 where we discuss solutions to issues that impact sports. I'm your host, Angela Hazelett. Today's guest is Kevin Gibson, the co-founder of VA Momentum. We are here to discuss VA Momentum running races, setting the pace. Welcome, Kevin. Thanks so much for having me. It's great to be here with you, Angela, and I'm looking forward to the conversation. It's well, Kevin. I know you have a really interesting business in VA Momentum. You coordinate multiple running races. As well as a monthly running group known as Run, Sweat, and Beers. And your races include a kid's one-mile mud race. You have several 5Ks all the way up to a half-marathon distance. Your first running race, I know, took place in 2012, which was the Valley Fourth Run. So tell us the backstory of what led you to found VA Momentum. Yeah, so you're exactly right. We kind of cover a wide range of different styles of events, which we really love. And the idea was kind of born out of a friendship that developed between my now business partner and I back in kind of 2010, 2011 timeframe. We met each other. We were working in the same office at a university in Virginia. And we shared this bond over kind of being kids who weren't super healthy growing up. We didn't participate in sort of running events or running, but we had kind of discovered a new interest in it. And we would go work out over our lunch breaks at a rec center and kind of got into running and signed up for this running event that was nearby, went and participated, and then thought to ourselves on the drive back, wow, we should build something like that in the community where we live. And so the idea was we would just do a one-time event. In 2012, we would take in money and then we would give that money back to charity once it was all done. And then we would kind of check the box of, hey, now we organized one of these events that we said we would never do and now we're excited about participating in. And so you're exactly right. 2012 was the first time that we hosted an event and since then have had the opportunity to grow into much more. So you went all in. You went from let's just do a race to now let's put one together. And what brought about the 4th of July as the Naught Girl event? Well, we've always been really big on partnering with the community and making sure that we weren't just doing something that we thought should be done in the community where we live, but instead that we built partnerships and relationships with the right folks in town to make sure that, hey, what we were doing was not just a sort of selfish thing, but instead was something that was a rising tide that rose all ships. And so we came to 4th of July, honestly, because we pursued the city about doing an event in town and their response to us at that time was, hey, we already closed the streets down on 4th of July for sort of the 4th of July celebrations. What would you think about being kind of a cornerstone morning event to kick off the full day of celebration here in town? And so that's ultimately how we landed on 4th of July was that it worked for us. We liked the holiday concept because people are already off of work. They're already thinking about doing things with their families, things like that. And so ultimately it worked out well for the community also because it was a day where the resources from the city were already being used in a certain way that would also be advantageous to hosting a running event like we wanted to do. That's incredible. And so it sounds like they were really receptive to you hosting that event. Probably had a lot of all resources already in place and maybe that reduced cost for you for that first year. So that sounds like a winner all around. And how did that first event go? It kind of blew our expectations out of the water and it was the largest event of its kind in our area the first year that we hosted it and we were blown away. And ultimately I think what's almost more interesting about it though and was more pivotal to our story was that what happened after the event was essentially that the community members, people who lived here, said to us continually after that, when's the next thing? What are you doing next? What can I add to my calendar? Things like that. And so that matched with we really found a joy and a love for doing it meant that we kind of had this sweet spot of people are asking for it and we really enjoyed hosting the event. And we're not book smart event planners. We didn't study this. So I always make sure I mention that to people that this isn't something that I had a background and really before this, we were kind of, as we like to joke, we were building the plane as we flew it essentially. And there's some pros and cons to that which we can get into if you want to. But again, the first year was really successful but what was interesting to us was actually what happened afterwards as being almost more important which was people kept saying, when are you doing another one? And then we were like, wow, we really enjoy doing this. Let's do another one. And I think probably helps that there was not a lot of competition in that space at that time. And so I know you have a reputation of adding little touches to make your events memorable. What can you tell us about how you make your events unique? We always try to kind of think of it from this perspective of like, what's the plus one that we can talk about when we market the event? So I'm always big. My business partner Alan always kind of knows the question is coming from me when we're entering into a planning phase for something when I sort