When we decided to create a virtual race event in response to our core business (large scale trail running events) shutting down indefinitly due to the COVID-19 situation we wanted a name that would draw us closer together as a global community of trail runners. Something that would inspire others, but also ourselves. I’ve yet to face a challenge like COVID-19 and its far reaching effects to the events business in my time as an entrepreneur and I fully understand that this may be one of the most trying times I will ever face as a business leader in my career.
We knew we wanted to hold a virtual event since that was really our only option, but didn’t want something gimmicky, lame (which let’s be honest – most virtual events are) nor cookie cutter. It had to have some heart and soul to it. It had to be done the Aravaipa way.
I don’t quite remember where it came from, but we quickly settled upon “Aravaipa Strong”. Images of “Rosie The Riveter” and strong man competitions came to mind. It was a manifesto that no, Aravaipa isn’t going anywhere. We will come together and rise above this challenge together. Not just as a company but as a community. We won’t go quietly (or loudly) into failure, but instead rise above whatever obstacles lay in front of us and we will do so together.
So we set out on our creative journey to make something that would hopefully make an impact on the GLOBAL Aravaipa community. Here is a peek at our design process which is a collaborative process:
- Initial concept. We all build up Aravaipa. But it looks like they are about to be crushed!
2. The idea of runners making up a runner. Getting warmer…
3. Our final version which we feel fits the event perfectly. We only hope we are as fast as our logo!
This virtual race was our first initiative to save not only our company but also our staff. For me as owner / CEO success isn’t just making it through myself, but as a team unit. That is critically important to me and I will do everything I can to make that happen. It is far too early to predict our fate and we most certainly may still have the worst times in front of us, but through grit, creative thinking, teamwork and sometimes pure determination we have to believe that we will make it. I think that is half (or more) of the battle right there.
So, Aravaipa Strong. I want to shift this towards what this means to me now which is quite different than what it meant to me two weeks ago when we laid the foundations of this virtual event and the attitude for our company’s current trajectory.
It all started with an email that was forwarded to me by my office manager, Erin:
“Aravaipa family –
I would like to sponsor a registration for the Aravaipa Strong virtual race. If you know of a runner who is struggling during this time and wants to run, could you please let me know so that I can sponsor their entry fee?
Thanks for everything you guys do for the trail running community!”
I will keep the sender anonymous for now, but after seeing this I thought, “how cool!”. A simple selfless act from a member of our community. They just wanted to sponsor someone else to run the virtual race who may not be able to do so. So within a couple hours of receiving that email I sent out a Tweet:
A couple of people commented it was a nice gesture and then I waited to see if anyone would humble themselves enough to ask for an entry or if a nomination would come through. Well, turns out something unexpected happened next. I received several direct messages on Twitter of more runners wanting to sponsor / donate entries for those in need.
Wow, so I started to get a bit excited. We quickly had 3, 4 then 5 paid for entries to dish out, but no one to accept them. I think the mentality of taking the last slice of pie was taking hold and no one wanted to be the “greedy one” taking the free race entry. So, I nudged it along with a couple more Tweets:
My initial Tweet with 1 entry went out at 12:07pm on Monday. I made the 2nd tweet with three entries at 12:10pm and we had four to give by 12:17pm. Ok, so I needed to find people to take these entries so I also cross posted the offer on my Instagram story making sure to have people nominate someone and that I had multiple entries to give away:
This time it worked and I soon had several requests for either people in a tough spot who had lost their job, struggling with being able to afford it or nominating someone deserving who just really needed something like this virtual race in their life right now. Some of the stories were quite touching, but I can tell you it gave me great joy to be able to say YES to someone who needed this. I responded back and forth, giving entries and also processing additional offers of sponsorship.
By 6:02 PM we had officially given away 10 entries:
The story may have ended there, but it goes on so please bear with me. I was already feeling pretty warm inside with all of this gift giving going on. People coming out of no where to donate virtual race entries anonymously to a stranger somewhere out in the world. Me being the middle man in this transaction was really the only one that was able to see not only the generosity of the giver but the immense appreciation from those who received. Honestly it made me proud to be part of whatever movement this is. It really made me reflect on the true meaning of “Aravaipa Strong” and the power it can have. It wasn’t just about me trying to “save” my company or my employees. It was about all of us helping one another in a time of need. And not just an abstract idea, it was playing out right in front of me.
And the needs kept pouring in… once the word continued to spread and people saw that it was ok to ask for something, I continued to get requests. I was now out of donated entries and had to turn away 4, then 6 then 10 worthy nominations.
I wish I could ask for more, but for me it didn’t feel like the right thing to do. People are already supporting Aravaipa in a huge way by taking a chance on our virtual event and so many people had already donated one or more entries.
So, we decided to do our part and give back. We decided we as a company would match all of the donated entries and double the number of recipients. These recipients would be fully entered into the race and receive all of the goodies – the race bib, the shirt and the medal all shipped out to them (we did ask international entrants to chip in for shipping).
So we’ve doubled the number of donated entries from the community (we had 16) and have now handed out 27 of 32 sponsored slots. If we do have any additional donated spots to give out, Aravaipa will match up to 50 entries ourselves should we get that many.
If you would like to request or nominate an entry or are interested in sponsoring, please email hayley @ aravaiparunning.com
Thank you all for showing me the true meaning of #AravaipaStrong. I’m proud to be part of this event, this community and this movement. Oh and I hope you’ll join us April 17-26 for the first annual Aravaipa Strong Virtual Race.
Jamil Coury
Founder
Aravaipa Running