Houston Road Races and Results Reporting

Is it just me or am I the only one that really gets miffed about the lack of results reporting that goes on in the Bayou City?

We had a fairly well-attended 5K/10K - the BENeeezy Purple Monkey - down in Alvin last Saturday as well as the Cougar Classic at UH - and we've seen results on neither one. (I give the first-year event in Alvin a little bit of a break, but they used one of the computerized programs to print the results at the race site.)

I'll never do another Cougar Classic until I see them print some results. Last year, the event contact said that they would report results, but didn't.

I'm not griping for no reason whatsoever. Take a look at today's report from Run The Woodlands 5K #137. It is the most comprehensive race report you'll find and I'm darn proud to have the opportunity to do it!

I ran into much of the same apathy trying to get coverage for Texas private and parochial high school athletics. People and schools wanted the attention for their kids, but refused to do the work.

At the TAPPS state cross country meet one year, I hand-typed all of the results into a ASCII text file before I left the competition site, e-mailed it to the newspapers (I was always on the cutting edge at the time) and then the Events Director - a former two-time state championship track coach at Mart - marveled when the Austin American-Statesman covered a half page of agate with it.

The bottom line is: It is about getting the media what they want, when they want and in the format that they want it! Road racing is no different.

Events, in this case, want you to come and spend $20-$25 for a very deserving charity. I have no problem with that whatsoever. The event planner takes care of many things, but marvel when their event doesn't take off or receive any attention. Why? You have to get results out!

Other runners like to see what their competition is doing. To me, I don't really have any competition, but I like to congratulate the people that I know and comment on how they did when I get a chance to see them in person.

I don't agree with it, but I know one runner who uses another name at Run The Woodlands 5K when he thinks he isn't going to do so well. Personally, to me, that's a crock of bull!

And finally, there's a reason why I think Run-Far out of Austin is the best timing company in the state. The races that they time go straight up on their web site as well as being able to be seen through the results page at Runner Triathlete News.

Why is it that Run Wild Timing, here in Houston, can't do the same? Is it because they are the only game in town and nobody will challenge them to perform better?

Thanks for listening to me vent ... as I continue to wait for the chip time for Waverly's 5K from today! :)