Do we pay enough attention to our race results?

As any race director or committee member will attest, the weeks leading up to race day rage by at an exhilarating pace, with seemingly endless tasks leaving little time to maintain event hype for keeping entries flowing in.  Yet we must (and do) focus on this pre-race engagement challenge, often through a multitude of social media channels and media opportunities to promote our course and benefits to would-be participants.

And on race day, when the last participant finally crosses the line, we’re still multitasking our award ceremonies, photo opportunities, tracking down a lost competitor or two, thanking volunteers, and organising the dreaded pack-up. 

No wonder we don’t deeply consider the communication of the actual RESULTS of our epic event!  Usually it’s a quick social post with a link to the table of results.  But don’t our participants (your customers) deserve more?

In line with participant expectations, most events now invest heavily in electronic bib timing systems to deliver accurate timing and competitor finishing orders.  But where we fall short is in delivering an engaging platform to communicate these results in a way that tells the true story of your race.  It’s a lost opportunity for sustaining the event hype you’ve invested so heavily in.

The Race Analytics Dashboard

This is why RACE EXPLORER has developed a Race Analytics Dashboard that is customized for your event and result’s format.  For a fraction of your timing investment, it delivers the post-event hype and engagement that should accompany the finish of any event.

Central to the dashboard is the interactive race map.  Your competitors discover themselves within the field and hover on their individual icon to reveal their race stats in a pop-up tooltip.  What’s more, the race map tells the race story by graphically representing the distributions within the race.  Here’s a ‘boxed up’ example for demonstration purposes.  The full version occupies the desktop width and can be viewed here: GoldRush 2021 on RACE EXPLORER

From experience (we’ve all been competitors as well as race organizers, right?), with a traditional table of results you’ll find yourself, then check the place-getters (kudos if that’s you), then spend a minute or so glancing for any friends who took the field.  That’s where it stops.

With the interactive race map, you’ll engage deeply with the results and explore the competitors around you, instantly gaining insights on how the race evolved.

For a race director or organizer, it also provides deep insights on how your competitors distributed throughout the event.

The Race Analytics Dashboard will then reveal a participant breakdown by category and provide a pace analysis across those categories.  Are the 30-40 year olds really quicker on average to the 20-30 year olds?  You’ll know, and so will your participants.

Extended Reach and New Possibilities

Then, competitors share the analytics to social media directly from the interface, “See if you can find me in the field!”  This increases your event reach and your potential for expanding the event in years to come.

This increased engagement also leads to new possibilities.  The RACE EXPLORER SERIES service allows events to nominate a featured sponsor on the analytics page, providing more exposure and value for your key supporters.  And, when next year rolls around, why not use the previous dashboard as a promotion tool to build the hype for the event ahead?

 

For RACE EXPLORER coverage for your event and all questions, please contact Race Explorer here.

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