Virtual Racing with Strava
Technology is also changing how runners participate in races and virtual racing is becoming the biggest trend to hit the recreational racing scene in years. Shawn Exley, a chiropractor from Vancouver, B.C. started running four years ago and is a dedicated outdoor runner who says, “There’s no time in Vancouver when you can’t get outside.” He now races in five or six half-marathons each year and is starting to include virtual races in his calendar. Exley is a loyal user of Strava, a well-established app that’s popular among cyclists and runners who use it to track their activities and share results on what Strava calls their “social fitness network.” Strava is also active in helping organize virtual races and helped introduce Exley to his first events.
Exley ran in Lululemon’s SeaWheeze Virtual Half earlier this summer. He didn’t bother registering for the live event because it’s become so popular, organizers have to conduct a lottery to select participants. But when he saw a promotion on Strava for the Virtual Half, he registered immediately. To his delight, he was the first place Canadian finisher and placed fourth overall .
The SeaWheeze Virt ual Half is among a growing number of virtual races t hat are r un in parallel to live events. For the Virtual Half, competitors were asked to pre-register online, choose their own 21.1 km route and track the results on Strava. Entrants had the week following the live race to run their route and if they completed it, they received an exclusive finisher’s medal.
Lululemon organized the Virtual Half, in part, to build on the resounding success of SeaWheeze. Rachel Kelly, Lululemon’s global event manager says, “We are keen to find ways to make the event more accessible to anyone who didn’t get in at registration or wasn’t able to make the trip to Vancouver as a destination race.”
Planning was critical to the Virtual Half ’s success. Lululemon partnered with Strava and the online race organization system, Race Roster to plan the virtual race and ensure that technical issues were ironed out early. Entrants were also invited join SeaWheeze training programs just like runners in the live event. Kelly says “We opened up our SeaWheeze training programs created by our Global Run Ambassador Rob Watson to our virtual runners, so they were able to prepare ahead of time.” Organizers at Lululemon were “blown away” when over 6,000 runners participated in the first time event.
Exley says he’ ll incorporate more vir t ual r aces into his schedule to help f ill gaps bet ween his real world events. Virt ual races are less expensive, so they help him control how much he spends on entry fees. He also appreciates how virtual events allow him to run the event when and where he likes. “[SeaWheeze] had eight days that you had to do it in, so it allows more f lexibilit y.”