Corporate virtual races and HR challenges

Looking to fulfill your KPIs for motivation, collaboration, inclusive fitness and wellness? Racery’s virtual race platform hosts virtual challenges that will make your HR team proud!

Our virtual races are turnkey — simple to create and deploy. Our events are risk-free, requiring no upfront payment or setup fee for tech-savvy teams that don’t require phone support or require special features.

We’ve been hosting virtual races since 2014, so Racery’s software embodies years of programming and thousands of smart suggestions from racers and companies. If you don’t see a feature in the lists below, please ask—we’ve probably got it. 🙂

We urge decision-makers to test Racery’s features in a free test race before committing to a virtual race.

To be clear, if your racers just care about physical medals, Racery’s probably not for you. We’re all-in on digital community and e-swag. If you want a virtual race with unrivaled power and flexibility, a digital-first event that provides rich, multi-day experiences that are social, motivational and morale-building, you’ve come to the right place. Read what our virtual races sponsors say about Racery’s virtual race platform and expertise, then read on below!

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Corporate Virtual Race and HR Challenge Use Cases

Fitness and Motivational Experiences for Participants

Tools for Virtual Race Organizers

Race organizer tiers

Racer fees for custom route virtual races

Next steps

Corporate Virtual Race and HR Challenge Use Cases

  • Global collaboration: employees in time zones across the world can collaborate on teams to complete trips around the globe, enjoying Google Street Views and trading stories on every continent
  • Seasonal and regional programming: whether it’s a Virtual Turkey Trot 5k or a Summer Vacation National Parks Tour, staff can compete on a themed route with postcards and a shared photo gallery
  • Remote/hybrid integration: firms with significant numbers of staff working from home or hybrid enjoy events that facilitate socializing and collaboration that evens the playing field with in-office staff
  • Mental health: logging miles for healthy activities like reading, calling an old friend or meditation, staff are exposed to new habits that build happiness and wellbeing
  • Corporate Social Responsibility Engagement: activities contribute to a company-wide goal that triggers corporate donations to selected charities, directly connecting employee wellness with social impact
  • DEI: Racery’s libraries of thematic virtual races include Black History Month and Women’s Month that engage staff with historical routes and daily educational emails
  • Sustainability Initiatives: challenges that track eco-friendly activities (biking to work, zero-waste days) alongside traditional exercise, supporting corporate environmental goals.

Core Fitness and Motivational Experiences for Participants

Racery’s many features work together seamlessly to engage employees from start to finish on a journey to fitness, morale and wellness. (Want the big picture? Read about important virtual race features that set Racery apart from its peers, our virtual race bling that’s personalized for each racer, and how Racery’s activity conversions make races bigger and more inclusive.)

Racers experience:

  • Personal tracking: participants exercise anywhere and anytime, then see their fitness progress displayed on a route along with other racers’ avatars
  • Bling: each racer gets a digital bib and finish award personalized with their name and entry number or finish rank, perfect to print or share online
  • Google Street Views: no matter where a racer exercises, they get a 360° view of their new position on the virtual route
  • Teamwork: depending on the sponsor’s needs, racers may compete in individually or in teams, with collective miles advancing their respective team avatars on the route and leader board, or one super-team, with everyone’s miles adding together. (More on the value of teams in a virtual race.)
  • Leader boards: all participants’ relative positions update in real time on an individual leader board and (if applicable) a team leader board
  • Badges: racers get extra motivation and recognition by earning badges for streaks and achievements like recruiting other participants
  • Activity feed: everyone’s exercise logs are displayed a reverse-chronological-order real-time stream
  • Photo gallery: racer photos are displayed in a reverse-chronological-order in real-time stream… a healthy Instagram!
  • Socializing: racers can like or comment on each other’s logs and interact in the race’s message board
  • Inclusive activity options: depending on the sponsors’ goals, a race can track a single activity (like running or swimming) or a more inclusive DEI-focused mix of ~80 activities (from wheel chairing to yoga to gardening)
  • Automated syncing: activities logged by Garmin, Fitbit and iWatch can sync automatically if a race sponsor permits
  • Motivational nudges: racers are commended for streaks and new personal records, and get email nudges to exercise
  • Group filters: racers can filter a large race to focus on groups of their friends or colleagues
  • Looping: ambitious racers or teams can continue logging miles until the end of the race, looping the route multiple times
  • 5ks: people who prefer short events co-exist happily with fast racers in our 1-7 day virtual 5ks

Tools for Virtual Race Organizers

Race organizers love the Racery’s impact on staff and the platform’s ease of use for both participants and admins.

  • Robust reporting: Racery’s reports provide both top-level and granular data that proves event efficacy on KPIs like motivation, fitness, morale, and collaboration
  • Employee satisfaction: again and again, participants rave about races on internal forums, report strong satisfaction, and request more events
  • Customizable achievements and badges: Racery can customize achievements and badges that fit your corporation’s unique needs
  • Educational engagement: Our races often synchronize with a company’s program educating employees on specific themes
  • Events that map to corporate culture or landmarks: Whether it’s your company’s numerous branches, warehouses or landmarks relating to the company’s mission, our customizable routes are guaranteed to create an engaging story
  • API access: race sponsors can use Racery’s extensive API to integrate granular race data into internal systems

Race Tiers

Using Racery’s software, organizations can easily build and manage their own races, with reliable racer support provided by Racery. Racers pay Racery’s per racer fees in these races when registering.

