The TC Mile Goes to the Dogs

Last Thursday evening I took Stella and her friend, Tess, on a walk along Nicollet Mall. Stella(pictured here) is our 11-year old Beagle. Tess is a friend's Beagle who we often Beaglesit while her owner is out of town. The stroll gave the dogs their daily exercise and a chance to view the TC Mile from the vantage point of a spectator.

Road miles have become the "in" event for race promoters recently. The Twin Cities are in a unique position in that they have the designation as the USATF Championships this year and for the next three years. Thus giving the event the "gravitas" of being a championship, not just a bunch of unknown runners dashing down the street. This year, in fact, there was an even more attractive "media hook" as both of the US's top marathoners, Kara Goucher and Ryan Hall, were in the state. Ryan came to support his wife, Sara, who finished second in the women's race at the TC Mile. Kara was on her way to Duluth to speak at a Fitness event sponsored in part by Grandma's Marathon.

Both were fresh off of fine performances at this year's Boston Marathon. Both are attractive, articulate spokespeople for the sport. It seemed to be a great opportunity for Grandma's, TCM, and USATF to pool their resources and stage some sort of media event featuring these runners that might have played in the local media along with the daily Twins' play by play and whether or not Brett Favre will come out of retirement to play for the Vikings. This isn't a criticism of any of the aforementioned organizations, as it might not have been logistically possible or something that the local media was ready to go for, but rather just an observation about a potential way to gather some more visibilty for the elite end of the sport.

The exposure the event did get was from the general public who were enjoying a nice meal on a beautiful spring evening in downtown Minneapolis. The various restaurants along the mall that featured outdoor tables were packed with people who got to view some of the finest runners in the Twin Cities and the US flying down the street. Aside from commenting on how cute the two Beagles were, I could see the interest on the faces of the spectators in what was happening in front of them. Who were these runners? What was this event?

It seems like a natural that both the restaurant owners and the TC Mile folks could develop some sort of mutually beneficial cross promotion as this event matures and becomes a fixture in the yearly calendar in Minneapolis. At the Tour de France, for example, before the riders come through each town along their routes a caravan of sorts comes through town informing the people of what will follow and allowing the various sponsors of the event to promote their products. The Tour is so well established that it isn't necessary to inform the town folk about the event or the riders. Many of the die hard fans write the names of the riders in chalk on the roadway along with messages of support.

How much of that could be done in an event like the TC Mile is uncertain, but a couple of things could be considered to maximize the exposure and educate the public to what they are viewing. Near where the outdoor dining crowds are located, a station could be set up with a loudspeaker and an announcer who could do live commentary on what everyone was viewing, create some excitement, and get the diners into the event.

The event organizers could event print up flyers for the elite competition listing who is running in the championship event along with short bios on the athletes. They could be handed out by race volunteers along the street or offered to the restaurant owners, who could do a TC Mile night promotion. As we walked back after the race, we could see that many of the runners had topped off their evening by having dinner at one of the mall restaurants, so the owners already know that the event has a positive economic impact on their business.

Another possibility for exposure is to add a short "celebrity sprint" event to the evening. Run it right around 6:15-6:30 PM in time for the evening news and have the sprint finish right in front of the WCCO studio so one of their people could do a stand up with the race participants. Make it a celebrity match race between, say for this year, Al Franken and Norm Coleman, winner take all in the Senate race. Or with a sports theme of who is the fastest Viking with some of the players going for the title. Or team up with the University of MN and have a similar challenge for one of their sports teams.

Sports these days is all about entertainment if you want to break into the media cycle and reach a large audience, so if the goal is to broaden the appeal and visibility of the sport to the general public, events such as the TC Mile have the potential to enhance the public image of the sport by adding a little "glitz". As for Stella and Tess, when they heard about the prize money on offer for the two legged contestants, they wanted a four legged division.

$4,000 would buy a lot of dog food, and for a Beagle it's all about the food.