Fastest Runner to Run with RaceJoy! Places First in 2017’s Maine Coast Marathon

“Being able to share my race experience with my family and others with an improved level of detail via RaceJoy was pretty awesome.”

Rob Gomez

On May 14, Rob Gomez, placed first and won the Maine Coast Marathon with a finish time of 2:34 averaging 5:54 minute miles. Rob’s time would have been even less if it weren’t for an unintentional detour at the race caused by a volunteer accidently sending people the wrong way (something we actually see more than you would expect and something all race organizers and runners clearly wish to avoid). It was a cold and rainy day and Rob chose to run with his phone and use RaceJoy so that his family could track his location and progress since they could not make it to the race site.

We get some of the faster elite runners using RaceJoy, but many prefer not to carry their phone and are concerned that the extra weight might slow them down. Clearly, this was not an issue for Rob as he flew through the course.

We asked Rob a few questions about using RaceJoy…

-Why did you use RaceJoy?

Both my mom and my daughter wanted to follow my progress in the race but neither could make it to the course to watch in person. So, I thought using the RaceJoy app would be a great way for them to follow my progress more closely from afar than more traditional online tracking methods allow.

-Were you concerned that carrying your phone would slow you down?

A little bit, but I had run with my phone in my hand on numerous occasions before, even during workouts, and I realized that it didn’t bother me that much to carry it that way. It was raining pretty hard on race day so before the race I just started the tracking on the app and then put my phone in a Ziploc bag before stuffing it in an iPhone carrying arm band. The phone stayed perfectly dry and the arm band kept the phone close to my shoulder and therefore closer to my center of mass; that way, I was able to expend less energy carrying the phone during the race (as opposed to carrying it in my hand). Besides, an iPhone 6S is only a little over 3oz, so we’re not talking a lot of weight. In the end, carrying the phone didn’t bother me at all. An extra 3oz of weight isn’t going to slow anyone down very much – we’re talking maybe a few seconds over the course of an entire marathon. I was more than willing to make that trade-off.

-What was your experience with using RaceJoy? Did you like it? Did those tracking you like using it?

RaceJoy has a very easy-to-use and self-explanatory interface and it performed exactly how I expected it would. Not only were my family members able to follow along without any trouble, I found out after I had finished that other folks were following my progress as well on the app. Being able to share my race experience with my family and others with an improved level of detail via RaceJoy was pretty awesome.

RaceJoy was designed to meet the needs of all runners. Our initial planning meetings included a product roadmap that met the needs of what we call the “Serious Steves”, the “Novice Nancies”, and the “Fit & Fun Fran & Frank”. Where cheers may mean a lot to the first time marathoner, the Serious Steve may be more interested in just having the ability for others to track his/her progress with mile splits.

If we could, we also would recognize the slowest runner/walker in RaceJoy since those coming in last have an equally impressive story to tell. We’ve talked to many of you and know the struggles you have faced and the determination it takes to keep going and complete the goal you set out to accomplish. During the race, we live monitor the race field from RaceJoy’s monitoring system and we don’t stop until the last runner is in. If you are in the last of the pack and are using RaceJoy, know that one of us is tracking you and rooting you on!

For those of you that would like some coaching guidance on your running, Rob is actually a personal coach and offers a variety of options for all types of runners that you can do with him remotely. He has a strong background in running and in 2013 was New England Runner Magazine’s Maine Runner of the Year. Clearly, he knows what he is doing! You can find more information here: https://www.easternshoretraining.com/.

Thanks, Rob, and all of you who use RaceJoy and continue to support us in changing the race experience. We will catch you at the next race!

Special thanks to Maine Coast Marathon race organizers and Shipyard Brewing Company for offering RaceJoy again this year and being one of the original races to bring RaceJoy to Maine!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

May Brings New Usage Records for RaceJoy!

Part One!

Record Usage over One Race Weekend and One Race

We are seeing record RaceJoy usage on multiple fronts in this popular running month of May! This is a three part series demonstrating the full adoption of RaceJoy’s innovative race day technology.

First up is the record for overall usage over a single race weekend and at one race in particular. This involves a massive amount of data flowing instantaneously from RaceJoy, including 342,500+ progress alerts being issued to participants and those tracking them. And that’s not all…

May 6-7 Race Weekend Records:

RaceJoy Records: Highest Usage, Most Progress Alerts, Most Cheers over one weekend!

The first weekend in May brought record breaking RaceJoy usage at races across the country, including:

• DICK’s Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon
• Flying Pig Marathon
• Prairie Fire Spring Half
• Rhode Races Providence Marathon
• Coke 10K
• Lake Monona 20K Run and 5K
• Hantz Foundation Timber Trot 5K

These races chose to offer RaceJoy’s live GPS tracking, progress alerts at every mile and cheer sending for participants and their supporting friends and family.

