A Perfect Ten:
How Jim Marino Leads the Broad Street Run to 10 Mile Precision
by Melissa Field

Jim Marino knows a few things about how to organize a great race.  As director of the Blue Cross Broad Street Run, Marino understands that it’s more than just a fast course and the possibility of a PR that keeps runners coming back to the 10 mile race each May.  On the national level, in fact, it is the Broad Street Run that holds the best 10 mile time ever recorded in the US.  But Broad Street’s popularity delivers a range that includes first timers as well as elites.  From 1998 to 2006, the Blue Cross Broad Street Run has more than doubled in size, from 6,742 to 15,389 participants. Last year, the race swelled to over 18,000!  This surge in entrants was one of the reasons Road Race Management selected Marino (along with AT&T Austin Marathon director, John Conley) as the 2006 Race Director of the year. 

More participants, however, incite an array of new and expansive logistical concerns and if anyone ever thought race directing was easy, one look at the heat wave debacle at the 2007 Chicago Marathon negates that belief.  Luckily for the Broad Street runners, Marino sees race directing as a joy.  While many races, such as the ING New York City Marathon, rely on management from a running club, responsibility for the Blue Cross Broad Street Run falls exclusively on the City of Philadelphia Recreation Department. 

Marino, like all other Department of Recreation employees working on the Blue Cross Broad Street Run, has other responsibilities.  Surprisingly, no one city employee works solely on the race full-time.  In addition to directing the race, Marino was also named Assistant Director of the Mummers Parade and the Emergency Preparedness Director for the Recreation Department in 2006.  Prior to those appointments, he served as the volunteer coordinator for the Philadelphia Marathon for 12 years.  Marino is a Philadelphia native.  He and his wife, Gerri, have two children: Allison age 10 and Christopher age 6.  Marino has been with the Recreation Department for 29 years.  He started by working with the city playgrounds and moved his way up through the ranks.  In 1984, he joined the Broad Street Run Committee.  His first assignment: turning on the fire hydrants for the sprinklers during the race.  Now, 24 years later, Marino is an award-winning race director and sits on the Mid-Atlantic USA Track and Field Long Distance Running Committee.

Marino is quick to pass the credit for Broad Street’s success onto Independence Blue Cross, the Philadelphia Daily News, additional sponsors, city employees, and a mass of volunteers.  The local race that began with 1,500 runners in 1980 now relies on as many as 125 city employees and 60 volunteer groups.  The American Cancer Society is the race’s main beneficiary.  Volunteers come from local running clubs, but they also come from local high schools and scout troops.  The Blue Cross Broad Street Run rewards these groups with a stipend to put back into their organization.  This is just one of the many ways that the race maintains its reputation as community event.  Many of the proceeds are put back into the race with the goal of keeping registration prices low and runner satisfaction high.  Perhaps that is why roughly 12,000-14,000 racers come from the Tri-State area, making the Blue Cross Broad Street Run a Philadelphia tradition. 

Marino knows that meticulous attention to detail is the only way to deliver a great race.  He studies other races, particularly other 10 milers like the Credit Union Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run in Washington, DC, and notes what keeps runners happy and excited about the racing experience.  Marino also observes race day and listens to runners’ concerns.  Several years ago, he found that runners finishing later weren’t getting any food at the large, picked-over tables.  To rectify that problem, he now has race volunteers provide one bag of food per finisher. 

A surge in women’s running is another reason why Broad Street, like many other races, witnessed a rapid increase in registered runners.  Over the past three years, the number of women runners shot up to such an extent that the Blue Cross Broad Street Run is now nearly 50 percent women.  For Marino, this translates into more porta-potties, women’s apparel, women-focused sponsors, and partnerships with other local women’s athletic events.  As the race approaches its 30th year anniversary, Marino is looking at what happens when the entire course is saturated and the event utilizes the full width of the street.  Such high numbers may mean eventually moving to a wave start or capping the number of entrants. 

In the world of race directing, large numbers can mean big headaches but it’s Marino’s attention to detail—and his ability to navigate through unforeseen changes—that keeps the Blue Cross Broad Street Run among the nation’s top 10 milers.  So what advice does this award-winning race director have for this year’s runners?  Come prepared!  Read all of the supplied race materials and arrive properly trained.  Runners must be able to run a sub-15 minute mile to participate in the race.  Begin your training months in advance and when race day arrives, don’t forget your timing chip and safety pins for your race bib.  As Marino himself has learned, race day success is wholly dependent on the details.

For more information, go to www.broadstreetrun.com.