As part of our ongoing effort to support thousands of running events and millions of runners, Race Roster, ASICS and the Runkeeper™ app have teamed up to offer an even more engaging and rewarding virtual event experience. By working together, we are building technology that will help races transition to a modified format and continue to bring joy to the communities they serve.
The Flying Pig Marathon with over 40,000 finishers in 2019, was one of America’s first large race weekends to modify their event in response to COVID-19. The organizing staff made the difficult decision to postpone their May 1st-3rd event to October and combine it with their existing Queen Bee Half Marathon. Pig Works – the non-profit organization responsible for producing both events is known in the industry for their creative marketing efforts and approached their crisis management plan with this same creativity and tenacity. They leveraged existing permits and created a new opportunity for runners in the “Snout & Stinger Challenge”. Challenge participants who complete the Queen Bee 4 Miler on Saturday and either the Flying Pig full or half marathon on Sunday will receive an additional medal and the participant amenities from both races. Participants have responded positively to the modification, thanking the Pig Works team for giving them options during a very uncertain time.
Race Roster and the Runkeeper team are confident in the tools we’ve built to help you offer an enhanced and seamless virtual event experience to your participants, keeping them healthy and connected during this time.
How does this virtual experience work?
The current offering allows event organizers to sync up their existing event with one of seven virtual race options in the Runkeeper app:
- 5K
- 8K
- 10K
- 10 mile
- Half marathon
- Marathon
- 50K
Follow these simple steps on how to transition your event into a virtual event experience and start accepting results.
Ready-to-go email template
To make this process as easy as possible, Race Roster has prepared a ready-to-go email campaign template you can use to welcome participants to your virtual event experience and communicate the process of submitting their results.
Shareable graphic
Share the graphic below with your participants—it outlines 5 easy steps to complete their race virtually and submit their official results to Race Roster.
We understand that some runners will prefer to run without a phone or wearable tracking device, so we’ve also made it easy for these runners to manually upload their time and be included on the event leaderboard.
ASICS teams up with local running stores to distribute offers on apparel and footwear to virtual runners
To top off the virtual experience, ASICS is teaming up with local running stores to help distribute offers and rewards to runners for their participation in virtual events. If your event is partnered with a running store that would like to distribute an offer to your virtual runners, please have them reach out to us at director@raceroster.com.
If your race isn’t affiliated with a running store, you can send your runners directly to ASICS.com where they can redeem a 15% discount off their next purchase. This offer can be distributed to runners who have signed up for your virtual event, or when they successfully submit a virtual result.
If your event is partnered with another athletic brand, we can support the distribution of discounts for them as well, simply reach out and we will coordinate!