Highest Usage: 39,000+ Participant / Spectators using RaceJoy over the weekend.

Most Progress Alerts: 342,500 Progress Alerts Delivered instantly through RaceJoy.

Most Cheers: 55,000 Cheers Delivered to participants

It was great to see that RaceJoy’s system handled the load without issue and alerts and cheers were issued without delay. 

Record Breaking Usage at Single Race

The Pittsburgh Marathon’s participants and spectators used RaceJoy to its fullest and now represents the winning race for most usage, progress alerts and cheers delivered at a single race:

Highest Usage: 12,800 Participants / Spectators used RaceJoy

Most Progress Alerts: 157,500 Progress Alerts Delivered (Glass City Marathon previously held this record)

Most Cheers: 23,500 Cheers Delivered to Participants

 

 

“I ran my first Half Marathon today and used the RaceJoy app for the first time as well. I have to say it was one of the major reasons I made it through. Getting cheers from my friends and family was amazing. Also getting updates on my progress and pace was incredible. My family loved using it to track my progress. I really appreciate this app and how it got me through this huge accomplishment. Thanks!!” – Jessica K.

Runner Up!

The Flying Pig Marathon who previously held the record for most cheers was very close on all usage points with:

Usage (so close!): 12,300 Participants / Spectators used RaceJoy

Progress Alerts: 141,800 Progress alerts delivered

Cheers: 19,300 Cheers delivered

 

 

 

“What a fun way to race!!! I really enjoyed having all my family near and far in my “pocket” as I did the Flying Pig Half Marathon. It was so encouraging to see love from all over pouring in as I did my race. I would highly recommend it.” – Becks 

Special shout out to all the races who offered RaceJoy and gave your participants the opportunity to use RaceJoy and the ability to have their friends and family support them during the race. Those 48,000 cheers means a great deal to many of the runners and walkers and helps them to achieve what they set out to do at your event. Also, thank you to all of you who used RaceJoy and for posting your positive reviews to help encourage others to try RaceJoy.

Together, we are changing the race experience!

“I used this app for a half marathon race and enjoyed the mile splits, finish time estimates and (what was really enjoyable) the cheers from family and friends that were tracking me race. I hope other races will consider using this app!”  – Apple App User Review from H. Gaitonde

 

Stay tuned for the Next RaceJoy Record in May: Fastest runner to ever use RaceJoy…

 

First Race to Use RaceJoy’s New Relay Release!

RaceJoy’s newest relay release made its debut this last weekend at Ion Bank Cheshire Road Races.

RaceJoy’s latest release breaks new ground for relay teams and runners at this Connecticut race were able to be the first to experience it!

 

Ion Bank Cheshire Road Races

Cheshire Road Races offers a half marathon, a 2-person 13.1 relay and a 5k. A flat and fast scenic course that runs through Cheshire and Hamden Connecticut, the event takes place on significant stretches of the historic Farmington Canal Trail.

The Cheshire Half Marathon & 5K Foundation was formed in 2012 as a nonprofit to help special needs children. At this year’s event, the signature charities supported by the Foundation were Abilities Without Boundaries, SARAH Foundation, Best Buddies of CT and Cheshire Lions Club – all of which are dedicated to helping children and adults with developmental and physical disabilities.

Photo from Event Facebook Page

RaceJoy for Relay Teams

RaceJoy’s newest release focuses on providing live tracking and progress updates for a relay team regardless of the number of people in the team.

Plus, participants at Cheshire Road Races were able to take advantage of two ways to be tracked using RaceJoy:

1. GPS tracking of each member’s actual location on the course using the live phone tracking feature.
2. Team progress alerts as members pass over milestones throughout the course using the GPS-based progress alert feature. RaceJoy does this by virtually tying the team members’ phones together.

Individual participant tracking was also available and was fully embraced by runners with more than 4,500 progress alerts being issued!

RaceJoy’s latest release offers a simplified way to bring real-time performance and split information to the team and those who are tracking them. The key of this release was to allow individuals to carry and use their own phone, versus using additional tracking hardware.

People simply use RaceJoy on race day by selecting the leg they are completing and clicking Start My Leg when they begin their leg. This begins the clock for that leg and automatically issues out progress alerts at every mile for running events and every five miles for cycling event.

Thank you to race organizers of Ion Bank Cheshire Road Races for including us in this years’ events and congratulations finishers on a job well done!

RaceJoy continues to bring innovation to the race industry and is laser focused on the race day experience. This is just one of the many releases RaceJoy has planned focused on relay teams.

