Pi Day Half-Marathon and Pi-Miler Planning Meeting

Jan. 28, 2013 by Colinda "Cat Hawk" Thompson

Originally published on Jan. 29, 2013

January 27, 2013

Attending: Caroline Wroczynski, Justin Henning, Justin Douglas, Chris Wristen, Jeff Triplett, Nicole Green, Colinda Thompson

Caroline, our Pi Day Race Director, stated that the Pi Day race is scheduled for Sunday, March 10, 2013. The Pi Miler is 3.14 miles and begins at 8 a.m. Awards will be given at 8:45 a.m. The Half Marathon begins at 9 a.m. The packet pickup will be on Saturday, March 9th, the day before the race from 12-6 p.m. at Garry Gribbles in Lawrence.

Caroline discussed the flyers and registration forms that she has prepared and handed out several for us to post at our jobs or other places in town. She has already received some entry forms for both races. Caroline has reserved two port-a-potties and a sink at this time for approximately $213.35. She may reserve one more port-a-potty, depending on how many people sign up for the races. The additional one is $68.58.

Caroline stated she will order approximately 100 Road ID race bibs for the Half Marathon and 100 race bibs for the Pi Miler. She will contact Art King regarding our donation to the Lawrence Mountain Biking Club for our use of the Lawrence River Trails for our race. She will pay the permit fee (approximately $35.00) for use of the river trails.

Caroline will see if she can rent the timer, clock, and race chute from Run Lawrence. She will rent several portable heaters for use around the registration table. She will need to obtain volunteers from the Lawrence Trail Hawks for parking and other jobs. She said she will also contact the KU Math Club and students from the Dole Institute to see if they are interested in volunteering. Caroline stated that there will be a window of time (approximately 7:45-8:20) during the Pi Miler (and another time period during the Half Marathon) where people will not be to drive their cars to the River Trails parking lot. Caroline asked if we should let the neighbors know about the race, and it was determined that some flyers or door to door knocking before the race day would be helpful.

Caroline has several pie making volunteers and will determine how many pies we need closer to race day. Celestial Bakery has volunteered to be a race sponsor and will also donate pies to the event. Caroline is still looking for a volunteer to be our medical personnel for the race. Chris Wristen stated he may do the photography for our race (if he does not run the race). If he runs the race, we will ask our back-up photographer. Justin D said that he and Gary H. will take care of course marking.

Caroline stated we are out of Race Packets/bags and asked if she can order more and change the color. The Board approved her to order more bags. It was discussed that she would try to order them in red/blue (KU) colors this time.

Caroline is looking into long-sleeved technical t-shirts for this race. She has contacted Pacifica, American Impressions and Atayne. She will decide which vendor to pick and purchase approximately 100 shirts for the half marathon and 50 shirts for the Pi Miler. She discussed picking a different design for each race, but the Board suggested it will be simpler if she just picks one t-shirt design for both races. It was left up to Caroline on which direction she wanted to go with the shirts.

Caroline is still trying to determine the prizes and awards for the race winners. The National Pie Council has offered to send a lifetime membership to their organization to the winner(s) of the race. Caroline will see how many they can offer.

She will keep the Board informed. Caroline asked Chris W. if he could write a press announcement for the different newspapers and social media outlets to try and get more race entrants. Early Registration ends on March 8, 2013.

The meeting was adjourned.

Minutes recorded by Colinda Thompson, Secretary.