SQUADRUN was launched in 2015 as a platform for supporting runners with bespoke and detailed training plans specific to ability/fitness. The intent was to offer low-cost, high-subscription support that benefited both athlete and event directors. In recent years SQUADRUN has grown across Australasia becoming the largest ‘coach led running community’ in the South Pacific region and is very proudly the affiliated training partner for the 3 largest trail races in the region Ultra-trail Australia, Tarawera Ultra-marathon, Surf Coast Century, as well as popular events like Old Ghost Ultra, Taupo Ultra, Ring of Fire and many more. What became immediately apparent is this ‘low-cost, high-subscription’ event-integrated coaching product was an ‘everyone wins‘ scenario.
Benefits for events (/& event directors),
- You finally get a cut of coaching $! Straight-up cash sponsorship, referral dollars. Add “Train with SQUADRUN trial” to your website and ‘event store’ and notify us when someone purchases the service. WE PAY YOU FOR AN EMAIL ADDRESS.
- Events get better quality, better informed, better prepared athletes on the start line. In a race like Ultra-trail Australia, with a 23% DNF rate, SQUADRUN trained athletes have around a 97% completion rate. These are the ‘all abilities’ athletes across the entire spectrum of finishers. You want your entrants to finish the race, help us help them.
- Events show goodwill to entrants with a quality integrated coaching solution. You want the best for your runners.
- Coaching doesn’t come at the cost of any other affiliated product or sponsor. In fact, SQUADRUN becomes a further mechanism to promote sponsors. SQUADRUN athletes are loyal followers and if our coaches recommend product-x or sponsor-y, the engagement and uptake is
typically higher than any other advertising platform. If an event already has an established coach there is no conflict of interest as they offer a completely different product (typically group training and/or premium private 1:1 coaching at 4x the weekly cost). We’ll work alongside other coaches and support their ‘premium product’ as this is not something we offer. - No cost and no risk and minimal effort. It costs you nothing to offer and promote SQUADRUN to your audiences. If they are unhappy with the trial, they simply choose not to continue with our coaching service.
- Affiliated events typically see up to a 16% uptake in the coaching offer, meaning SQUADRUN will likely put more runners in the start line than any other running club, group or coached community. Uptake tends to vary depending on complexity and distance of the event.
- “SQUADRUN is the best thing I’ve ever sold in my store“ – Ultra-trail Australia Event Director Tom Landon-Smith. SQUADRUN will likely be the your easiest ‘add-on sale’. If you have event shirts, you have to pay a graphic designer, a manufacturer, freight, customs/duty/tax etc, then you need to advertise and sell the shirt, hold the stock somewhere, ship them, and deal with the headache of faults, left-overs and spare sizes. For what margin? Coaching is a the zero effort virtual product that requires nothing more than a webpage and a shopping cart icon. So easy!
- If we have enough athletes in attendance, Kerry and Ali will stand on your finish line, provide commentary and event support and an immeasurable amount of love, care and support for your race. You’d only need to see how the SQUADRUN team integrates with Tarawera Ultra and Ultra-trail Australia to appreciate this. 30hrs of non-stop commentary – FREE!
Benefits for athletes,
- Better prepared, better informed athletes that are almost certain to complete their event and crush their target times. Further reading available here from our ‘post-Ultra-trail Australia’ athlete debrief.
- Actual real coaching support with real coaches that are contactable at almost any time (scalability has its benefits!). SQUADRUN is a conduit for everyday people to get access to some of the best coaching available.
- A low-cost solution where similar support would typically cost around five times as much.
- Community support. With massive uptake the SQUADRUN online community is one of the most active and supportive places on the internet and with runners joining to train to event we soon see local ‘SQUADDIE’ meetups breaking out in cities all over the globe like Hong Kong and Singapore.
- They LOVE SQUADRUN. Our track record and athlete testimony stand tribute to the quality and care we put into supporting our athletes. Do your research and check our reviews.
Benefits for SQUADRUN,
- The more athletes we have the bigger and more supportive the community gets.
- The more athletes we have the more leverage we have on sponsors to get better deals for our athletes.
“We are passionate about what we do, we love sharing people’s training and racing journeys and celebrating their success. Our business was born out of a desire to help people and that’s where our values will always remain.” – Ali Pottinger
If you think this is something your event could benefit from please reach out to us and we’ll walk you through a ‘near-effortless’ affiliation process. Check our existing affiliated events (linked in para 1) to see how we are integrated there.
Feel free to contact us any time should you wish to know more. – Kerry Suter / Ali Pottinger