Pandemic forces popular corporate run to go virtual
Runners, who made the Mercedes-Benz Miami Corporate Run and its corresponding Broward and Palm Beach events a huge success over the past few decades, can now compete in the event while steering clear of COVID-19.
One of the largest 5Ks in the nation, like seemingly everything else these days, is going virtual.
The 35th anniversary of the Mercedes-Benz Corporate Run, which last year drew a combined 37,369 in its Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach events, has invited its 2020 registrants to take part in one “race” that will have participants post their times online.
The runners and walkers have a four-day window — Aug. 19-23 — to complete the 3.1-mile distance anywhere they want, from in-home treadmills to local streets to somewhere far away while on vacation. But organizers are hoping everyone will turn to their digital devices for a live,
online streaming warmup at 6 p.m. Aug. 19, hosted on location at the United Way headquarters in Miami-Dade — and then head out the door (or stay inside) to do their 5Ks.
“We’ll even fire a mini cannon the size of a loaf of bread to simulate the starting of the event,” said race spokesman Derek Hodes of Momentum Marketing Group.
This year’s three Corporate Runs, which were set to climax with Miami’s April 23 event, were canceled in March because of coronavirus concerns.
There were 14,000 paid registrants at that point, including about 5,000 who had registered early for Miami. All are invited to the virtual event, as well as anyone else for the usual $45 fee, which will include a T-shirt and finishing medal.
TEAMFOOTWORKS STRUGGLING
Race founder and director Laurie Huseby said her TeamFootWorks, the South Miami-based nonprofit corporation that produces the event, is struggling and trying to survive the economic mess caused by the pandemic. The Corporate Event is such a huge production that organizers begin planning for the next one immediately after the current year’s race.
Huseby said five of the nonprofit’s seven employees have been furloughed “with not a good forecast in sight.”
“We’re not in a great place,” Huseby said. “Our earning power for the rest of this year looks like zero. We have a business that could very well check out for good. And it doesn’t look like we’ll be able to do any races in the future because we can’t social distance.
“When are we going to be able to have a starting line again?”
Huseby said her FootWorks retail running store is still operating, although the hours have been reduced.
HONOR SYSTEM
The Corporate Run is still a team event, with a minimum of four participants per team. Times will be listed online in 20 industry-related categories. The virtual event will be unable to distribute awards for divisional winners because not only is it using an honor system to post times, but participants will be competing in different ways at hundreds of locations.
St. Thomas Aquinas High School guidance counselor Orestes Martinez, a longtime Corporate Run participant, is his 12-runner team captain who will organize the socially distanced group for the virtual event.
“The plan is to get the teachers together after school on Aug. 20 at Plantation Heritage Park and do it from there,” Martinez said. “We have walkers and runners, with the fastest taking off first and going in a separate loop from the slower ones. We’ll be wearing our T-shirts and social distancing, but gathering in a shelter to enjoy refreshments afterward.
“The idea is to mimic the real Corporate Run as much as possible. I love the fact that the run brings people together outside the corporate environment. It won’t be thousands having fun like usual, but it still is going to be a dirty dozen having a lot of fun.”