send-a-cheer – RunSignUp

Runners Blasted Off with RaceJoy at the Space Coast Marathon!

49,000 Progress Alerts – 93% Usage – 6,500 Cheers – 1,200 Phones Tracked

At the 45^th anniversary of the Space Coast Marathon & Half Marathon participants and their supporting friends and family were treated to an out-of-this-world experience with RaceJoy’s interactive race day features. Courtesy of Thales Group, those who downloaded the mobile app had access to RaceJoy’s features for free. With a 93% usage rate (includes spectators and is based upon finishers), 49,000 progress alerts, 6,500 cheers and close to 1,200 phones tracked participants and their friends and family made the most out of RaceJoy on race day!

The Space Coast Marathon organizers, Running Zone, were among the first to embrace RaceJoy and have been offering the experience at this race to its participants since 2013! Key features participants and supporting friends and family were treated to included:

Real-time, live phone tracking – tracking of up to 50 participants on a live map view of the official course.
Progress alerts – alerts sent to participants and spectators as they completed the course with information like pace and estimated finish time.
Send-a-Cheer – fun pre-recorded or personalized Text-to-Cheer messages sent in audio format.
Immediate, official race results – within moments of crossing the finish line, scored results were available in RaceJoy that included individual, age group and overall stats.
And so much more!

49,000 Progress Alerts Sent on Race Day!

Another unique feature of RaceJoy allows participants to post their progress on social media (Facebook and Twitter). Participants can select to post all their stat information for each milestone, just the start and finish, or the alerts without time. Close to 1,000 progress alerts were posted to social media on race day!

The Space Coast Marathon Weekend offers 26.2- and 13.1-mile options. The event attracts many repeat runners and the half marathon distance sells out every year. Race organizers do a lot to make sure their runners have a high quality experience, where every aspect of the race is thought through and provided for. From amenities like great food for everyone (not just the participants, which makes for a nice family experience) to the great race swag (like the Space Coast Marathon towels) to the advanced race day technology with RaceJoy.

If you’ve yet to participate in this event, the Space Coast Marathon is a bucket list race you should definitely add to your list!

RaceJoy creators, James and Shelly Harris, landed at the Space Coast Marathon Weekend on Saturday for the expo and made their appearance at the RaceJoy booth on race day.

We always love coming out to the race sites to meet RaceJoy fans and to cheer on the participants! And we’re not the only ones – almost 6,500 cheers were sent in RaceJoy by supporting family and friends to motivate runners!

While at the race site, we also enjoy hearing stories about what brought them to run and the challenges they have overcome. Many of the people we saw were some of the first to ever use RaceJoy.

Congratulations finishers of the Space Coast Marathon weekend! A special thank you to Thales Group and Running Zone for including RaceJoy at this year’s event.

If you’d like to add RaceJoy as part of the race experience for your participants and spectators, you can enable in a few simple steps and at an affordable price by visiting RaceJoy’s Website or your RunSignUp race dashboard.

Half Marathons Offering Industry’s Most Advanced Live Tracking this Weekend!

Half marathons in states stretching across the country are offering RaceJoy’s innovative live GPS tracking, from Florida to Michigan to California!

Half marathons continue to be a very popular race in the United States and appeal to runners of all fitness abilities. According to Running USA, the 13.1 is the second most popular running distance and 5Ks continue to be the most popular.

With such a high demand by runners, it’s no surprise that the majority of races available in RaceJoy this weekend are half marathons:

RaceJoy offers the most advanced form of tracking available in the running industry. With RaceJoy, participants and their supporting family and friends have access to live, real-time tracking of up to 50 participants on a map view in addition to progress updates provided at every mile on the course.

The live tracking feature utilizes the race’s official race course and notifies participants of their progress with information like pace and estimated finish time.

The GPS-based progress alerts are issued to the participants in audio format so they can get the information without looking at their phone. Spectators receive the alerts as in-app notifications. Spectators can also zoom into the interactive map to see the exact location of their runner.