 

Race Organizers: If you’re interested in having your relay event loaded in RaceJoy, check out our website for more information or your RunSignUp dashboard. Please note that we require a minimum two-week load time prior to the race start date and the official course map in GPX/KML format.

 

Glass City Marathon Offers Live Race Day Experience with RaceJoy!

138,000 Progress Alerts Issued!

As one of the first marathons to ever offer RaceJoy, the 2017 Mercy Health Glass City Marathon delivered a live race day experience for those at the race site and for remote spectators. RaceJoy was a significant component of this along with the event’s live streaming and interviews on race day. And clearly people embraced the technology with 138,000 progress alerts being issued through RaceJoy – breaking the record for most alerts at a single race.

 

Photos from Glass City Marathon Facebook

The Glass City Marathon likes to bring new race day experiences and this year race organizers implemented a new live race day page on the Glass City Marathon website. This offered quick access to the RaceJoy app, a live leaderboard, which provided instant official results information, and a live streaming video of the race. This was really awesome since it wasn’t just a static streaming of the finish line. It also included the local news anchor from BCSN The Blade covering the race day and performing live interviews with participants. It also included a split screen where you could watch finishers come in while seeing what was going on at other areas of the finishing area in the Glass Bowl. In addition, for those participants that setup their profile for auto tweeting of progress, their alerts showed in the twitter live streaming (#RunGlassCity) shown on the live race page.

Screenshot from the Glass City Marathon Website

With the RaceJoy app, Glass City Marathon also provided participants and spectators with live race day features like continual progress updates, live phone tracking, cheer sending, and scored results within moments of crossing the finish line. This year, more than 7,000 people used RaceJoy at the Glass City Marathon!

The Glass City Marathon is one of the few races RaceJoy also offers Bib tag tracking along with RaceJoy’s industry first GPS-based progress updates. This meant that thousands of participants and spectators were receiving progress updates at every mile on the course. Updates included information like location, pace, and estimated finish time. Participants also had the option of posting their progress to their Facebook and Twitter walls. A record breaking number of alerts were sent out over the course of the Glass City Marathon weekend, with 138,000 progress alerts being issued!

One of the great things about Glass City Marathon offering both tracking in RaceJoy and the live streaming of the finish line is that supporting family and friends could track participants’ blue dot as it moved along the course in the app and then watch them live in the streaming video as they crossed the finish line. Most runners have a friend or family member that can’t make it to the race. So, this offered an easy way to support the participant remotely and share in the race experience whether at the race site, at home or in another country (we saw you Canadians and Brits tracking your runners!)

Watch This Video!

Supporting family and friends were also able to track runners live as they moved along the course by using RaceJoy’s GPS phone tracking feature.

Supporting friends and family sent close to 9,000 cheers to Glass City Marathon participants! Way to support the runners!

The Glass City Marathon takes place in our nation’s “Glass City”; Toledo, Ohio and is hosted by the Toledo Roadrunners Club. Northwest Ohio’s largest springtime event finishes in the Glass Bowl and the race organizers go all out to provide a special race experience. on. Thank you race organizers for including RaceJoy again this year, and congratulations finishers on a job well done!

Photo from Glass City Marathon Facebook

Race Organizers: If you’d like to be on the forefront of race day technology, get your event loaded in RaceJoy by checking out our website for information or go to your RunSignUp dashboard. Please note that we require a minimum two-week load time prior to the race start and an official course map in KML or GPX format.

 

Lively Connections at Quintiles Wrightsville Beach Marathon Madness!

This past weekend, race organizers of the Quintiles Wrightsville Beach Marathon Madness offered a fully-connected race using RaceJoy –  not just for the participants and spectators, but for the race operations team as well.

This was the first time the Wrightsville Beach Marathon used RaceJoy and people fully embraced the new technology – close to 2,400 people used RaceJoy’s interactive race day features and more than 800 participants and operations personnel were tracked through their phones on race day!

Even though some users had a little hesitation using RaceJoy for the first time, like Gary (below), the response was overwhelmingly positive!

This Saturday I ran the Wrightsville Beach Marathon. Leading up to the race, I was a little annoyed to hear that all tracking would be done with RaceJoy via smart phones. This annoyance came from the fact that I never run with a phone, just my GPS watch.  My wife convinced me to take my phone so that she could track me.

I honestly couldn’t have been happier after realizing what a great app this is! It wasn’t even until during the race that I realized. My friend kept saying “your phone is talking?” I had the volume down, so I turned it up and enjoyed the mileage updates.

