Job opportunity - Race Director
We are recruiting a race director to join our team on a full-time and permanent basis with a view to the successful candidate starting with us in the Autumn of 2023.
EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES
Selection of staff is made on a competitive basis. We are committed to promoting diversity and the principle of equal employment opportunities for all our employees and encourage candidates to apply irrespective of religion or belief, ethnic or social background, gender, gender identity, disability, and all other protected characteristics.
ABOUT OUREA EVENTS
We’re the small (10-person) permanent staff who organise the UK’s most challenging off-road running events including the Montane Dragon’s Back Race®, Cape Wrath Ultra®, Salomon Skyline Scotland®, SCARPA Great Lakeland 3Day™, SILVA Northern Traverse™ and Kendal Mountain Festival 10K Trail Run. We work year-round, primarily from a rural office near Kendal, and our passion is the outdoors.
Help us deliver world-class event ©No Limits Photography
JOB DETAILS
Location: Kendal, Cumbria
Position type: Full-time 40hrs/week
Anticipated start date: Autumn 2023
Applications are open until: Monday 31st July 2023
Salary: £28,350 FTE
JOB DESCRIPTION
We are looking for a highly motivated individual to take a key leadership role in the business delivering the course operations of our world-class events. The successful candidate will have many years of race management experience and an intuitive understanding of our events and adventure sports activities in the mountains. The type of person we are seeking will understand that the hard work of being a successful Race Director comes from meticulous planning and preparation beforehand. With a natural attention to detail, this is someone who excels under the pressure of an immovable event deadline.
There will be an extended handover period with Shane Ohly (who has been the Race Director for all our events since 2012), throughout the 2024 event season to ensure that the ethos and culture associated with our events remain consistent.
This role is based in our Kendal office with ad hoc working from home possible. This role will also require a commitment from the candidate to attend our events in person and spend time away from home meeting stakeholders and working on course operations. Additional and adjusted responsibilities to those listed should be expected in keeping with an ever-evolving small business. The successful candidate would also be entitled to the company pension scheme, TOIL payments for any days worked on events, and the company bonus scheme. There is a generous annual leave allowance.
ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Event Planning
Our Race Director is the lead person in the business planning the course operations and securing the necessary permissions for each event. This role includes:
Responsible for course planning and design. Including in-depth reviews of all course-related data post-event with the goal of constant course improvements. This will include time spent checking courses on the ground.
Responsible for updating the course operations section of the Event Safety Management Plan for each event.
Updating and creating operational plans, contingency plans, and health and safety-related documentation for all course-related operations for each event.
Responsible for the management of the course timings that impact staff rotas, cut-offs and guidance times for each event.
Updating and liaising with our mapping partners to manage the production of each event map.
Building long-term relationships with our course-related event stakeholders that include landowners, farmers, estates, regulatory authorities, and community groups, including obtaining stakeholder permissions where required.
Maintaining accurate records of stakeholders' relationships and agreements.
Responsible for liaising with our ecologist and engaging with ecological issues to ensure consent is in place from relevant agencies.
Working with external race timing and GPS tracking partners to ensure that a robust system for recording results and tracking is in place for each event.
Working with the wider Marketing team to ensure that the event websites accurately reflect our current course operational plans, such as course timings, cut-offs, rules, maps and more.
Coordinating the recruitment and resource planning of personnel for our event teams including the mountain safety team, response teams, race control, course operations team and any other course-related requirements.
Preparing significant pre-event documentation relating to all Course Operations, including emergency planning for the Race Control team.
Event Delivery
Our Race Director is the lead person in the business delivering the course operations at each event. This role includes:
Briefing and management of all course-deployed personnel including course marshals, checkpoint and support point teams, professional mountain leaders and technical safety teams throughout each event, and ensuring the completion of daily onsite tasks.
Continuous assessment of course safety for both participants and course-deployed staff throughout each event, including the ongoing review of the course contingency plans.
Coordinating with our race timing and GPS tracking partners to ensure that results are accurate and instant, and that safety management data is correct. This includes reviewing and resolving all anomalies with the timing, results and tracking data.
Liaising with the Operations Team to support the coordination of all course logistics, transport, and participant movements.
Liaising with the Race Control Team throughout each event to support the emergency operations of the Response Team, and any other course-related teams.
Provide leadership on all matters relating to course safety.
Developing in-depth on-the-ground knowledge of each of our race routes.
Upholding the ethos of each event and ensuring that the event rules are applied fairly and universally to all participants.
Briefing and leadership of the wider event team that carries out course-related tasks, such as managing the start/finish area and kit checks.
CANDIDATE REQUIREMENTS
Mandatory
Minimum of five years of experience in race organisation.
Intuitive understanding of our events stemming from a personal background of participating in trail, mountain, fell and/or orienteering events.
In-depth understanding of the mountain environment including the risks, challenges and rewards of participating in adventure sports activities.
Demonstrable personal competency in the mountain environment.
Experience in writing event health and safety documentation including risk assessments and method statements.
Fluent in written and spoken English.
Full UK driving licence and willingness to drive various event vehicles.
Comfortable working outdoors in all weather and camping at events.
Desirable
We recognise that no one candidate is likely to have all the desirable experience outlined below, and therefore we’ll take an open-minded view about the skills and experience of all candidates and how they relate to this role.
Experience in project management.
Proficient in Microsoft 365.
Proficiency with Apple computers and operating systems.
Experience in route design using cartography software such as OCAD.
Experience in the manipulation and publication of GPX data.
A National Governing Body award relating to working professionally in the outdoors such as Summer Mountain Leader or higher qualification.
A higher education qualification in event management.
A health and safety qualification.
A first aid qualification.
CANDIDATE APPLICATIONS
Questions. Informal questions are also welcome via the email address below.
Applications. Applications are accepted by email with a covering letter showing your suitability for the role and how you meet the job description, and a CV to [email protected]
Interviews. Interviews will be held in person at our Kendal office on 16th, 17th and 18th August 2023. An outline of the interview questions will be sent out in advance, along with a short task to prepare.
Autumn Events and Start Date. We will require the successful candidate to visit us at the Montane Dragon’s Back Race® (4th to 9th of September) and/or Salomon Skyline Scotland® (16th and 17th September) so that they have a sense of our events prior to starting their role in the Autumn of 2023.