Click the below to hear the audio progress alert:

Through RaceJoy, participants and spectators can also send cheers instantaneously and can send either pre-recorded cheer clips or custom Text-to-Cheer messages. Participants and fans use this feature as a way to connect and show support before, during and after the race.

If you’re interested in adding your race to RaceJoy and offering the most form of advanced runner tracking for participants and spectators, affordable pricing options are available for any race or sponsor to offer this experience. Innovative tools for race organizers are also included such as race day monitoring, tracking race operations team and a news alert system. Contact us at info@racejoy.com.

Watch this overview to learn more.

Queen Bee Half Marathon Participants Buzzed with Race Joy!

The Queen Bee Half Marathon on Saturday, October 8^th buzzed through Cincinnati as more than 3,000 finishers took to the streets. Race organizers of the Flying Pig Marathon are also the hosts of this weekend’s women’s half marathon and offered RaceJoy’s interactive race day experience to their participants and spectators for free for the second time this year.

Organizers offered RaceJoy at the Queen Bee Half in 2015, its inaugural running, and the response continues to be very positive. Nearly 1,500 participants and spectators used RaceJoy this year for its live phone tracking, GPS-based progress alerts and Send-a-Cheer features.

Each participant of the half marathon and 4-miler events were able to access RaceJoy to be live tracked by their supporting family and friends as they moved along the course. Participants carry their phones and spectators can see where they are in real-time on the race’s official course map.

Participants are also able to receive progress updates that are based on the GPS location of their phone and include information like pace and estimated finish time. Queen Bee Half Marathon alerts were issued at every mile. More than 15,000 alerts were sent to participants and their supporting family and friends!

Participants can also choose to post these progress updates to their personal Facebook and Twitter walls in real-time. More than 250 alerts were posted to social media during the event!

The Send-a-Cheer feature is a RaceJoy favorite, allowing spectators to send fun, motivational audio cheers to their tracked participants. Almost 3,000 cheers were sent including great usage of our Halloween cheers for October! What an un-bee-lievable show of support!

Check out these popular Halloween cheers!

The cheer feature also allows users to send custom Text-to-Cheer messages allowing personalized messages to be sent in audio format.

The Queen Bee Half Marathon is on a mission to promote the fun of fitness while raising support and funds for local charities that focus on women. The race weekend included plenty of pampering, swag and fun – all the perfect ingredients for a great girls’ weekend.

The event offers a half marathon and 4-mile course that starts and ends at JACK Casino, buzzes through some of Cincinnati’s historic and scenic neighborhoods, and is lined with entertainment from bands and DJs.

Thank you race organizers for embracing RaceJoy and providing this one-of-a-kind race day experience for your participants and spectators!

Interested in RaceJoy for Your Race?

RaceJoy has moved to a free-only model for participants and spectators. If you’d like to offer RaceJoy at your upcoming race, affordable pricing options are available for any race or sponsor to offer the interactive experience. Innovative tools for race organizers are also included, such as race day monitoring, race operations team tracking and news alert system. Watch this overview to learn more.

More information about offering RaceJoy is available here.

35th Anniversary Wineglass Marathon Offers Unbeatable Race Day Experience with RaceJoy!

111% Usage Rate 77,000 Page Views 68,000 Progress Updates 9,500 Cheers!

This past weekend participants and their supporting family and friends made full use of RaceJoy to add to their race experience at the Wineglass Marathon. Held on October 2, the destination race was located in the heart of the Finger Lakes and is a point-to-point course starting in Bath, NY traveling the valley and finishing on historic Market Street in Corning, NY. As part of their 35^th year celebration, Wineglass Marathon race organizers offered RaceJoy’s interactive race day features courtesy of Simmons-Rockwell Nissan Superstore.

The Wineglass Marathon hosted 4,600 runners and walkers across its course offerings. Participants and their supporting fans fully embraced RaceJoy with close to 5,100 people using RaceJoy’s features on race day, representing a 111% usage rate. With close to 70,000 Progress alerts, 9,500 cheers and 1,600 social media posts participants demonstrated an energetic adoption of RaceJoy’s race day technology.

“I absolutely loved that app. Me and my friends used it on Sunday… Hope the app becomes popular because I would love to use it for the NYC marathon and the NYC triathlon. Thanks for the best app ever!!!” – Cindy C.

