Promise of a New Year

Now that 2014 is behind us, we like most of you are looking forward to 2015.  For Athlete Guild, it promises to be our best year ever.  The last two years for us has been an incredible growth period.  That has come with a lot of challenges but also a lot of opportunities.  We've had the pleasure of working with so many of you through timing, event managment, or just simply personal involvement in the event.  You see, all of the staff at Athlete Guild are competitors as well so while most of the time we are behind the scenes, many times we are toeing the line as

There's Gold in them hills

I was reading a runner forum recently and came across a post where someone mentioned that putting on a race was easy and lots of money could be made.  His comment was certainly naive because he thought that all you had to do was charge a fee, put some water out and you had a race.  He obviously had never been behind the scenes of a race to see what really takes place.  For me, it was an amusing comment but it was a also a little concerning.  I think there is a perception among the race participants that races are making a killing off of registrations and that all of the

Blame The Timer

In my career as a race timer, I have personally timed over 500 events and our company well over 1000.  I have also talked with timers across the country who do a lot of events.  One thing that I have learned is that regardless of the equipment used or timer, there is not one out that hasn't experienced a bad race.  As a timer, we do everything that we can to make sure that everything runs smoothly.  Unfortunately, sometimes things simply go south and there are problems.  For a timer, there is nothing more frustrating than showing up to an event and having equipm

Chip timing demystified

It has been a busy year for Athlete Guild.  We have timed over 200 events this year and continually get questions all of the time about how things work or in some cases don't.  I thought a brief explanation was in order.  A lot of this is from a blog I wrote over a year ago, but it is still relevant.

Here We Go!

We are so excited to be starting our adoption adventure with this run! Our team is growing, along with the pressure to start training hard. For us, this first step of the journey is a commitment to live active, healthy lives with our children. A HUGE thanks to our team out there training hard in the heat -- you rock!

More of our story coming soon!

Love, 

Heidi, Eric, & Piper

Technology and Innovation

As a business owner and innovator, I'm constantly looking for ways to improve our services and provide a better experience for our customers.  As an event management company, our primary customer of course are the non-profits and other organizations that host events.  As an event coordinator, our customers are also those of you who participate in our events.  Technology plays a big role in what we are able to do.

Cool Under Pressure

I just got back from an annual conference for Jaguar timers and can't remember a better and more memorable experience.  It is always great to see and visit other timers from around the world.  It's a time where we learn about new technology and brush up on our techniques.  Jaguar is the product line from Innovative Timing Systems; the company that we buy our hardware and software from for timing races.  In my personal opinion, they are the best in the world and produce great products.  As their name implies, they are incredibly innovative and are always look

Looking Back and Moving Forward

I always look forward to the change of year.  It is a time for reflection as well as looking forward.  2013 for us was an incredible year and we have many of you to thank for that.  Our growth rate for the event management and timing business far surpassed anything that we would have dreamed.  There were many lessons to be learned both good and bad and those will help shape the future of our company.

Running Bandit

We were timing a large marathon in South Texas this past weekend and I was amazed at the number of bandits in the race.  At first we were a little concerned because a lot of people were crossing our split points and then the finish line, but our equipment wasn't recording their times.

Holiday Runs

For many athletes, this is one of the best times of the year for running and especially participating in local events. You can tell by the number of people that come out to run in the Jingle Bell runs and other holiday themed events that it is a really popular time of year. The weather is certainly cooler and the festive atmosphere and charity component of these events help make them well attended.