Why Racing Events attributes key relationships to success in 2020

December 17, 2020

If you want to be successful, pick your partners well.

Vancouver, WA – Entrepreneur, author and motivational speaker Jim Rohn once famously stated, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.“ In terms of business success, this couldn’t be more true, especially in 2020.

Why Racing Events host a series of running, triathlon, multisport and trail events throughout Oregon and Washington. In 2020, contrary to many race management organizations across the world, they haven’t been forced to layoff any of their full and part time crew, they helped nearly 12,000 athletes focus on their health and fitness during a global pandemic and they raised over $500,000 for various local non-profits and causes.

Sherri McMillan, owner of Why Racing Events, explains “We were fortunate and extremely lucky to have made the decision to switch to Race Roster for our event management platform in 2020. Early in the year, our numbers were up and everything was going so well and we were on track to have a stellar year. Then, the global pandemic hit one week before our first race of the year. Race Roster’s team jumped into action and helped us produce a virtual event that was wildly successful and gave our community something positive to focus on during a challenging time. It literally felt like they were our employees and part of our team. The amount of time they spent helping us host a virtual event that we’ve never done before was so impressive. They added features that added value and improved the athlete experience. We initially switched over to Race Roster because so many other Race Directors had raved about their sophisticated technology, robust platform and their customer service. We experienced this at a high level during crisis mode and I’m confident we would not have made it through 2020 without them. The crew at Race Roster are all athletes. They get our sport and they understand what race directors and our athletes want and need.”

Why Racing also recognized early in the year that the key factor to a successful Virtual event was the SWAG. Karissa Schoene, Event Director for Why adds “If we were going to encourage people to pay to run or walk on their own, we had to assure the SWAG was cool enough that they wanted it and would sign up. Our vendors jumped into action and brainstormed ideas to create the WOW factor. Our relationship with STRIDE AWARDS was invaluable. Stride was able to provide us options for incredible SWAG that we had never offered before at a great cost. We offered towels, cyclng jerseys, hoodies, arm sleeves, buffs, tanks, gloves, and so many other great items. Our athletes wanted the SWAG and for some events, we had more people sign up than a normal year! Our rep Matt worked so hard coming up with great designs and assuring our items got to us on time with such tight deadlines. We are indebted to him for his efforts this year!”

Why Racing also noted that Leslie Jordon and Ashworth Awards were very helpful with coming up with creative SWAG options. “It was definitely a team effort” says Schoene.

Schoene also acknowledged “none of our partners cancelled their sponsorship with us even though we had to switch all of our events to virtual for 2020. That literally saved us. Organizations like PeaceHealth, IQ Credit Union, Fairwinds CBD, Foot Traffic, McCords Vancouver Toyota, Chucks Produce, Franz Bakery, Visit Central Oregon, Corwin, Northwest Personal Training and many others stuck with us and believed in our mission. It says a lot about their commitment to the health and wellness of our community.”

“Our relationships allowed us to continue with our ‘Kids race for Free’ initiative and still raise so much money for causes that are important to us. Our community needed an incentive to continue to work on their physical strength, mental health, stress release and immune system. It was a tough year but an extremely rewarding one” says McMillan.

Why Racing is currently preparing to open registration for all of their 2021 events on January 1^st. “We are looking forward to an incredible year as we move past this pandemic and can gather together again. That first ‘normal’ race will be so emotional and exciting for all of us” says Schoene.

“2020 was all about relationships. Our athletes supported us because they appreciate what we do and want to see us survive and our partners walked side-by-side though this year with us. We will never forget that” says McMillan.

They say, “If you want to be successful, surround yourself with successful people”. Clearly, Why Racing Events has that figured out and attributes it as a key factor to their survival through the most challenging time race management companies have ever experienced.

Key Vendor Contacts:

Race Roster –brandon@raceroster.com

Stride Awards – matt@strideawards.com

Leslie Jordan – holly@lesliejordan.com

Ashworth Awards – dan@ashworthawards.com

About Why Racing Events:

Why Racing Events is a multi-sport event management organization that offers athletes of all ages and abilities, from the elite level to the back-of-the-packers, the chance to successfully complete a racing event. They host a series of events throughout Washington and Oregon, including children’s races, fun runs, trail runs, half marathons, marathons, duathlons and triathlons. Their races vary in size from 1000 to 5000 participants. They are committed to providing a positive experience to everyone involved while raising awareness and funds for important community causes. Find out more information about Why Racing Events at www.whyracingevents.com

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Contact Information
Sherri McMillan
Founder and CEO
sherri@whyracingevents.com
www.whyracingevents.com
360.798.4744

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