Over this last weekend, runners and cyclists around the country used RaceJoy to add to their race day experience. We had race participants use RaceJoy’s live GPS tracking, progress alerts and cheer sending in 13 races – from 5Ks to multi day relays!
Of the races loaded, those with the highest usage were:
- Steamboat Marathon
- Grand Teton Half Marathon
- Race 13.1 Raleigh
- HOKA ONE ONE Columbus 10K
- Lake Mills Triathlon
- Roy’s Run for Christopher
These races also provided RaceJoy as a free service to participants and their supporting family and friends. We consistently find that races who opt for the buyout often have higher usage rates than those races offering the consumer model in which the participants and spectators pay a 99 cents in-app upgrade fee per race.
Each race this past weekend provided very different course experiences, from the majestic views at the Grand Teton National Park and Steamboat Marathon to the historic Columbus neighborhoods and picturesque downtown skyline to the Greenway’s of Raleigh, NC. Races proactively requested that their courses be loaded so that their participants and spectators could have real-time information and interactive race day experiences.
Those who downloaded RaceJoy and carried their phone on race day were able to experience advanced runner/cyclist tracking on an interactive map view. Other features included GPS-based progress alerts with pace and estimated finish time, typically sent at every mile, and Send-a-Cheer in which spectators could send motivational pre-recorded cheers or custom Text-to-Cheer messages.
More than 15,600 progress alerts were sent across all the races, with the Grand Teton Half Marathon in first place, sending nearly 5,200 of those alerts and the Steamboat Marathon in a close second, sending nearly 4,200 alerts.
Participants also had the option to post their progress alerts to Facebook and Twitter in real-time. With 245 alerts posted to social media, the Grand Teton Half Marathon once again takes the lead, with participants posting 73 times, and the Columbus 10K in second, with 48 posts.
The supporting friends and family showed their support by sending nearly 3,000 cheers to race participants!
As the number of participants and spectators expecting some form of runner tracking increase, we see a growing trend for races to provide the added services and features that are found through RaceJoy. Whether it’s a destination race like the Steamboat Marathon and the Grand Teton Half Marathon, or part of a series like the Race 13.1, race organizers are focused on offering the most advanced technology and are dedicated to providing participants and spectators with new improvements for their race day experience.
Thanks to all the race organizers who were proactive in having their events loaded into RaceJoy. And thank you to all who tried out RaceJoy for the first time and to all our repeat users! Together, we are changing the race experience!
If you’d like to offer RaceJoy to your participants and spectators, you can easily get your race loaded through RaceJoy’s Website or on your race’s RunSignUp dashboard. We require a two-week minimum load time.
