Could there be a better way to celebrate going green than producing three Virtual Race Bags for St. Patrick's Day celebration events? This past weekend we literally got our green on with The Yuengling Shamrock Marathon Weekend in Virginia Beach, The Shamrock 4 Miler in Charlotte, and The St. Patrick's Day Human Race in St. Paul.
While each event shared the characteristic green they were unique in their own rights. We thought it would be fun to share some of the highlights and best practices from each of the these fun goody bags.
The Yuengling Shamrock Marathon Weekend
This grand event in Virginia Beach boasts a strong 25,000 runner crowd in a two day event with an 8k, half marathon and marathon. As you could imagine the virtual race bag was overflowing with goodies to share with the runners. The most popular items proved to be the restaurant offers. Who wouldn't want a free appetizer or dessert to cap off their celebration dinner? As a special surprise runners were able to purchase special deal offers only available inside the race bag including: coffee special, dining deals, personal training sessions, gourmet popcorn and sporting goods retailer discounts.
The Shamrock 4 Miler
The Run For Your Life Grand Prix Series launched this past weekend with the running of the Shamrock 4 Miler in Charlotte. This event drew just over 1,000 runners and marks the opening of "race season" in the region. Their Virtual Race Bag focused primarily on sponsor exposure providing runners with general information, promoted upcoming race events (which is hot with runners) and a couple offers from area merchants. The most popular items in their race bag where the upcoming events and races.
The St. Patrick's Day Human Race
In St. Paul Minnesota you might think it was a little early to kick off the race season, but surely a little chill in the air and snow never hurt anyone. This fun event sported an early afternoon start for both a 5k and 8k. The best part was the Super Human challenge where runners could opt to run in both the 5k and 8k for a cumulative race experience. While their virtual race bag experience presented general sponsor information and promoted upcoming events the real interesting twist was delivering dual results to one runner. Oh yeah, did you know the virtual race bag delivered personalized results post race? In this instance we were able to customize the event to display both the 5k and 8k results together for each Super Human category participant. We think that was pretty super!
Whether the race bags were lined with a myriad of special deals, promoted upcoming events or delivered a killer new style for personalized results going green clearly has more dynamics than just saving paper and resources. Our goal is to change the runner experience and deliver more value than ever dreamt possible in the race bag. Get Your Green On!!