Larger organizations willing to prepay Racery’s per racer fees can access additional branding, features, sponsorship opportunities, flexibility, and support. To reduce redundancy and miscommunication, all races, with the exception of the International tier, assume a single point of contact on the customer side. More details on these two approaches…

Self serve: $0 prepay, racers pay Racery’s fees

You’ll like our self-serve races if your organization is tech savvy, not focused on branding for itself or sponsors, but still seeking a rich experience for racers. Sponsors of self-serve races build and manage their own races,

The race experience (described above) is paid for by each racer when she or he enters. The sponsor will:

  • build a route or select one of Racery’s prebuilt races
  • send custom announcement emails to racers
  • customize the race’s name, which appears on the race page and digital bling
  • rely on Racery tools, videos, FAQs and email support
  • issue Stripe refunds to racers and/or donors (if necessary)
  • if prepaying racers’ fees, use a credit card to cover the entire per racer fee
  • get one admin seat

We strive to answer self-serve race sponsor questions within two business days. These races do not include the features and services listed below.

Professional: $4,500 in prepaid racer fees

Pindrops marked showrooms in a 2020 Nike race for sales staff.
  • race organizer logo appears on the race’s digital bib, finish award, social placard, fundraising placard and about section
  • registration page customized by Racery
  • custom pin drops: spotlight landmarks, offices or partners using pin drops, with editable title, text, photo and a sponsor logo
  • send mileage-triggered emails (each racer or team gets an email on passing a defined mile marker)
  • select which automated emails racers receive
  • opt to exclude participants from future Racery marketing communications
  • ad success tracking for Facebook, Google
  • support for sponsor questions within one business day
  • one phone consult, up to 60 minutes
  • up to two admins

Corporate: $12,500 in prepaid racer fees

Zillow sent e-postcards to racers when each team passed an HBCU in the race.
  • coupon dashboard (unique coupons for racers from partners or corporate sponsors)
  • Racery, not sponsor, builds a route
  • automated export of all racer photos—perfect for a slideshow or sizzle reel
  • bulk racer registration, individually or in teams
  • sponsor can customize the race’s digital bib, finish award and Facebook placard using Racery blueprints (see examples of bespoke bling)
  • registration tiers (offer racers different entry packages or additional bling)
  • e-postcards (build and automatically trigger emails containing e-postcards of landmarks)
  • custom headers and footers on the automated emails driving Racery functionality
  • customize the text in some automated emails
  • discounted design services
  • discounted per racer fees
  • up to 3 admins
  • four phone consults, up to 180 minutes with the race sponsor’s project manager

International: >$23,000 in prepaid racer fees

Oiselle hosted a warm up for captains preparing to lead teams in a later big race.
  • free 50-person 4-day warm up race (train and excite potential ambassadors before your big event!)
  • concierge service for race sponsor staff
  • private labeling (customize the map’s palette and replace Racery’s logo)
  • custom homepage (serve new arrivals a branded splash registration page)
  • API access (pull real time data directly from Racery’s database)
  • embeddable race widget (add the race’s map and leader boards to your own site, view only)
  • dedicated support (get a companyname@racery.com support address and expanded service hours)
  • corporate Slack integration
  • custom racerbot (a chatbot using client-branded idioms commenting on racers’ activities and achievements)
  • Google Street View Easter eggs (along the route, racers can watch out for branded billboards or puzzle clues)
  • larger discounts on per racer fees
  • multiple admins, multiple point persons

Fees for Custom Route Virtual Races

Set up fee

Nada. $0. Yes, zero, assuming you can self-navigate our DIY forms and use our support information, Racery’s FAQs, videos and DIY race building tools. Phone support is included when your company prepays $2,250 worth of racer fees.

Inclusive company races (entry restricted to company employees)

  • One week: $10/racer
  • Two weeks: $15
  • One month: $19
  • Two months: $28
  • Three months: $36

Corporate “Anywhere 5k” with timer/tracker (5ks, 10ks, relays, and other)

  • One day event of any distance, single log: $5 per racer
  • 2-7 day 5k, multiple logs per racer, with each racer’s personal best tallied on our leader board, additional miles tallied on the leaderboard for ‘overachievers’: $8 per racer
  • One month relay with teams, multiple logs tallying: $12 per racer

Logistics

  • Custom race durations are always possible, whether 6 hours, 17 days or 2 years!
  • We recommend companies announce races at least two weeks before race start; unless prepaid, charity races must announce >28 days before race start.
  • Racery’s per racer entry fee is paid by each participant upon registration—or the sponsor can prepay registrations in bulk by invoice (minimum $2,250 nonrefundable) or by purchasing bundles of registration coupons with a credit card (no minimum, nonrefundable)
  • Integration of wearables (Fitbit, iWatch, etc) are available on a per race basis
  • All races are governed by Racery’s terms of use

Pre-built race packages

Looking to economize for a virtual race for your small company? Don’t miss Racery’s pre-built packages—they’re sometimes cheaper than races with custom routes or include cool bling and e-postcards. Most of those races can be found here.

Next steps

How do you make a virtual race great?

Most of what you see above is about software, right? But the best virtual races need something extra—spirit. A virtual race becomes real when enough people believe in it. Write team@racery.com if you want advice on how to achieve this feat!