Participants of the event and their supporting friends and family had access to RaceJoy’s live, real-time runner and walker tracking on an interactive course map. More than 1,200 participants opted to carry their phones and be tracked on race day.

Click to See Live Tracking:

Users of the app were also able to receive GPS-based progress alerts, including information like pace and estimated finish time. The progress alerts for the Wineglass Marathon Weekend were issued every mile and close 68,000 progress alerts were issued across all courses during the event.

For spectators, the alerts are issued as in-app notifications. For the runners, the alerts are issued in audio format so they can hear the information as they run without having to look at their phones.

“My friend and I ran the wineglass half marathon and our marathon-running friends were able to see our mile splits as we began our race and we were able to see their progress as they racked up 26.2 miles! It helped us time our recovery, so we could meet the marathoners and cheer them on at the finish line! Yay! We’re big fans!” – Anne R.

Participants have the option to post these alerts to their personal Facebook and Twitter walls in real-time. The alerts can be posted with or without the pace and at every mile or just the start and finish. About 1,600 progress updates were posted to Facebook and Twitter.

Another RaceJoy feature includes Send-a-Cheer, in which spectators can send fun, pre-recorded audio cheer clips or personalized Text-to-Cheer messages to their tracked participants in the days leading up to, and during, the event. Nearly 10,000 cheers were sent over the course of the weekend showing a very engaged and supportive group!

“My kids and husband were 5 hours away but I felt like they were there. Seriously dragging at mile 11 and I hear “Go Mommy! Are you at mile 11 already, that is crazy! We are so proud of you! “. It was just the boost I needed to finish! Thanks for letting them participate with me.” – Jen M.

The weekend offers many course options for runners of all abilities, including a marathon, half marathon, 8K and 5K.

A special thanks to Simmons-Rockwell Nissan Superstore for providing RaceJoy for Wineglass Marathon participants and their supporting family and friends! Congratulations to all the amazing runners and walkers and all the positive feedback you’ve shared with us!

Want to Offer RaceJoy’s Live Tracking?

Here is RaceJoy overview video for more information.

If you’d like to offer RaceJoy at an upcoming event, you can easily load your race through RaceJoy’s Website or on your race’s RunSignUp dashboard. Note: we require a two-week lead time and an electronic copy of your course map(s) in KML/GPX format.

RaceJoy Releases Split Pace Alerts!

RaceJoy is rolling out split pace alerts for those using GPS-based progress alerts. RaceJoy’s progress alerts are typically issued at every mile for running and walking events and every five to 10 miles for cycling and longer distance events. The alerts include information like location, elapsed time, overall average pace, estimated finish time, and now, current split pace time between the course points.

Users of RaceJoy have requested this feature be added so they could manage their performance during the race. By providing real-time split pace information participants can gauge if they need to slow down or pick up their pace to meet personal race goals.

The alerts RaceJoy issues are sent to participants in audio format. Click to hear a sample!

Play a Sample Alert:

RaceJoy offers many other interactive race day features, including live, real-time participant tracking on the race’s official course.

Spectators also receive progress alerts for tracked participants. These are provided as in-app notifications.

Other race day features include Send-a-Cheer, allowing supporting family and friends to send fun, motivational cheers, NearMe alerts and MeetUp. To learn more about all the race day features available in RaceJoy, download the app to begin exploring today.

Many of RaceJoy’s features, like the new current split pace, come from the participants sharing their needs for race information and ideas about race day interaction. Feel free to share any of your ideas by sending an email to rockstar@racejoy.com.

Together, we are changing the race experience!

Immigration Reform Pilgrimage Uses RaceJoy’s Live Tracking

The el Camino del Inmigrante began its inaugural 150 mile pilgrimage this past Saturday with dozens of people making the trek from the Mexico/United States border to Los Angeles. Participants are showing their support for immigration reform and to pay tribute to those who have died while attempting to immigrate to the United States. Event organizers are providing RaceJoy as part of the experience so that people can live track the walkers and connect with them using RaceJoy’s Send-a-Cheer feature; especially the Text-to-Cheer option for sending personal and customized messages as participants trek through California raising awareness on immigration issues.

