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Location:
London, ON, CA
Event size:
500-999 participants
Over $500,000 raised over 5 years with 810 runners in 2018
Supporting YMCA Camp Queen Elizabeth in memory of Jordan Strickland
Free & On-Demand website creation, best practice support and other tools helped a budget conscious event get started
First time run/walk organizers took advantage of endurance industry expertise

Event overview

Jordan’s Run the Runway is an annual 5 km run/walk and kiddie trot in London, Ontario, Canada. The event starts at 6:30pm and runs until 9pm at the London International Airport. They provide t-shirts for the 5K, medals for Kids Run, BBQ, Beer, Wine & FREE PARKING! A reception is hosted after the event in the Diamond Aircraft Hanger with food, beer, silent auction and great prizes.

Charity

Over $500,000
raised over 5 years
Jordan Strickland Family Endowment – the endowment provides financial assistance through our YMCA Strong Kids program for children to participate specifically in YMCA Camp Queen Elizabeth, or to provide annual capital finances as needed by the camp.

Challenges

  1. Never organized a fundraising run/walk – first timers
  2. Low Retention – replacing a large number of past runners with new runners
  3. Marketing and tracking outcomes of some digital advertising

As first time organizers of a run/walk fundraising event, it was difficult to know where to start and find the appropriate best practices, technology tools and partners to help make this successful.

The results

  • Year 1 – Raised $66,675 & 600 runners
  • Year 2 – Raised $77,325 & 686 runners
  • Year 3 – Raised $109,162 & 708 runners
  • Year 4 – Raised $121,551 & 720 runners
  • Year 5 – Raised $134,268 & 810 runners

The event began with a collaboration between Jordan’s mother Janice who wanted to host a 5km run, the YMCA suggesting an endowment and Jordan’s father, Paul, who works for a local law firm. The law firm agreed to “host the event” to ensure that YMCA would have a seat at the organizing table. After year two, the YMCA took over as the main organizer leading to a banner year.

“We formed a true partnership with Race Roster and in our three years the event has raised over $250,000. Their team challenges us to think differently, the technology accommodates our ideas, and they help us navigate the world of run/walk events.”

Christina HarleyYMCA of Western Ontario

Our solution

Seeking Best Practices for Endurance Events

As first time event organizers, Jordan’s Run the Runway leaned on Race Roster to learn about course measurement and certification, timing services, and ordering a start/finish line. Their experience around pricing a run/walk and how to meet runners’ expectations helped the YMCA immensely.

Leveraging the Best Technology Tools

With a combination of Self-Serve software option and Race Roster assistance to build the event website, there were benefits of time saving where there would be a typical back and forth with internal IT or developers. The YMCA took advantage of custom registration questions, social media plugins, online fundraising for teams, and individual pledge pages.

Growing & Scaling with the Event

Race Roster was able to help with online Facebook marketing and tracking to see how well we were doing with our conversation rates and media spending. In the fourth year, replacing a large number of past year’s runners with new runners will likely be the biggest challenge thus far.

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