For almost 50 years, Track Shack in Orlando has been a pioneer and a staple in the Central Florida running community. While the retail side of the business continues to flourish after 49 years, Central Florida has become a racing hub under the umbrella of Track Shack events.

One of the marquee races that the company hosts is the OUC Half-Marathon and 5K, which has featured professional runners such as Amanda Vestri, Reid Buchanan and, this year, Des Linden.

The company co-produces and times races held at Walt Disney World, including the Disney Marathon. And in a real high-profile event, the company also co-hosted the 2024 Olympic Marathon Trials in Orlando

As time has progressed, so has the company in the way that they conduct successful races, while also keeping a people-first mentality that gives participants the best experience.

Humble beginnings at the Shack

Jon Hughes, who owns the store with his wife Betsy Hughes, has been a co-owner of Track Shack since 1978. Jon admitted that race directing wasn’t anything that he originally planned to do early on in his career.

“The reason I was producing events back in the late ’70s was to promote our new store, Track Shack,” Jon tells Running Insight. “It was really a way to promote the sport and at the same time promote our store.”

In 1978, Track Shack created the Track Shack Running Series, which is now its premier road-racing competitive series that includes six races held across Central Florida from August through March. They helped with the development of the Winter Park Road Race 10K and also created and produced the Lady Track Shack 5K, which started in 1978.

In 1990, Jon and Betsy started the Track Shack Events business, which handles event management and marketing for the store. Since then, the pair has accumulated numerous awards, including Jon winning National Race Director of the Year honors in 1999 and Jon and Betsy’s recent induction into the Run Specialty Hall of Fame. Jon was the race director for the inaugural Disney World Marathon in 1994.

The evolution of technology is one of the ways the business has continued to maintain success. Jon says that when the team first started, they used to score runners by writing their names on index cards and time them with a stopwatch.

“When you think of those humble beginnings to where we are now, the transponder tag is already attached to your bib,” Jon explains. “You go run and you get scored. So on the technology side, we went from handwritten to barcodes.”

Changing of the guard

Alicia Albert joined the Track Shack Events team in 2015 as a senior event manager after working for the runDisney event team for seven years. She was promoted to senior event director for Track Shack Events in 2020 and now handles the day-to-day aspects of the business.

Albert and her team work constantly with municipalities, while gathering information from participants of the races that Track Shack puts on to continue to find creative and innovative ways to make the experience the best that it can be for each participant who signs up.

For Albert, effective communication and organization between the team she leads, as well as everyone involved in every aspect of the event, helps to bring value and success to the races that the company puts on.

“A successful event doesn’t grow just by itself in isolation,” Albert says. “It grows because the entire community sees the value in it and then wants to be a part of that success.”

Chris Hughes is the son of Jon and Betsy Hughes and is currently VP-business operations for Track Shack. Albert says the relationship between the retail side of the business with the event side plays a major role in the success of the store.

“So as these events are changing over time, it is so important for Chris and the retail store to be aligned with the event side,” Albert points out. “Those folks that are coming into that retail store need to be aware of what our goals are and so having that close relationship between the store is obviously the thread. You know what keeps everything succinct.”

Jon also credits Betsy for the impact she’s had in the store and in the events. With the operations element of the business happening in-house, the partnership between events and retail is very organic and the numbers show that it works.

“We are the packet pickup location and the correlation between when we have an event weekend and a regular weekend, it’s very obvious just in sales,” Jon says. “It’s always been a huge plus for the store and they work so well hand in hand. The store promotes the events and the events promote the store and you know it’s real.”

Albert and her team oversee 16 races yearly in Central Florida and manage the runDisney partnership. She admits that no two days are the same and that the risk of burnout is real. Albert tries to lead by example when it comes to prioritizing mental health and taking breaks when needed.

“Being on the forefront of planning those mental breaks and really focusing on yourself and what I want to be for my kids, that’s really what I’m focusing on,” Albert says. “I am consistently making sure that my team is doing that same thing.

Advice for race directors

One nugget of advice Albert offers to other race directors is to make sure that you have a clear and critical-thinking mind, especially when things may go awry, specifically on race day. She believes that it’s a key characteristic of a great race manager and event director.

Jon advises race directors to remember that safety comes first above all, even if it means less profit at the end of the day. He also urges leaders to invest in building the right team and put them in a position to succeed.

“Choose your team wisely,” Jon advises. “I had a guy who said, ‘If you put the right people on the bus, you can drive it anywhere.’ And I do believe that, so I think that’s one of the most important things — finding the right people and putting your trust in them.”