Discussion: getting newbies into adventure racing
in: Adventure Racing; General
Sep 17, 2013 12:57 AM
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I'm grateful for RDs who work tirelessly to put on 24+-hour adventure races. We need those races for the sport to survive. But we also need sprint races that bring newbies into the sport, races with strong promotional/social media campaigns and some sizzle to draw people away from the expensive, overrated obstacle course races. People will tire of those (we are seeing bankruptcies and smaller races fold already due to saturation) and they need to know there is a sport that is so much more incredible to participate in. Very few people even know what adventure racing is. Even the term adventure race has been stolen by obstacle course races that are the polar opposite from adventure racing in their structure and vibe.
Perhaps there are some current and potential race directors who might consider putting on these shorter races. I posted about this a year or two ago but I thought I would again to encourage others to explore this way to grow the sport and make some money at the same time. After two years, we are starting to see people make the jump to 8-12 hour races and we are helping new racers take baby steps by increasing some of our races from 4 hours up to 5 or 6 hours and by adding a 6-8 hour option. We aren't seeing many step up to the 24-hour race level, but we're confident it will happen in a few years.
We (I have three buddies who own 10% of the company and provide great input along the way and race-day help) started putting on the Grand Rapids Urban Adventure Race in 2011 (http://www.grUrbanAdventureRace.com). We have put on eight of these 4-hour races in that time frame. Our 4-hour races average 350 racers. We even get 350 during our winter race when the temps have been under 10 degrees F. We get several local sponsors to pitch in prizes and we partner with a charity at each race, trading a share of profits and awareness for a team of volunteers. Tecnu has agreed to be the title sponsors of of our Lake Michigan shoreline race next year thanks to Kyle from their adventure racing team who put in a good word for me. Newbies need Tecnu too!
We are very fortunate to get these large numbers and some of it may simply be our market and a real thirst for adventure here. But a big part of it is that we've altered the typical adventure race format in three primary ways: Duration, Distance, Draw and Design.
1) Duration. We keep the race short at 4 hours. Even that is intimidating to many, but we constantly reassure people of how doable the race is with dozens of mini-breaks along the way and a variety of disciplines/muscle groups used and then rested.
2) Distance. We keep the races near Grand Rapids so travel time and lodging is not a barrier. GR has a metro statistical area of 1 million so it's a decent market to draw from. We draw from Detroit, Chicago and northern IN but mostly West Michigan.
3) Draw. What really draws people to the race are the 6-8 Amazing Race-type challenges we've added to make the race more marketable. We promote the heck out of this aspect of the race. People "get it" when you position the race with Amazing Race language and the challenges are by far the biggest draw of the event. The 5-10 minute challenges are sometimes physical (fatbiking, snowshoeing, kayaking, swamp traverse, egg launch/catch), but often add a mental aspect (e.g., run a loop on a trail and memorize the order of the photos you see along the way). Nothing corny. No obstacles. Inexpensive (we borrow the fatbikes and snowshoes from local retailers in exchange for partial sponsorship).
4) Design. We use a rogaine format. This keeps racers spread out so only 6-8 stations are needed at challenges to avoid lines. When we have a canoe leg, we only need to rent 60-70 canoes for 350 racers because we contract with the livery to shuttle them back and forth with 2-3 trailers throughout the race. All CPs are optional. No one feels pressured by mandatory CPs. Get as many CPs as you can and make it back within four hours.
Have we "sold out" on AR by doing this? I don't think so. The race is still 100% navigation-based and open-course with trekking, mtn and road biking, orienteering and often canoeing. Some of the navigation is urban but a good amount of time is spent orienteering and mtb biking in nearby wilderness areas, primarily city, county or state parks. We offer free navigation clinics before the race and night orienteering events as practice.
I have been very fortunate to be able to quit my awful job and put on races full time (3 adventure races and 4 trail/fun runs each year). The investment to get started is minimal - website, branding, orienteering flags, insurance, etc. Some of it can be done self-taught or by friends. The Grand Rapids/West Michigan area has a strong network of active people but I think this is doable in other similar markets.
Anyways, feel free to respond or email me if this might be something you would like to explore, maybe for fun or maybe for part-time or full-time work. I would be happy to share what's worked for us as long as it grows the sport.
Best,
Mark VanTongeren
Michigan Adventure Racing
http://www.miadventureracing.com
Perhaps there are some current and potential race directors who might consider putting on these shorter races. I posted about this a year or two ago but I thought I would again to encourage others to explore this way to grow the sport and make some money at the same time. After two years, we are starting to see people make the jump to 8-12 hour races and we are helping new racers take baby steps by increasing some of our races from 4 hours up to 5 or 6 hours and by adding a 6-8 hour option. We aren't seeing many step up to the 24-hour race level, but we're confident it will happen in a few years.
We (I have three buddies who own 10% of the company and provide great input along the way and race-day help) started putting on the Grand Rapids Urban Adventure Race in 2011 (http://www.grUrbanAdventureRace.com). We have put on eight of these 4-hour races in that time frame. Our 4-hour races average 350 racers. We even get 350 during our winter race when the temps have been under 10 degrees F. We get several local sponsors to pitch in prizes and we partner with a charity at each race, trading a share of profits and awareness for a team of volunteers. Tecnu has agreed to be the title sponsors of of our Lake Michigan shoreline race next year thanks to Kyle from their adventure racing team who put in a good word for me. Newbies need Tecnu too!