Here is a video clip from the local TV station covering the event and RaceJoy:

Most of us have a history that began with family members seeking a better life here in America, and regardless of your political stance, we can all agree our current immigration system needs an overhaul. It is events like this that help to educate people, build awareness and give voice to change. Many taking part in the pilgrimage have experienced first hand the challenges and loss of life associated with attempted immigration to the United States.

crosses — Crosses representing 11,000 people who have died crossing the U.S./Mexico border.

We were very honored when organizers of the walk sought out to use RaceJoy for its live tracking and have been tracking over 50 walkers each day as shown below. Participants are covering an average 13 miles each day for 11 days and end the pilgrimage in Los Angeles on August 30th.

Here is a live clip from the beginning of the third day:

RaceJoy is issuing progress alerts as walkers cross each mile point on the course to help keep them posted on their progress.

Progress Alert for el Camino del Inmigrante

Screen Shot 2016-08-22 at 1.44.33 PM — Alerts Can Be Posted to Personal Facebook and Twitter Walls

We are sure there are many friendships being formed as well as time for some deep introspection. It is experiences like this that help to bring not only global change, but personal insights, healing and bonding with others. We encourage you to access el Camino in RaceJoy under the California races and send the walkers some encouraging cheers!

Special thanks to the Christian Community Development Association for including RaceJoy as part of such a transformative experience.

More information about the pilgrimage can be found here.

Fifth Third River Bank Run Brings Innovation!

This past weekend, the Fifth Third River Bank Run offered RaceJoy’s live tracking and cheers as an extra service for participants and spectators. The technology was highly embraced with a usage rate of almost 40% of the race’s finishers taking advantage of RaceJoy’s interactive race day features across all courses.

The 39^th Annual River Bank Run took place in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan, and offered a full race experience – from the pre-race Sports & Fitness Expo on Friday to the post-race Finish Fest on Saturday. The race provided many different course options so that all could participate, including a 25K, 10K, 5K, Wheelchair 25K and a Handcycle 25K.

The USATF certified loop course started in downtown Grand Rapids on Monroe Avenue and headed south, leaving the city to weave through parks and along the Grand River before finishing back downtown on Ottawa Avenue at Lyon Street.

Continuous GPS Tracking

Race organizers treated participants to RaceJoy’s live continuous GPS tracking, as captured below. Friends and family, both at the race site and from their homes, tracked participants and knew exactly where they were throughout the race.

GPS-Based Progress Alerts

Participants and spectators also received progress updates at every mile that included location, pace and estimated finish time. At this year’s Fifth Third River Bank Run, 32,200 progress alerts were sent! RaceJoy’s GPS-based progress alerts are just one of the many ways race organizers or sponsors can extend their branding when they opt for the buyout. The sponsor showcased at this year’s race was Starbucks Double Shot Protein as shown with the progress alerts below.

Race organizers of the Fifth Third River Bank Run customized their progress alerts for a sponsor, Starbucks.

Participants can also choose to post these alerts to Facebook and Twitter, providing Fifth Third River Bank Run and Starbucks with additional branding promotion by reaching an extended audience.

Cheer Sending

Another very popular feature of RaceJoy is Send-a-Cheer, which includes the ability to instantly send fun pre-recorded cheers or custom text-to-cheer messages to participants at any time. Supporting friends and family embraced this by sending close to 7,000 cheers to race participants! This was a much higher number of cheers per participant than what we normally see. Now that’s some serious support!

Thank you to the race organizers of the Fifth Third River Bank Run and to Starbucks for providing RaceJoy. Congratulations to all the finishers and thank you to the supporting family and friends! Don’t forget to sign up for next year’s 40^th year as race organizers are sure to roll out the red carpet!

You can offer advanced tracking and cheers at your next race by creating a race in RaceJoy at no cost and in a few simple steps through RaceJoy’s Website or your RunSignUp dashboard. If you would like to provide these features to your participants for free, please see our buyout options during the RaceJoy setup.