Runner experience plays a large part in the success of a running event by keeping runners coming back, with their friends, year after year. While it may seem obvious to mark each mile along your course, the appearance and size of the markings can make a big difference in runner satisfaction as no one wants to disrupt their mental game by missing a mile marker during the race. Custom mile markers designed specifically for your race and course, and corresponding with other running event signage pieces, are the perfect solution.
The two primary requirements for good mile markers are that they are easy to see and easily portable. Beyond that, mile markers can be designed and printed for the needs of your race course and budget.
Mile markers don’t have to be fancy or complicated to be effective. The Big Lake Half Marathon chose to use simple coroplast a-frames for their mile markers. The a-frames feature a large font in bright race branded colors to be easy to read from a distance and are lightweight for easy transport to their locations. They are also easy to break down and store for use from year to year.
Wind flags are another simple and effective signage solution for mile markers. They are lightweight, portable, and their height and movement in the wind makes them easy for runners to see as they approach and provide ample room for race branding and sponsor logos, or both. Wind flags are available in multiple sizes and styles to fit your exact needs for flag height, aesthetics, and wind load. Wind flags also come with different base options depending on whether you need the flag to stand on hard ground like asphalt or soft ground like grass or dirt on a trail. Falmouth Road Race and the Vermont City Marathon both use wind flags for their mile markers with Vermont City’s featuring sponsor logos and Falmouth’s featuring race colors and branding.
Mile markers can also be custom designed and sized for existing hardware setups. The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society used mile marker signs sized specifically to fit within the required hardware to display their race clock to ensure that both the clock and mile number were easy to see.
We also have the capability to customize a complete mile marker setup to fit your vision and budget. The Boston Athletic Association needed a signage and hardware solution for mile markers that could withstand any kind of weather that unpredictable New England Springs can throw at them. They were also looking for a way to display the specific mile, while also showing which of the 8 cities and towns along the well known course that the runners were in during that specific mile. The results were a sturdy but portable hardware setup that allowed a sign in the same design as the actual state of Massachusetts town line signs to be inserted into the top.
The Boston Athletic Association also decided to augment their mile markers to motivate runners in recent years by adding a street graphic to the course at mile 25.2 marking that there is only one mile to go in the race. That point in the course also falls near the iconic Citgo sign on the Boston skyline so they were also able to add sponsor inventory and revenue by including the Citgo logo on the street as well.
Thinking about adding custom mile markers to your running event or upgrading your current mile markers to something more convenient to move or easy to see? Give us a call; we are happy to discuss various options to find the best solution for your needs.