We are very fortunate to get these large numbers and some of it may simply be our market and a real thirst for adventure here. But a big part of it is that we've altered the typical adventure race format in three primary ways: Duration, Distance, Draw and Design.
1) Duration. We keep the race short at 4 hours. Even that is intimidating to many, but we constantly reassure people of how doable the race is with dozens of mini-breaks along the way and a variety of disciplines/muscle groups used and then rested.
2) Distance. We keep the races near Grand Rapids so travel time and lodging is not a barrier. GR has a metro statistical area of 1 million so it's a decent market to draw from. We draw from Detroit, Chicago and northern IN but mostly West Michigan.
3) Draw. What really draws people to the race are the 6-8 Amazing Race-type challenges we've added to make the race more marketable. We promote the heck out of this aspect of the race. People "get it" when you position the race with Amazing Race language and the challenges are by far the biggest draw of the event. The 5-10 minute challenges are sometimes physical (fatbiking, snowshoeing, kayaking, swamp traverse, egg launch/catch), but often add a mental aspect (e.g., run a loop on a trail and memorize the order of the photos you see along the way). Nothing corny. No obstacles. Inexpensive (we borrow the fatbikes and snowshoes from local retailers in exchange for partial sponsorship).
4) Design. We use a rogaine format. This keeps racers spread out so only 6-8 stations are needed at challenges to avoid lines. When we have a canoe leg, we only need to rent 60-70 canoes for 350 racers because we contract with the livery to shuttle them back and forth with 2-3 trailers throughout the race. All CPs are optional. No one feels pressured by mandatory CPs. Get as many CPs as you can and make it back within four hours.
Have we "sold out" on AR by doing this? I don't think so. The race is still 100% navigation-based and open-course with trekking, mtn and road biking, orienteering and often canoeing. Some of the navigation is urban but a good amount of time is spent orienteering and mtb biking in nearby wilderness areas, primarily city, county or state parks. We offer free navigation clinics before the race and night orienteering events as practice.
I have been very fortunate to be able to quit my awful job and put on races full time (3 adventure races and 4 trail/fun runs each year). The investment to get started is minimal - website, branding, orienteering flags, insurance, etc. Some of it can be done self-taught or by friends. The Grand Rapids/West Michigan area has a strong network of active people but I think this is doable in other similar markets.
Anyways, feel free to respond or email me if this might be something you would like to explore, maybe for fun or maybe for part-time or full-time work. I would be happy to share what's worked for us as long as it grows the sport.
Best,
Mark VanTongeren
Michigan Adventure Racing
http://www.miadventureracing.com
Sep 20, 2013 6:41 PM
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>Have we "sold out" on AR by doing this?
As the person that introduced the mass start handicap (thomass) and longer distance team adventure run (raid) formats to orienteering in southern Ontario I would answer that question with a big NO.
Orienteering and AR are complementary sports that have huge barriers to entry for a number of reasons. If some tweaks can be made that makes it easier to participate and makes the participant experience less frustrating (and the organizers work load lower) then that is a good thing.
Of course this doesn't mean there isn't a place for the traditional forms of O or AR but the average person is not going to do their first AR event as a 24 hour event several hours away from home or their first O event at the Nor-Am Champs.
As the person that introduced the mass start handicap (thomass) and longer distance team adventure run (raid) formats to orienteering in southern Ontario I would answer that question with a big NO.
Orienteering and AR are complementary sports that have huge barriers to entry for a number of reasons. If some tweaks can be made that makes it easier to participate and makes the participant experience less frustrating (and the organizers work load lower) then that is a good thing.
Of course this doesn't mean there isn't a place for the traditional forms of O or AR but the average person is not going to do their first AR event as a 24 hour event several hours away from home or their first O event at the Nor-Am Champs.
Oct 8, 2013 4:26 PM
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Over 500 racers at MarkVT's last race! Considering his metro area is about 1.3M and the most recent forested traditional non urban AR in the metro Detroit area (pop. 3.7M) had ~80 people combined between the 6 and 12 hr races, something appears to be working with his approach.
Oct 8, 2013 11:17 PM
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There is no need to re-invent the wheel.
Sure, Obstacle Racing has eclipsed AR and even marathon popularity, but I still think the audience for sprint AR can come from triathletes/XTERRA more than the competitive/crossfitting OCR and "out for fun" Mud Run (different things) folks...especially if the RD provides boats and paddles. Of course it goes without saying these would be point to point races with some navigation decisions, not orienteering races.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/features/siadvent...
"Normally we cut it off at 330 teams..."
Just my 2 cents
Sure, Obstacle Racing has eclipsed AR and even marathon popularity, but I still think the audience for sprint AR can come from triathletes/XTERRA more than the competitive/crossfitting OCR and "out for fun" Mud Run (different things) folks...especially if the RD provides boats and paddles. Of course it goes without saying these would be point to point races with some navigation decisions, not orienteering races.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/features/siadvent...
"Normally we cut it off at 330 teams..."
Just my 2 cents
Oct 9, 2013 12:13 AM
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So....twelve years ago some AR/obstacle hybrid drew big numbers. Are they still converting triathletes/XTerra types to AR? Are CA ARs doing well in 2013?
This discussion thread is closed.