Users can run 26.2 miles and upload their results to Strava by Nov. 3, the date of this year’s TCS New York City Marathon. Getty Images
In 2018, organizers of the TCS New York City Marathon viewed their “virtual marathon” as a beta test. They weren’t sure how much demand existed for people to run 26.2 miles individually without the payoff of crossing the Central Park finish line — or whether corporate partners would see much value in it.
One year later, those questions are gone, replaced by budding enthusiasm. At least 4,000 people have signed up this year — a nearly tenfold increase over the 426 finishers last year — and New York Road Runners leveraged the virtual race to sign a three-year sponsorship deal with Volvo Cars that includes presenting rights to the virtual race, its first auto sponsor in five years.
“The engagement that’s coming from this in the running community is kind of endless and really scalable,” said NYRR CEO Michael Capiraso.
Overall in 2019, 50,589 people have finished a virtual race of any size organized by the nonprofit, more than doubling the 2018 total. “I think we’ve had 10,000 people open accounts with us through virtual racing this year, that’s acquisition that’s pretty big,” Capiraso said of his organization’s growing membership.
The virtual marathon, powered by the fitness tracker app Strava, is open to anyone in the world. For a runner’s results to count, they must run 26.2 miles at a location of their choosing at some point between Oct. 31 and Nov. 3, the date of the actual New York City marathon. Participation can be free, or virtual participants can pay $50 for entry into a drawing for a spot in next year’s marathon, or a guaranteed spot in that marathon for $150. (NYRR members get discounts).
The virtual race was a critical part of the package for Volvo, said Jim Nichols, senior manager of product, technology and brand communications, because it can embed the brand in daily activities. “To go and put your name on a board with a bunch of other brands and see 50,000 people run past, there’s value in that, but that’s not really how Volvo has ever done advertising and marketing,” Nichols said. “We’re much more interested in becoming a helpful part of people’s lives.”
At the invite of NYRR, 390 runners from 26 countries who completed last year’s virtual race are coming to New York to run in person this year. Between the virtual platform and other digital products under development, Capiraso said the running club sees wide potential in using the virtual race to drive real-world growth.
“We feel like the opportunity is really pretty big and we’re scratching the surface of it,” Capiraso said.
