Skip to main content

Ride Before the Race

While many people across the country, and the world, witnessed the final stage of the Amgen Tour of California weave through the streets of Los Angeles on Sunday, the general public had the opportunity to ride the 5-mile closed circuit course before the professional riders took over. Sponsored by Nissan, the Ride Before the Pros was free to participants and allowed anyone with a bicycle the experience of crossing the official race finish line.

This appears to be a growing trend for events with streets closures, which can increase participation and exposure while maximizing permitting costs. In this case, the Amgen Tour of California gave spectators a chance to participate in the event at no cost, encouraging people to stay and watch the race which drives higher attendance and greater on-site sponsor value, and generally creates a more exciting event atmosphere. In other cases, participatory events are seeing value in the efficiencies of adding bike tours prior to traditional running races to take advantage of street closures and expand the amount of participants involved in the event overall.

The Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Series has added pre-race bike tours in San Antonio (2011 inaugural) and Denver (new for 2012) that will see participants ride through the streets of each marathon course. Fees range from $55 to $85 and registrations caps are set at 1,000 and 750 for San Antonio and Denver, respectively. All participants receive the same tangible value as the runners themselves: a shirt, goodie bag, medal, free beer at the finish line and on-course entertainment.

The Long Beach International City Bank Marathon and Half Marathon recently announced a new sponsor in Volkswagen, who will also be the title sponsor of the Volkswagen 26.2 Bike Tour. In the same mold as Rock 'n' Roll with a lower registration fee ($30-$45), this bike tour will take participants on the closed streets of the marathon course and precede the running race earlier in the morning. One point of differentiation is the 26.2 bike tour will host it's own Finish Line Festival, according to the website, however cyclists are encouraged to walk over to the main marathon festival as well.

Other major marathons incorporating bike tours into the event weekend include the Honda LA Marathon, Pasadena Marathon, and Salt Lake City Marathon. Expect to see this trend continue as events look to increase registration numbers, and opportunities, as well as create additional valuable sub-properties to capitalize on incremental sponsorship revenue.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nike's "Journey for a Better World"

It's refreshing when a company as large as Nike listens to their environmental conscience. Changing even the smallest things in certain business practices can translate exponentially to a massively reduced carbon footprint. Nike Better World is a global campaign to accomplish two objectives: become more environmentally responsible and better the world through sport. Succinctly put, "redefining performance and innovation to serve the athlete and the world." In typical Nike fashion, this campaign is vast and all-encompasing with regard to initiatives, tactics and outlets. The online web presence extends to multiple sites and pages portraying the efforts Nike is taking to streamline waste and inefficiencies through their products, packaging, supply chain, energy usage, etc. The " product " page has an incredibly innovative and unique user experience depicting images that appear to be on different layers and move at different rates as you scroll down. Ni...
Post a Comment
Read more

Showing Off

James Huang/BikeRadar It was announced last week that Pearl Izumi, and owning company Shimano, have opened an "Education Center" in Colorado as a showcase for reps. The center is located close to a bike park for easy access to demo products, allowing Pearl Izumi and Shimano to incorporate a hands on learning experience into clinics and sales meetings. The idea is to provide reps a richer and more valuable engagement with the products, as well as to use the facility in other capacities, like social events and presentations. Other outdoor brands have embraced this concept for years, such as The North Face, which has 11 showrooms around the country. It gives The North Face and their accounts the opportunity to connect with sales directors, RDD teams, marketing executives, etc., all in one place. "Our showrooms allow us to give our dealers the entire brand experience and to explain our seasonal initiatives in a much more effective way," said Aimee Hart, Specialty Sales ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Letters to Ironman

Image: Ironman As the final selection of videos nears for the " Kona Inspired " promotion and the winners are chosen for their spots in the World Championships, Ironman is asking athletes to submit letters (and artwork, photography, lyrics, etc.) detailing what makes Ironman a part of their daily lives. This submission request is to help celebrate the 35th anniversary of Ironman in 2013. Like the Kona Inspired promotion, this will generate plenty of emotional content that can later be used in advertising and other promotion. See more about promotions and contests from Ironman on their Facebook page.
Post a Comment
Read more