San Antonio Running Blog
Muddy Mayhem case study by Active.com
Case Study: Muddy Mayhem, San Antonio
Background
It’s no coincidence that Derek Brehm’s event is called Muddy Mayhem. It takes place on a San Antonio farm within city limits – his parents’ – and the 5K chip-timed course includes a 50- x 60-foot water/mud pit that’s 2-feet deep, plus a 30- x 40-foot mud crawl with military-style roping across it. There are also bales of hay to hurdle over and water hoses shooting at folks near the finish line. Afterward, there’s food, music and much washing off of mud. The first Muddy Mayhem, held April 23, 2011, had nearly 1000 participants. We caught up with Derek recently to ask him how he kept from getting stuck in the mire as a first-time race director.
Other than for the fun of it all, why does Muddy Mayhem exist?
As the owner of an Athlete’s Foot store, it’s important to me to give back to the community. Proceeds from the event go to the Wounded Warrior Project, which helps wounded soldiers and their families. But of course, Muddy Mayhem helps promote the store, which is a franchise. Of all the Athlete’s Foot franchises, only three or four promote running activities.
What are your plans for the future in terms of this event?
This year’s event featured six obstacles in the course; next year’s, scheduled for April 14, 2012, will have more obstacles and we’ll make it more competitive, running-wise.
What made you decide on Active?
I’d hired a race director who had sponsored road races before and he referred me to Active Network because he uses them for his races. I’d also been familiar with Active through ESPN radio. We wanted to keep costs down and didn’t want to do a big, elaborate website with credit card purchases and all that. The convenience of online registration with Active.com was a great option. You can do it all online. We did look at another, local, company but Active was easier and the Active.com site offers so much other information people have an interest in.
What do you think of the exposure your event got via Active.com?
Active.com’s listing of the event gave us great placement, so the exposure was great. Our race was front and center for anyone in San Antonio visiting the site. Of course, most lists don’t have events with names like Muddy Mayhem, which couldn’t have hurt our cause.
How does Active help you get participants?
How else would people find us? Lots of people go to Active.com for their race calendar. It’s the site most people know.
What are the main aspects of Active’s technology that you rely on?
The data capture is it. We looked at the data constantly; it was such an easy way to keep track, rather than going through papers, etc. It relieved us of a lot of legwork. We had it set up so we were getting email addresses, ages, shirt sizes, etc. We could print it out and do the count. We also got a lot of in-store registrations, with 200 last-minute registrations at the race. Having the online data with Active.com helped us know what to order.
How else do you use the reporting features?
We could look up registration numbers every few hours and see immediately what/where/who, etc., so that I could track participants.
What has your experience been like with customer support?
Active takes care of participant complaints or questions. Only one person had an issue – they did something incorrect with their registration and we simply sent them directly to Active; Active took care of it. It’s always good to know you have that.
How does Active help you follow-up with Muddy Mayhem people?
The fact that we could capture so much data, including email addresses, has helped us build a database. We send newsletters with nutrition tips, racing tips, etc., and we’ll use it to promote the 2012 event.
Would you recommend Active to others?
I would absolutely recommend Active to others doing events, especially smaller-budget folks. With Active, your race has a professional appearance. Plus they provide security for credit card payment information. Even as far as race results – you can post the results right on Active.com. That’s nice.
What’s next?
We’ve planned the next Muddy Mayhem for April 14 2012. We’ll spend more money and go bigger. We had nearly 1000 people this year, which exceeded our expectations. It can only get better.
Posted by on 14th December, 2011 | Comments | Trackbacks
Tags: muddy mayhem, mud run san antonio, races in san antonio, races san antonio, mud run, mud run in san antonio, the athletes foot muddy mayhem, athletes foot muddy mayhem, athletes foot mud run, adventure race san antonio
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