of ask this question of like, what's the narrative? If you were going to tell somebody about it in one sentence and obviously as time has gone on, you have less time to tell people about what it is you want them to hear just because of social media and other things like that. But so I'm big on this thing of what's the narrative? Like how are we going to tell the story? Like we're having a 5K on July 4th and we're going to have a 50-foot inflatable slip and slide at the finish line so that anybody who's finishing fast can come across and just hit the slip and slide, go into a big pool of water. It's safe. Everybody's laughing. Everybody's having fun. That's kind of the plus one for that event. We at some of our more, I would say, physically challenging events, we've tried to kind of think through this component of what would match best with our mission, which has to do with serving the former versions of ourselves who wouldn't want to participate in these types of events. And so if an event has an extra physically challenging component, then we may also throw in a mentally challenging component where you have to stop. For example, we do a race at a mountain nearby where we race participants from the bottom to the peak and about halfway through, they have to stop and complete a kind of a mental challenge. Almost think about the show Amazing Race or something like that. You have to do something before you can move along on the course. And so the idea for us there is it's a little bit of an equalizer. That's kind of the plus one when we can tell the narrative of the event. We can say, hey, we got this really cool race up the mountain. But hey, by the way, on your way up, you might have to get a cookie from your forehead into your mouth without using your hands. And you may be able to do that faster than the person who can run faster than you up the mountain. And so we love to do those little things at our Thanksgiving morning event. We have a pumpkin pie tasting station similar to a water station. But for most people, much more fun on Thanksgiving morning. So as you're on the course that day, you can grab a little piece of pumpkin pie as you're running past that station. And so again, that's for your turkey trot event that you host. Yeah, that's exactly right. And so those are the kinds of things that we do to try to think through. If I was talking to somebody on the street about why they should do the turkey trot, we might say it's because the mayor of town pardons a live turkey. And then we have pumpkin pie samples on the course. I mean, honestly, who wouldn't want to participate in that? That sounds amazing. Do you actually get to run in any of your events that you put on? You mentioned this shift of going from being unhealthy to healthy. So how much are you able to participate? Yeah, it's funny you ask. I've never participated in one of my own events or one of our own events. We were scheduled to run our first one in 2020 actually. We had laid out this challenge for that event that I was just mentioning, the race from the bottom of the peak to the top where it's a team event, so you do it with a partner. And we were challenging people to see if they could beat us up the mountain essentially. And if they could beat us up the mountain, then they would get an extra prize or something like that. I forget exactly what it was at the time, but didn't end up getting a participate in it as a participant and kind of took it as a sign maybe it's not meant to be. If you're organizing the event, you probably shouldn't be running it anyway. And so we haven't had a chance to do that. And that was because of COVID? The event typically would have been in May of 2020, but it was canceled because of COVID. Yeah, well, let's dive into how COVID impacted your business. So tell us what that was like for you because this is your entire business model as to host these running events and things shut down for a while. So what did that look like for VA Momentum? Yeah, we're so fortunate. I mean, honestly, we're in the business of bringing people together in large groups, right? I mean, the model of the businesses come together, the more people, the better, the more community vibes there will be. And so the rug of that was pulled out completely from underneath of us. And so I think the first phase was sort of very reactive, right? Like we were in very much the mode of we've never canceled events before. We've always had plan Bs. And so just flat out cancelling events with no real option for anything that anyone could do to stay involved was a really tough time for us. I think it's the first time we've ever really thought to ourselves, wow, we really may not make it. And we had been in this trajectory of you mentioned before, the 2012 was our first event, 2015 and 16 was when my business partner and I came on full time. And so between 2016 and 2020 was really that, when you think about sort of business models, it was kind of the hockey stick time where we were moving, we were exponentially growing. And so it was really difficult in 2020 to kind of then be in a stage where we flatlined. And the nice thing is though, and why I said right at the beginning, because this is genuinely my automatic response that we're so fortunate that the community showed up again in the same way they did in 2012 when I mentioned, they said to us, how can we continue to have a feeling of belonging and a feeling of community, even though we can't get together in person and they look to us to answer that question for them in the similar way that we had served that purpose for them in their