How to go from volunteering at races to directing championship races

By Henry Howard

Paulo Medina helped out at races for a few years before having the opportunity to direct one. Spurred on by that experience, Medina became a race director himself and now is the Singletrack Running RD.

His company puts on a variety of races, including the Fourmidable 50K, which also offers a 35K, half marathon and 13K. The 50K, which has been a championship race and serves as a selection race for Team USA, has a total accumulative climbing of over 6,000 feet.

Medina is looking to bring back his 24-hour race that paused during COVID but with a new twist — racing on trails instead of the track.

For his contributions to the trail and ultra running community he is my featured race director for January, the 25^th in this series. In January 2024, I kicked off this monthly feature to pay tribute to the trail and ultra race directors who make the sport great. To see previous RDs featured, they are all available here. If you have any nominations, feel free to email me here or fill out this form.

Paulo Medina, Singletrack Running race director

Question: Why did you get into race directing?

Answer: I started race directing back in 2013. Back then I saw the opportunity for events that were not being organized in the our area. I wanted to put on events that focused on the difficulty and rawness of ultra running.

Question:  How did you go from volunteering at races to directing championship races?

Answer: Back from 2011 to 2013, I worked as a helper for a race directing company called ERT, after a few years I was given the role of directing a race and eventually moved on to start my own race directing company which is when Singletrack Running began.

Question: What's the most interesting thing you've learned about yourself since you became an RD?

Answer: I don’t think I ever sat down and thought about what I have learned about myself from RDing. If I had to put my finger on a single thing is that I am creative and very self motivated. There is no book that shows a single path to RDing, so a lot of the process has to be created from nothing.

Question: What's your best piece of advice for someone who wants to become an RD?

Answer: Participate in events and volunteer a lot, which will give you a better insight of every aspect of RDing and what each role requires.

Question: What's your favorite race to direct?

Answer: Each race has its great moments. I don’t have a single race that is my favorite to direct, but I have small things from each race that are my favorite.

Question: What's your favorite race to run?

Answer: I never had a favorite race to run, but I had favorite distances. I always enjoyed the half marathon and 50K distance. The half marathon is short enough that you can push at 100%, and the 50K distance is long enough that requires some strategy, but it doesn’t take more than a day.

Question: Tell me about a funny experience as an RD and what you learned from it.

Answer: I ran over my friend’s bicycle while cleaning up after a race. We all learned not to lean the bike over the front of a tall vehicle.

Question: If a runner can only do one of your races ever, it would be ...

Answer: Ruck a Chuck 50K is such a beautiful course in the spring. The race is really well priced, under $80 if you sign up early. We limit the field to 100 runners so it doesn’t feel overcrowded.

Question: What exciting project do you have in the works?

Answer: We are working to bring back our 24-hour race that went away during COVID but with a new twist — we are moving to the trails instead of the track.

Question: Where can runners find out more about your races?

Answer: https://singletrackrunning.com