But the key moment for me, was around mile 18-19. I was struggling. My running buddies had pushed on as they are faster than me and I was not in a good place. I didn’t even know that messages could be sent through the app, let alone be read out to you. At this low point in the race, a message was read out to me “Don’t quit Daddy!  I love you” from my 11-year old daughter, 30 seconds later another message “Go Daddy, Go!” From my 7-year old daughter Anja.

These messages brought a tear to my eyes.  But they also gave me to strength I needed at exactly the time I needed it!  I went on to finish my first marathon.

Thank you RaceJoy. – Gary D.

Thank you Gary for sharing your story! This is exactly why we created RaceJoy – to connect family and friends and to support you through those rough moments!

Kelley, Emma and Katie! — Photo Provided by Kelley M. – Wrightsville Half Participant

Kelley and her friends participated in the Wrightsville Beach Half Marathon together and also used RaceJoy so their family and friends could see their progress along the way.

My name is Kelley and myself and two of my friends, Emma and Katie trained for the Quintiles Wrightsville Beach Half Marathon together and used the RaceJoy app during the race. Our friends and family loved being able to see our progress along the way and send us cheers! We also liked being able to find each other’s location using the app and know where each of us were. It’s a really great app!!

Emma’s boyfriend, Tyler (who is also my boyfriend Matt’s oldest brother) lost his vision to Retinitis Pigmentosa and completed his 5th full marathon that day!! He raised over $2,000 for The Foundation Fighting Blindness. Tyler and Matt’s parents completed the full marathon as well!  It was an amazing day  — Kelley M.

Photo of Tyler M. – Wrightsville Beach Marathon Participant

Over the course of the race weekend, close to 33,000 progress alerts were issued giving people real-time progress updates at every mile! The updates included information like current location, pace, and estimated finish time.  Also, 5,500 cheers were sent on race day connecting supporting family and friends with participants real-time as they completed the course.

Photo from Wrightsville Beach Marathon Website

 

Race Operations Live Tracking

Race organizers took things further by using RaceJoy to track the race operations team from the app and through RaceJoy’s Race Day Monitoring System. Race personnel could quickly see the location of rest of the team while they were working the race. Plus, the race used RaceJoy’s web console monitoring system to see a global view of operations along with the race participants using RaceJoy. The monitoring console also allowed staff to Send-a-Message to operations personnel like the race director using text to speech technology.

The Race Organizers chose to use a unique bib number (9999) just for the race operations team. This made it super easy for the team to find one another in the app where they look up one bib number versus searching for individual names or code names. Most used the function they served as their name such as “Lead Men Half Marathon” and “Landfall/ Military Van”. This further simplifies things for everyone to see at-a-glance the status of the various roles of the team.

For more information about using RaceJoy for race operations, please see this recent Webinar.

The Quintiles Wrightsville Beach Marathon Madness offers its participants a fast, flat and notorious course for personal bests with a peak elevation of only 32 feet. From first timers to veterans, the event weekend attracts a variety of runners! With a glimpse of what Wrightsville Beach and Wilmington have to offer, the course starts at the beach and runs through Landfall and finishes at UNCW Campus.

Photo from Wrightsville Beach Marathon Facebook

We are glad we were able to be part of this fully connected and lively race day experience that offers something for everyone! Thank you, finishers, for using RaceJoy and for sharing your personal stories. Special thanks to race organizers for embracing new technology and helping to change the race experience!

Tobacco Road Marathon Offers RaceJoy’s Live Tracking on Picturesque Course!

The 2017 Tobacco Road Marathon and Half Marathon offered RaceJoy’s live GPS tracking and cheer sending for the first time! This popular race weekend offers more than 20 miles of picturesque experience along the American Tobacco Trail in Cary, North Carolina.

The Tobacco Road race weekend has grown to attract runners from around the world and has donated more than $760,000 to charities, such as the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, various military veterans’ organizations, and the American Red Cross. The fast, flat nature of the course, ideal running temperatures and picturesque trails draw runners with all fitness levels.

Photo by Dennis Gelser – Tobacco Road Marathon Facebook Page

This year, participants and spectators were also treated to the interactive, real-time race day features available in RaceJoy.

550+ Participants carried their phones and used RaceJoy to be tracked during the race and 1,200 supporting friends and family tracked them live as they moved along the course. These 1,750 people made full use out of RaceJoy’s features!

“Just wanted to thank you for this great app! Yesterday I ran the Tobacco Road Half Marathon in Cary, NC. Thanks to the app, my husband and three young kids were able to follow me and show up at the right spot at the right time (which is a challenge with 3 young kids), so my boys were able to finish with me! A great experience and a great memory for the rest of my life. Thanks for helping to make that possible!” –  Petrie T.

