By Dianna Parkman, Running USA Human Resources Consultant
Got HR questions? Dianna Parkman is available as a resource! Active members of Running USA can email her at humanresources@runningusa.org to set up a consultation call.
For road race producers, the middle of the event season can feel less like a midpoint and more like a nonstop series of deadlines. Teams may already have months of permit work, vendor coordination, participant communications, travel, early mornings and long event weekends behind them, but have another stretch of critical fall races still ahead. That makes this an important time for managers to pause and check in, not just on whether the next event is on schedule, but on how the people producing it are doing.
Burnout rarely happens overnight. It often shows up gradually over time.
A team member who is normally energized by race season may start becoming withdrawn or less responsive. Deadlines may slip, communication with vendors or partners may become strained, details that are normally caught early may get missed, or someone who consistently goes above and beyond may suddenly seem to have nothing left to give.
Research from Gallup and SHRM points to several workplace conditions closely associated with burnout, including unmanageable workloads, unclear communication, lack of manager support and unreasonable time pressure. Those conditions can be especially easy to create in an industry built around fixed event dates, seasonal peaks and hard race-day deadlines.
So what can managers do?
Start with a real conversation. Instead of simply asking, “How are you doing?” ask more specific questions: Which event, deadline or responsibility is taking up most of your time right now? Where is the biggest production bottleneck? Are race-week priorities and ownership clear? What can wait until after the event? Is there anything we can stop, delegate or shift to another team member?
In race production, almost everything can feel urgent as event day approaches. But if everything is urgent, nothing truly is.
Managers can reduce stress by separating true race-day essentials from work that can wait. Permits, course safety, participant communications and critical vendor needs may require immediate attention; lower-priority projects often do not. When possible, protect some recovery time after major event weekends rather than immediately filling the next day with meetings and another full slate of deadlines.
HR and managers should not wait until someone is completely overwhelmed before taking action. Changes in attendance, engagement, communication, work quality or energy can be early signals that a conversation is needed, especially after back-to-back race weekends, heavy travel periods or an unusually demanding event build.
Don’t forget the race directors, operations leads and other managers. They are often supporting the entire team while also carrying their own deadlines, vendor issues, staffing decisions and race-day responsibilities. Managers who are always the first on site, the last to leave and immediately moving on to the next event may have little opportunity to recharge themselves. A manager with no capacity left may also struggle to recognize burnout in others.
Preventing burnout in the running event industry is not about eliminating every stressful week. Race production will always include intense periods. It is about managing those peaks intentionally: setting reasonable expectations between events, making priorities and ownership clear, cross-training where possible, giving staff room to speak up when something is not working and building recovery into the season rather than treating it as an afterthought.
A thoughtful check-in between events can prevent a much bigger employee engagement, performance or retention issue later in the season—and help make sure the team that delivers a great race experience for participants can sustain that pace throughout the year.
Should you have any questions, feel free to reach out! (Email Dianna at humanresources@runningusa.org)