This is a guest post from sodisp. For a limited time all sodisp virtual events are free to create, up to 1,000 participants, with events using RunSignup for their registration able to have their virtual event on sodisp for up to 10,000 participants.
The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic has a very real and immediate effect on most, if not all, running and cycling events. Most mass sport events have been forced to cancel or postpone their 2020 edition. And that might not be all. Quoting a recent Harvard study, published in Science Magazine: “… prolonged or intermittent social distancing may be necessary into 2022.”. Let’s hope it doesn’t get that bad!
“So, what now?” you might ask yourself. Why not organize a virtual edition this year? Read ahead to find out how easy it is to create a challenging virtual event using sodis
p that actually encourages participant to maximize their social distancing efforts!
sodisp is a brand new sports platform to encourage everyone to responsibly enjoy the 
We have all the tools in place that allow everyone to convert their conventional race into a virtual event. We’ve collected a bunch of tips to help you make your virtual event a success.
- Allow participants to use their Strava app or Garmin device
- Focus on social distancing
Organizing a mass event brings responsibility with it, now even more than ever before. To assure your sponsors and participants, but also governing bodies, it’s critically important to focus on the safety of your participants and the local community as a whole. Promoting social distancing guidelines is a key ingredient in achieving this.
sodisp is all about social distancing , we’re named social distancing sports after all! Instead of focusing on the negative, we turn it around and challenge our users to keep as much social distance as possible while doing their activities. By using gamification techniques we award more points when a participant is avoiding crowded places or city centers and off peak-hours.
Every run or ride gets a penalty score which is based on the estimated people density at their specific track at the time they did their run or ride. So even if you do the same route twice, the score is likely to be different. Read more on our scoring system .
- Make every run or ride count
When organizing a virtual edition you have more flexibility with race distances than you’d normally have. You are no longer limited to local legislation or the number of available volunteers. Having more distances allows everyone to join your virtual edition.
For example you could create a virtual running event with these distance brackets:
- mini run (1 mi – 2 mi)
- 5k (2 mi – 4 mi)
- 10k (4 mi – 8 mi)
- half marathon (8 mi – 16 mi)
- marathon (16 mi or more)
- Get comparable results by correcting for differences in distance
With a virtual event, everyone’s route is different and no one will have the exact race distance. This is totally fine, as long as you correct for these individual differences to make comparable results. Which is exactly what we do at sodisp!
So even if you run 9.5 km instead of exactly 10 km, or maybe even 12 km, we will automatically scale the results to make it comparable with others. We do this by scaling their time (and points!) to the race distance. So if you run 3% more distance we’ll increase both your time and your points with 3% as well.
- Have your virtual event run for a week (or longer)
Now it’s a virtual event, you are not limited to a single race weekend anymore. Let’s take that opportunity and make your event active for at least a long weekend, or preferably a week or even longer. This allows your event to maximize your social reach and also attract friends and family members of your participants to join.
- Customize your virtual event to make it yours
Creating a virtual event only takes a few minutes. Simply name your event, set the dates during which the event is active and create one or more virtual races and you’re ready to go! If you want to make your event stand out, customize it using your own logo and images.
- Try your own virtual event for free
For a limited time all sodisp virtual events are free to create, up to 1,000 participants. For events using RunSignup for their registration process events up to 10,000 can have their virtual event on sodisp for free.
Creating your own virtual event takes only a few minutes, simply go to https://sodisp.com/ and click on the ‘Create Your Event’ button at the top.
Have a question or want to discuss the possibilities for your event? Feel free to drop us a line at hello@sodisp.com.
