Technology for Virtual Challenges…
RunSignup’s platform allows you to do more than just register participants for your virtual or hybrid event. We are also here with free technology to help you promote your event, create a race experience (from afar), communicate with your participants, and raise money for a cause.
Registration
Register your virtual participants in minutes with a dynamic, mobile-friendly, and customizable registration platform.
Marketing Tools
Take advantage of free marketing tools like email and websites and prompt work-of-mouth with referral programs and team incentives.
Fundraising
Raise more for your nonprofit, charity partner (or multiple charity partners) with integrated donations and fundraising tools.
RaceDay
Make your virtual RaceDay fun with gamification, RaceJoy for Challenges, self-serve virtual results, participant photos, digital bibs, and more.
Virtual Challenge Planning Document
Just like a physical race, successful virtual challenges require pre-planning and strategy. Download our Virtual Challenge Everything Guide for a comprehensive review of everything you need to know to promote and execute your virtual challenge.
Key Features for Virtual Challenges
Enable Virtual Results
RunSignup’s Virtual Results for Challenges makes it simple for your participants to report their activities and track their results.
- Participant-submitted activities are displayed within overall and individual results
- Allow for one or multiple activity types within your challenge, including popular activities (like running, walking, swimming, skiing or paddling) and custom activities (like books read or good deeds done)
- Fast results submission options without login
- Configure results based on distance completed, activity tallies, times, or elevation gain
Add Gamification with Milestones & Badges
Increase engagement with virtual rewards throughout your challenge.
- Add milestones (5 miles, 20 miles, etc) through intermediate goals in your Virtual Results setup
- Milestones can be set by mileage passed (100 miles), repeating progress (every 1000 feet of elevation) or by the percentage of the total goal of the challenge (10% of books read)
- Reward participants with default or custom badges that are collected in the virtual trophy case on each participant’s results page
- Send notifications to participants as they achieve each milestone to congratulate and encourage continued progress
- Create fun and engaging milestones and badges that relate to the themes and goals of your challenge
Create a Virtual Experience
Just because your event is virtual doesn’t mean it isn’t also real to the people completing it. Add experiential elements to keep participants coming back.
- Add a map to geographically based challenges to participants can view where they “are” at any point in the challenge
- Work with a Certified Timer to offer RaceJoy for virtual challenges, allowing participants to auto-submit their activities each day from the app
- Enable participant-uploaded photos and encourage participants from across the country (and world) to share their experience through shared photos
Raise Money for a Cause
Virtual challenges provide a uniquely flexible opportunity for nonprofits to raise money for their cause with the ability for people to participate from anywhere, on any schedule, and at a variety of levels. Popular nonprofit usages for virtual challenges include:
- Simple donation asks integrated into the registration process and added to the checkout page
- No-frills challenges that are free to join, with all focus on donations
- Peer-to-peer fundraising options for virtual participants
Shipping Management and Fulfillment
Deliver your swag directly to your participant’s door with a thorough plan for swag shipping and fultillment.
- Require challenge participants to verify their shipping address at registration to limit failed deliveries
- Allow participants to make updates to their shipping address after registration to reduce customer service
- Add geographically-based shipping charges to ensure your shipping costs are always covered
Virtual Race or Virtual Challenge?
A Virtual Challenge consists of multiple activities over time, with either an overall goal or a competition to complete the most of each activity, whereas a virtual race is typically a one-goal activity (like a 5K).
Dive Into Virtual Challenges
Customer Spotlight
Virtual Challenges: Built to Last
While events continue to trend back towards in-person (or at least hybrid), don’t neglect the virtual option that’s truly built to last: virtual challenges. A virtual challenge is typically a longer-term event (weeks to months) in which a larger goal is achieved through many days of activity and the winner is the first person to reach the goal, not the one who ran the fastest.
$5,928,000 from top 100 Virtual Races
$8,203,000 from top 1,000 Virtual Races
All the Latest Blogs on Virtual Challenges
What’s Happening with Virtual Events?
During the COVID years a return to in-person events seemed like something that may never come to pass. Virtual events appeared to trend toward being the new normal. However, as COVID has made its way into the rearview, and virtual races are…
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Virtual Results Renewal
We have added the capability of renewing your virtual race setup. This is part of our overall renewed renewal process. When renewing your race, we will also now copy over all of your past setup information like accepted dates, tally type, goals,…
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What Happened with Virtual Events in 2022?
This is one of series of blogs we’ll use to break down key endurance industry trends we saw in 2021, and evaluate what they mean for race directors as you prepare for 2022. You can find the full report (and more resources)…
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Virtual Challenges: Built to Last
While events continue to trend back towards in-person (or at least hybrid), don’t neglect the virtual option that’s truly built to last: virtual challenges. A virtual challenge is typically a longer-term event (weeks to months) in which a larger goal is achieved through…
Read More
Who Are the Virtual Runners?
Anecdotal evidence has long suggested to us that virtual runners are not the same people who show up on race day, but the sudden flood of virtual events in 2020 gave us enough volume (and enough motivation) to pull some new reports…
Read MoreRace Survey: In-Person AND Virtual Race Options Expected Through 2021
We sent out a short survey this month to help create a snapshot of the revenue and operational expectations of races in 2020 and 2021, and look at how organizations are adjusting. This survey follows a similar version in May, giving us a…
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What 2020 Success Stories Tell Us About 2021
We recently sent out a survey asking customers to share their experiences and expectations as we move into 2021. We’ll be sharing those in full (and comparing them to the May version), but first, a little bit of sunshine. We asked race directors to share…
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Challenge Events Setup How-To for Timers
As events continue to introduce challenge events as either an add-on or alternative to traditional events, timers are quickly becoming the go-to person for setting up the events on RunSignup’s Challenge Platform. The recorded webinar below, provided by Matt Avery, gives step-by-step…
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Announcing RaceJoy for Virtual Challenge Events!
We are super excited to share that RaceJoy’s is now fully integrated with RunSignup’s virtual Challenge Platform! RunSignup has quickly become the chosen challenge platform provider for fitness and nonprofit communities. The integration of RaceJoy, the industry’s leading race day mobile app, strengthens…
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Advice for First-Time Race/Challenge Directors
Virtual races aren’t really new – but with COVID-19 restrictions turning in-person events into virtual ones, experienced race directors are learning what it’s like to be a rookie director all over again. This episode of talkSIGNUP covers tips for a first-time virtual…
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Unrealistic Pace Prevention for Virtual Challenge Activities
We have added a pace confirmation message for Virtual Challenges if the user is about to enter a time and distance for an Activity that would be unrealistic for the selected Activity Type. This has been added to prevent some instances that…
Read MoreCreating a Virtual Challenge From Scratch: Step 1 – Concept and Brand
With the impact of COVID-19 continuing to reverberate through the country and the endurance community, race directors, timers, and nonprofits are looking for ways to engage new communities online. One way to do that is through our Challenge Platform – with limitless…
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