Race for Competition

I mentioned this brainstorm a short while back, and Spencer expressed interest. I've inquired with my coach, who in addition to hanging out around a bunch of races himself, has successfully put on a fun 5K twice in a row. Here are his (edited and [editorialized]) thoughts as to things one must do to bring a small race together:

"I put on the 5k last year in just 4 months, but only had 73 runners. If you have the ability to promote it well enough to get 300+ runners, then the extra 2 months should help.

Here are the considerations:

permits -- different rules depending on where you go; Rock Creek Park is a pain in the neck [the Capital CrescentTowpath are Park Service properties, but possibly easier to permit?]
liability insurance -- Road Runners Club of America offers
police/ road closures [if we raced on the Capital Crescent Trail or Canal Towpath, out and back from Georgetown, this would be obviated]
timing [research assistant with a stopwatch!]
t-shirts including logo design -- this takes the most time [Mike gave me a contact for this]
portable toilets
website [presumably, if Spencer is serious about the Institute sponsoring, we could house the website there]
registration process [the ideal would be to have registration through the Antitrust Section as a ~$30 add-on to the Spring Meeting registration]
awards/ raffles (sponsors/logos for shirt)
volunteers [can we talk DC-area antitrust profs into rounding up students?]
water for course [same -- for a 5K you need one table at the turn-around]
post-race food ($1 per runner)
logo design
packet pickup location [Spring Meeting registration, also 1 hour before the start]"

I would think the first step, if one were to try this, would be to get ABA Antitrust Section buy-in. I'm assuming that's hard to do -- anybody have any experience interloping in their party?