Q&A with Race Director Tanya Campbell: What actually goes into race day?

Everyone loves race day, but what actually goes into it? Happy Valley Women’s Cycling sponsors all kinds of events, including all four Seasons of Rothrock races. Here is a quick overview of all that goes into a race from a sit down with Tanya Campbell, race director and promoter.

Q: You’ve raced all around the USA. Why did you decide to start hosting races in the State College, PA area?

A: I have raced many different style of organized races. Rothrock State Forest deserves to be hi-lighted and recognized as one of the best areas for technical mountain biking, as well as one of the key places to ride gravel.

Providing a quality race experience where you receive something for your registration fee is always one of my top priorities. I have ridden in races where I felt like a paycheck and not a person. I wanted to provide a race experience that supports and celebrates the athletes from first to last, start to finish.

Having a locally, community hosted race event is important to me. Our community deserves to reap the benefits of hosting others to race in Rothrock.

Q: Between promoting, getting food, organizing volunteers, course set up and more, what takes the most amount of prep that no one sees on the back end? 

A: I would have to say that behind the scenes all of the permit requirements, race day logistics, and organizing volunteers takes up a large part of pre-race planning.

Q: What excites you the most on race day as a race director?

A: As a racer myself, I know that every person has a different purpose for registering to race. Providing a safe, supportive, and challenging experience to each rider is my top priority. When this is accomplished, every individual’s race experience, and also collectively, is the greatest reward a director could have.

Q: How do you see races in the State College, Pennsylvania area helping the community as a whole?

A: Seeing the community come out for a healthy activity from all over is helpful for the community. With racing in Pennsylvania, we can ride all year. This means that people are active and on their bikes getting the benefits of physical fitness all four seasons, and the four races we do “Seasons of Rothrock” promotes this healthy lifestyle. What’s more is that when people come to town for races from other places, we get to share our piece of beautiful mountainsides with them. From volunteers to the racers themselves, our races are a benefit to the local community as a whole.

To learn about the Seasons of Rothrock races, head over to our website that explains more on each session.  Sign up for our 2022 final race: Session IV at Tussey Mountain this December if you haven’t yet! Get out on your mountain bike with us at Happy Valley Women’s Cycling and experience a fun race day for yourself!