regular lives. And so we pivoted to a virtual series. And a lot of people were doing virtual series in the running world at that time kind of by necessity, but the one thing that, the one sort of, I guess I would maybe bring it back to the whole plus one thing that we did was we moved, we went to a subscription model. And so we offered people the opportunity essentially to subscribe and then know that they would get specific pieces of content from us on a regular basis. But then also that we would provide virtual events on a rolling basis as well. And so we had a great number of people that signed up to participate. It gave us a purpose. I mean, this was one of these like the epitome of a reciprocal relationship things, you know, like our purpose was kind of stripped away when COVID first hit because we weren't able to get people together. But then we provided this subscription-based virtual program and it gave us a lot of purpose. And then it gave the people who joined the program something to do to feel like they were still a part of something. And we were, you know, we were kind of finding together what was going to work best. And that was really successful and really kept us afloat financially during COVID as well. Absolutely. What were the subscription? You mentioned the subscription model, but you mentioned having some content that was going to be provided in addition to the virtual races. So what kind of content did you supply that you felt like was your plus one for your members? It's a great question. Yeah, we two of the things that were kind of cool that we did was we did what we called the VAM video challenge which we provided once a week and VAM short for VA momentum. And actually, Alan, my business partner and I would get on Zoom just like this and record a essentially like a unique type of exercise-related challenge that we were asking people to complete that week as kind of just motivation to do something. So let's say, for example, around Valentine's Day or something, we would say, hey, go for a run this week. And while you're on your run this week, think about somebody that you love that you'd like to go for an exercise with you next week. And then we had some ways that people could post these things virtually to kind of invite like almost like back in the day when you would back in my day, I guess anyway, a long time ago. But you would send like a Valentine's note to invite somebody and say circle yes or no or whatever. And so we would help facilitate these kind of fun challenges that were lots of times thematic around, like we did a Halloween themed one where we gave people an option to participate like they could pick, trick or treat. And then it would reveal certain things that they could do while they exercise. And so anyway, it was all based in fun. And then the other one we did was we did it once a month. We would do these prize wheel fun runs where we just would sort of surprise announce that today was the prize wheel fun run. If you went on at least a three mile run or walk, your name would be entered into a hat to spin a prize wheel on Zoom live with us that had all of these really cool prizes. We were giving away like shoes and Amazon gift cards and subscription to like runner's magazine and these kinds of things. And so again, the idea was like, if on any random given day in a month, you're part of this community of let's say 500 people that are participating in a prize wheel fun run. And then you think you might have a chance to win a prize and then you get to watch somebody else on Zoom, spin the wheel, we were doing all of that live and everything. Anyway, those were kind of the add-ons that we tried to create to provide an extra sense of, hey, I'm subscribed, the series had a name, it was called the Forward Series, kind of based on this thought of thinking forward and all that sort of stuff. So anyway, it was a blast for us and I think people had a good time and we started it out only thinking it would be six months and then we extended it six months because kind of like everything in COVID didn't know when it was gonna end. And so when it came time for the six months to be over, people are like, COVID's not gone. Right, and we're not really completely free of COVID and maybe we never will be, but how you rely on sponsors and you give back to the community. So this is the connected community that you operate here and how have the sponsors fared through this time? Have they been able to come back and give their full support to your races now and have you been able to give back to the community in the same way pre-COVID? That's another great question. The sponsors have thankfully stood by our side throughout. We had a couple of sponsors who told us during the pandemic that their businesses were doing well because they were in an industry that was still doing well during COVID and so they wanted to continue to sponsor even if we weren't doing the same event that they sponsored before. So we had some new folks even step up and say, hey, we want to support what you're doing because we're still doing well and a lot of those folks have stayed on board as well after the pandemic. And then others, we kind of made a couple of strategic decisions even during COVID where we knew we were thankfully supported by a lot of local restaurants and of course we knew during COVID times were really tough for them. And so there were some events we hosted where we said to them, hey, we don't expect you to financially support us this year but because of the long-term partnership, we'd love to still include you as a title sponsor or