Marathons acts as a glue for runners. It keeps them motivated to run farther, faster and push beyond their limits. Runners train to run faster, effortless and injury free in the next marathon. Without marathon or this motivation, the runs may get monotonous. It will specifically impact attracting and retaining new runners to the running community.

Coronavirus pandemic has led to cancellation of all the running events in near future. Event organisers are finding ways to get around this and trying to keep the runners engaged with The Run Anywhere Marathons or what are popularly called as virtual marathons. In future these marathons may be available in different formats. We predict they shall fall in three categories.

  • Basic virtual marathon
  • Advanced virtual marathon
  • Futuristic virtual marathon

 

Basic virtual marathon

Some event organisers have come up with basic version of the virtual marathon as temporary workaround. Since these events are stop-gap in nature and come without any technical platform, they are very basic in feature-set.

 

Typical sequence of actions happen as below:

  • Runners register for event in any of the distance categories.
  • Runners run the distance indoor, on treadmill or run outdoor at their own route
  • Runners upload proof of running
  • Event organisers email participation certificate without validating the run.

 

The main purpose of this type of event is to keep the runners engaged during lockdown period. Registrations to this type of marathons will diminish over very short period.

 

Advanced virtual marathon

This is the next step to basic virtual marathons. New software platform will evolve which will make the event as close to real event as possible.

 

Typical sequence of actions happen as below:

  • Runners run the distance indoor, on treadmill or run outdoor at their own route
  • Runners upload the running data from the watch/app or provide consent to use his run data from the running apps.
  • Event platform validates the run data for various parameters.
  • Event platform emails the timing certificate after validating the run.
  • Granular analytics can be provided to the runners about their running parameters.
  • Leaderboards can be provided based on various categories. Since each runner runs different route with different elevation or weather conditions, the leaderboards can be provided for common or similar parameters.

 

Overall this type of events will provide much marathon like feel except going to the common venue, running common route and post-event festivities. Since the features are technology and data driven the feature-set will get richer over time and the events will become much more engaging.

 

Futuristic virtual marathon

The next futuristic step to virtual marathons is the super virtual marathon. This will be a paradigm shift in the way virtual marathons will be conducted based on technological evolution. There can be different models based on how the wearable devices will evolve.

I will elaborate on idea which can take shape in near future. Consider merging of mobile phones and running watch. Now GPS watches capture the run and sync it with the servers at the end of the run. Once watches can report the run-data to servers in real-time, it will open lot of possibilities. Also consider several physiological sensors on the body and watch acting as a gateway for them.

 

Marathon event servers can communicate with these watches/devices and provide:

  • Instructions to the runners in real-time.
  • Guide for the possible route based on their starting point, distance category, event elevation etc.
  • Notify for halfway turn
  • On-demand suggestions for hydration options on the route
  • Notify to stop the run after completion of the category distance.

 

The list can be endless as the possibilities are limitless. Exact model will evolve over time and specific model can not be predicted at this time. Some of these features are possible now with phone and event app, but running with phone is not a universally liked idea and adoptability will be low.

Following table provides feature-wise comparison of three types of virtual marathons with physical marathons.

 

Based on current situation, there wont be any physical marathon events in 2020. Advanced virtual marathon model looks like a real possibility and will evolve over time. Futuristic virtual marathon may not happen in its entirety at this time, but some of its feature may get adopted in later stages of advanced virtual marathon model.

At some point in 2021, real physical marathon may make a comeback. By that time, virtual marathons will be matured to a greater extent and runners will get used to its exciting features. The expectations will increase from the physical marathons and the new physical marathon will not be same as its predecessor. It will be amalgamation of features from old physical marathon and virtual marathon. I will cover the possible look of the new physical marathon in my next post.