PortaPottyBossPro Blog — Event Rentals & Booking

Races and Fun Runs: Booking Porta Potties for Start Lines, Finish Lines and Courses

Races are an unusual event job. The crowd is huge for a short time, everyone needs a restroom in the same twenty minutes before the start, and the whole thing is over by lunch. A race director who has to explain long lines at the start to a few hundred runners will not book you again. A race director whose start line ran smoothly will book you for every race on their calendar.

How Races Fit Into Your Event Work

Like the other jobs in this series, races follow the same path from quote to pickup. If you read Festival Porta Potty Bookings: Planning Units, Service and Pickup for Big Crowds, much of the planning will feel familiar: multiple banks, more than one placement, and a contact who is busy on the day. What makes races different is the timing and the course.

Races include 5Ks and fun runs, half and full marathons, triathlons, obstacle races, bike rides and charity walks. Some are one-off events. Most are annual, which makes race directors some of the best repeat customers you can have.

Questions for the Race Director

Ask for:

• The race date and start time, plus packet pickup times if that happens on site
• The expected number of participants and spectators
• The start and finish locations, which may be the same place or miles apart
• Whether they want units on the course, and at which aid stations or mile markers
• When the road or park opens to your truck and when it closes for the race
• Who the operations contact is on race morning, with a cell number

Road closures are the big one. If the start line is on a city street that closes at 5am, your units need to be there before the road closes, or the day before.

Start and Finish Banks

Most of your units belong at the start, because that is when everyone wants to use them. A smaller bank at the finish is common, especially if the start and finish are apart. Put hand wash stations with the banks. Ask about ADA accessible units for spectators and participants with mobility needs.

Write a placement note for each bank. "Start bank: 12 standard, 1 ADA, 2 hand wash, along the north curb of the parking lot, leave the fire lane clear. Finish bank: 4 standard, 1 hand wash, behind the medal tent." Those notes and the unit counts show on the driver's phone under the address.

Course Stops

A longer race may want one or two units at aid stations along the course. Each stop is its own address or a clear description: "Mile 6 aid station, gravel lot by the boat ramp." Make each one a separate job or a clearly labeled line so the driver sees them in order on the route. Auto-routing from the yard helps you set a sensible order, and you can drag stops if the course closures force a particular sequence.

Delivery Timing

Most race units go out the day before, especially when roads close early. Schedule the delivery jobs on the day before the race on the dispatch board. If a park or venue only opens at dawn on race morning, schedule a very early delivery and make sure the driver knows the gate details from the access notes.

The race director gets an automatic "on the way" text and an "arrived" text when the driver gets there. On race morning, that is one less thing they have to check on.

Quick Pickup

Races end early, and the park or street often needs to be cleared the same day. Ask when the units can be picked up. Some directors want them gone by mid-afternoon. Others are fine with the next morning. Schedule the pickup jobs to match, and note any time limits so the driver does not show up while runners are still on the course.

Rental tracking records the delivered and picked-up dates. If the director asks you to leave a bank at the start through a second event the next day, the extra days bill at your per-day rate automatically.

Billing and the Next Race

Race organizers are often nonprofits, running clubs or event companies. Some pay with a card at booking, some want an invoice. Either works: keep the card on file or send the invoice when the pickup is completed. Tag the client as Events and note the race name and month in a custom field, so next year you can reach out when registration opens instead of waiting for them to call.

Race directors talk to each other at every race. A start line with short lines and clean units is the best ad you can buy. To see how races fit with weddings, festivals and the rest of your event bookings, visit the event porta potty rental software page.