presenting sponsor for the event and then let's revisit it again next year. And so thankfully a lot of those relationships and it goes back, I mean, it's all about relationships 100% at the end of the day. Again, kind of thinking back to how this even came about to begin with. And so we're really fortunate in terms of how sponsors have stood by us throughout and so everything is so unpredictable still, what people are excited about and their spending habits and all these things. I mean, we can talk about that till we're blue in the face but we're still kind of at this point trying to figure out participant behavior and what the interests are moving forward. And I wouldn't say we have our hands on it yet but we did create a half marathon you mentioned earlier which we'll be hosting the first of this in about a week and a half actually and the response to that has been super positive. And so it's nice because when you get something that gets a really positive response it makes up for the ones where you're like, what happened on this one? This one used to be really popular and now nobody wants to do it anymore. Yeah, yeah, something changed. And you mentioned about the relationships and how important they are and you've established a lot in the community where you live and primarily operate but you have a lot of races that are out of state as well. You have some in North Carolina, Florida, Washington, D.C. and some that are even kind of further away from your home base. So talk to me, how do you establish these relationships and navigate the process of launching an event that is far from your home base? We were really lucky back in the day or not back in the day but back in sort of the early phases of the company kind of in that 2015 to 2019 timeframe where we kind of rode this wave of the craft beer industry was growth was exploding and at the same time it was nice to pair sort of exercise with the breweries and as the breweries were developing their identities they were interested in having an identity some of them that were was associated with working out and exercise and sort of the active community. And so a lot of what we did to grow our out of state events was we would build relationships with breweries which in and of itself is a pretty tight knit community and as we would host events close to home but maybe a couple hours away from home we would get recommendations of other places where maybe we would consider doing this stuff and so those people would pass along their contacts and things like that and so we were really fortunate in terms of the way that brewery relay series event called the Growla Relay grew because we were getting a chance to sort of ride the wave along with the breweries to matching with sort of the active community in the craft beer community and so the relationships came every time we had an event we were meeting people and then they were introducing us to other people and things like that. The marketing piece is definitely tricky and we've struggled honestly with that since COVID because we lost a couple years of relationships in places outside of town where we weren't able to visit them or host those events it was much easier to maintain our relationships with our local community members than it was with the people who were out of town and so we're still kind of picking up the pieces from that and it's kind of a mixture of I think social media targeted marketing paid marketing there email distribution lists we do a lot with text messaging not sort of spammy text messaging but more so we let people know when they sign up for events that that's a way that we like to get in touch with them and people respond really positively to that and so we use text message a lot of times for marketing and things like that too but I'd be lying if I didn't say we've struggled a little bit in the out of town areas since we've since we've been back from COVID but yet have the the areas that are close even if they're out of town but slightly closer to home those are the ones that are that have come back quicker than the ones that are say you know 10 or 15 hours away so there's kind of a dichotomy of racers there's the non-competitive and then the competitive side so do you primarily cater to one or the other or do you feel like your events offer kind of a balanced interest for all levels of competitiveness? Yeah I sort of smirk at this because I think I like to think that we appeal to a wide range of folks but I know that the correct answer is that we certainly err on the side of being welcoming to all skill levels of all backgrounds being known for being not so much a competitive racing company but more a community building company we could call it our mission is energizing communities for good and so when we talk about good we we mean sort of for the long haul to encourage people to be active over time and that there's always something next we can point to to say here's the next event that's coming up and we do a mud race for kids there's a picture of that on the screen and so we're totally about making sure that all types of people from all varieties of backgrounds are welcome at our events because again if you think back to the why for us goes back to our own personal stories and we weren't necessarily like I was like I have to catch myself I don't want my parents to think that I run around like telling people that they raised me unhealthy but I just we just weren't my business partner and I just weren't that into this type of stuff and it wasn't a priority for us at the time and so we want the former versions of ourselves to feel