Finisher Photo of Petrie T. – Congratulations!

Participants and spectators who took advantage of RaceJoy received progress alerts at every mile that included information like location, pace and estimated finish time. Participants received these as audio alerts, a helpful feature when out on the course to avoid looking down at a phone. Spectators receive the progress updates as in-app notifications accompanied by a cowbell sound. Over the course of the weekend, 18,000 progress alerts were issued to participants and spectators!

“Sharing my joy as I was only steps from the finish line. Thank you for putting on a great race!” – Jade C.

Photo provided by Jade. C – Finisher of Tobacco Road Marathon

Another popular feature of RaceJoy is the cheer sending. Users can send fun, prerecorded audio clips or personalized Text-to-Cheer messages in the days leading up to, during and after the race event. The Tobacco Road Marathon users showed some great support by sending more than 2,600 cheers to participants!

“My first full marathon experience!” – Carmen M.

This is a unique and attractive race option for those seeking to qualify for the Boston Marathon or to achieve a new personal record. Whether it’s your first, like Carmen, or your 50^th, the fast, flat course combined with the ideal running temperatures found in spring time in North Carolina make the Tobacco Road Marathon a race you should add to your race list!

Thank you race organizers for including RaceJoy in your 17^th running of the Tobacco Road Marathon and Half Marathon! And special thank you to all of you who embraced RaceJoy. We hope it helped to bring a little more joy to a special race.

Race Organizers:

If you’d like to add your event to RaceJoy, follow the easy setup wizard on our site, or your RunSignUp dashboard. To learn more about all the features available in RaceJoy check out this Organizer Overview or review RaceJoy’s Website. Please note, we require a two-week minimum load time and an electronic copy of your course map (in KML/GPX format).

 

Picturesque Seaside, Florida Offers A Special Race Experience for a Great Cause!

The Seaside School Half Marathon & 5K is known for its picturesque setting in north Florida. People love doing this race with its out-and-back course featuring quaint beach towns (resembling homes like those in the Truman Show), dune lakes and beautiful beaches. This is the race that you hear about that gives a Vera Bradley gift for all finishers (thanks to Vera Bradley being one of the sponsors). This 2017 event had the special addition of RaceJoy’s live GPS tracking and cheer sending extending the quality experience for spectators to enjoy as well.

Photos from Seaside School Half Marathon & 5K

Those who downloaded RaceJoy added to their Seaside race weekend with continuous live runner tracking, GPS-based progress alerts that were sent at every mile, fun audio cheers, and official timing scored results delivered in real-time courtesy of the race organizers!

Participants who carried their phones had the opportunity to let their supporting family and friends live track them, whether at the race site or from the convenience of their home.  RaceJoy’s live phone tracking allows spectators to see their tracked participants’ blue dot move along a map view of the official course in real-time.

“On March 5th I ran my first 1/2 Marathon. Each mile status provided by RaceJoy, and all the cheers from friends and family kept me going. I can honestly say my race experience would not have been as pleasant without RaceJoy. Thank you Seaside School Half Marathon & 5k and RaceJoy.” – Mary B.

Congratulations on your first Half Marathon Mary!

Those who used RaceJoy also had the ability to receive progress alerts at every mile along the course. Participants received the alerts in audio format, and spectators received them as in-app notifications. The alerts included information like pace and estimated finish time. For many participants, RaceJoy’s GPS-based progress alerts are a great way to know how they are doing and adjust their pace as needed throughout the event.

“I participated in the Seaside Half Marathon this weekend. I truly enjoyed using the RaceJoy app so that my family could track me as I ran and cheer me on with the audio messages! It made my race experience even more positive and it helped me track my pace and progress easily.” – Hannah W.

We are so glad you enjoyed using RaceJoy, Hannah!

Seaside School Half Marathon participants were also able to receive official scored results in RaceJoy within moments of crossing the finish line. Skipping the line for results, participants who used RaceJoy could see their individual race results as well as age group and overall results.

This is a special race and one race you should definitely add to your list for next year and it is for a great cause. The Seaside School Half Marathon & 5K gives 100% of the race profits to the Seaside School. Seaside is a tuition-free, local neighborhood school serving students who not only live along Hwy. 30-A, but also across Walton County. The Seaside School opened in 1996 to thirty-six students, two faculty members, and one administrator serving students in sixth through eighth grades. Today, the school has expanded to fifth through twelfth grades serving over 330 students and currently looking to add grades K-4.

 

Interested in Offering RaceJoy at Your Event? Check out RaceJoy’s website for information on all the features available to both the race organizers & sponsors and the participants & spectators.