinary five to six hundred paying spectators each year. She is also devoted to getting the most exposure she can through media coverage. There is a focus on top quality online streaming of the race and Cullinane aims to “give the cycling media a compelling package to cover the race, including start lists, top contenders, pre-race hype and then results and photos within two hours of the finish”. With these approaches and a constant commitment to quality and community, Cullinane hopes to have full fields and an ever improving bike racing product for years to come.
Gila’14 St.1: Team Jamis-Hagens Berman were strong all day and dominated the podium with Daniel Jaramillo, Matt Cooke, and Gregory Brenes Obando going 1, 2, 3 after a massive 50-rider crash smashed the bunch to pieces
Building for the Future
The main source of inspiration for this article series was the steady stream of dire predictions about the future of road racing in North America – the gnawing refrain of “road is dead” coming from media and stakeholders alike. But when I asked this elite crew of race directors about the road ahead, that overwhelming pessimism was decidedly absent. Instead, most evinced confidence in their own events, all built on steady foundations of unwavering community support. In terms of the future of domestic road racing in general, there was a common desire for collaboration to create new opportunities for success. Overall, there is a kind of buoyant feeling that if successful elements and approaches are shared and implemented – a resurgence in racing will be possible. It seems like a natural conclusion – whether it is for criterium racing, one day road events or stage racing, effective cooperation can have a universal positive impact.
Inevitably there are still concerns, chief among them is the desperate need for an influx of youth in race management as a whole. While there are exceptions, many race directors and key staff are looking forward to retirement after many years at the helm and it proves difficult to convince the next generation to step into such a demanding field of work.
But maybe getting involved shouldn’t be such an improbable pitch to young people. With each interview for this piece, my respect for the profession grew and its appeal shone brighter. Few pursuits in life can match the opportunity to make such a positive impact on so many people, racers and community members alike. It is a job filled with stress, uncertainty and struggle, but for most that sounded like part of the draw. As Tour of the America’s Dairyland director Bill Koch said after fifteen years of race promotion, “it has always been an adventure worth going on”.
The 2023 Armed Forces Cycling Classic professional bicycle race is 25 years old. The race is held over two days with Sunday being the Clarendon Cup, considered one of the hardest criteriums in the United States
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