tl;dr My uncle has organized a mountain biking race to raise money for cancer but nobody is signing up. Help!
The story: three years ago my aunt Wendy died of a rare form of cancer. She was the soul of our family, the kind of person who made every single person she ever met feel special and valued. I know everyone says that about loved ones, but she was truly amazing. Anyway, my uncle was obviously devastated. He's the strong silent type who doesn't talk a lot, he ACTS. And so he decided that he was going to dedicate himself to raising money for the doctors researching the type of cancer that killed her, who had helped prolong her life by putting her in trials. Since he is an avid cyclist (biker?), he decided the best way to raise money is to create an annual mountain biking race on Mt. Spokane, WA. He has worked on this as if it were his career, and has secured sponsorships and had t-shirts made and run ads in cycling magazines and websites and everything else a big race needs to succeed.
Well, the race is next month, and everyone is getting very nervous because in spite of all this, they have had a very low response. If the turnout is bad, the race will obviously not become an annual thing and it is going to break my uncle's heart.
So I am asking r/MTB for help. Can you offer any suggestions for how to improve people signing up for this? Have you entered a race like this before, and if so, what made you decide to do it? Are there other places online that we should be posting about the race? (Please keep in mind I know nothing about mountain biking!)
Here is the website: https://www.climbforthecure.org/
Thank you all in advance.
by JoNightshade
5 Comments
Have you gone to all the bike shops in the area? And I would look as far as 3-4 hours out? Most of them would probably be happy to hand a flier about it. In most cases I’m sure calling them and emailing them a flier they can print would probably be ok. But in person is always best.
I live in Western Washington and haven’t heard about this race at all. Share it to all regional MTB groups on Facebook. PNW Mountain Bikers, Tiger Mountain/Raging River, Duthie Hill, Galbraith, Darrington, Port Gamble, etc. Tons of people follow these groups for information.
Talk to the local news. You may get some publicity there. Anyone who rides that you know inform them. Even if they don’t race you’ll be getting the word out. Is everyone in your family signed up? Reach out to YouTubers especially local. I could picture Seth on Berm Peak mentioning your Aunt and Uncle and the race fills up.
Reach out to the cities parks and rec.
Reach out to his sponsors. He has some big names in there and they may have marketing budget to help nonprofit donations. They may also be able to circulate your event in their HR newsletters.
Contact racers from past events if possible. If other race orgs are allowed to share that data. Market directly toward them.
Get a big named signed up. Their names carries your race. They donate winnings back.
What are current numbers and what is successful for him?
Good luck. I’m sorry about your Aunt and wish your Uncle the best.
I’ve done a couple races in my life, I’m not really your target audience, but here are a few thoughts. At first glance, I’d say it looks more like gravel than MTB. Some people have all the bikes, or you might need to focus more toward roadies who have a gravel bike rather than MTB folks who have an XC bike. The video on the landing page is good, add a detail or two about that on the route description so people know what level of technical trail there is.
The other thing that gets people out of the woodwork is competition. Not like ESPN coverage competition, I mean the bros at the office who bet on football games. Maybe you can stir up some competitive spirit in the way you advertise, get people to challenge each other.
It’s a mostly *uphill* race?
That’s probably a lot of your problem right there. I don’t know anyone who would want to do an uphill only MTB race. Maybe roadies would be into that? Idk… What was his thought process in the course layout? XC races should have at least as much descending as climbing.
Also $160 is pretty steep. I know it’s for a good cause but that would turn me off right there. You can enter the U.S. Nationals in Winter Park or race the EWS 100 course for quite a bit less than your registration fee.
For example, I did the Floyd Hill Session Series in Colorado. It’s a downhill/enduro style race (the climb is not timed at all), it costs $40 to register, and it sells out fast. There were over 600 racers over 4 days. Perhaps a downhill race with a cheaper entry would gain more traction