the feel welcome at our events and so we have professional chip timing and you know we give out medals for first place finishers and things like that and so it's absolutely necessary as a business to have both we have to appeal to competitive runners and to the masses alike but for us it's always been more of our wheelhouse to appeal to a whole family grandparents and all who want to come to the turkey trot or you know family wants to celebrate New Year's Eve early with a glow run and a you know a ball drop that happens sort of early as a celebration for kids as part of a running event and so that's that's I smirk about it because I know the answer I want to make sure we appeal to everybody but I think we would have some super competitive people who might say like come on you guys definitely air to the to the like fun stuff well and Kevin you have a half marathon coming up and I would imagine this is going to appeal to a lot more of the competitive runners since there has to be quite a bit of training to be able to finish a half marathon so talk to me about some challenges you've encountered in planning this this is a new new distance new format for you and so what kind of challenges have you encountered yeah it's all it's everything on another level right so many more nights waking up in the middle of the night thinking about do are we going to have enough porter potties are we covered on our insurance bases all of those kinds of things and so it's everything really to the next level and really I think one of the things that I would say most about that is from a risk management perspective we just really need to make sure because the event has a much larger footprint that everything is covered from an emergency response perspective and so not that at our other events it's not but again smaller footprint you can you can kind of dial in on those needs a lot more quickly at some of our more traditional five k's and things like that whereas this event is larger and covers a much much wider range but it's a it's it's it's everything kind of to the next level it costs more for participants to sign up so they expect more we want to deliver in a very thorough and positive way and want to make sure that it's an amazing experience for them it also has potential the half marathons and marathons are tourism and economic development factors for communities and so people come and stay in hotels and spend money at local restaurants and things like that and so we want to make sure the first year especially is a home run so that next year it can be even more successful and have even more people come and check it out and and speak positively about it and this is this is a this is the type of event where if you don't do it right people will say it wasn't great if you do it really well then people will also say hey that town puts on a pretty great half marathon and uh and we want it to definitely be that way so we're absolutely about it yeah and great response that's great um the 2014 Maui marathon they had an incident where there was an intoxicated driver that drove a vehicle vehicle through a crowd of runners you mentioned risk management concerns so do you look to what happens and other venues other events to inform how to best protect your your participants definitely you probably saw me take a deep breath when you mentioned the the person driving through the crowd we right before Thanksgiving of last year at our event that has a few thousand people at it we you know on closed down streets in the middle of our downtown was what there was an incident in another state where there was a parade happening and somebody drove through the crowd and so we definitely keep tight line of communication with the local officials and public works departments and public safety departments just to be sure that we're paying attention to what other communities are doing in response to these kinds of things to make sure that we're doing everything we possibly can do to make the event safe I mean participant safety is way more important at the end of the day than spoonfuls of pumpkin pie or things like that and so we we do always kind of go back to not reinventing the wheel but we do ask the question at every event are we meeting the safety protocols that we need to make to make sure it's a safe event because it's an ever changing environment and so we definitely definitely are always trying to stay at the front of that because it's most important to us and we've had we've had incidents at our event with scares of not necessarily as extreme as of vehicle driving through a crowd but you host running events it's it's likely that you'll have health issues or heart attacks or things like that and so you've got to really be ready with a standard operating procedures for what happens when these things happen and then tight communication with the local officials absolutely absolutely well Kevin this has been very illuminating and I'm glad that COVID didn't take your business down that you're still be energizing the community for good so we appreciate VA momentum running races that you're setting the pace for our community so thank you to our viewers for joining us today on the sports playbook in two weeks our guest is Katie Baker from USA curling who will discuss the growing sport of curling well we'll see you then thank you so much for watching think tech Hawaii if you like what we do please like us and click the subscribe button on YouTube and the follow button on Vimeo you can also follow us on Facebook Instagram Twitter and LinkedIn and donate to us at thinktechHawaii.com Mahalo