The Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Series®, a part of The IRONMAN Group, announced the addition of the Rock ‘n’ Roll® Virtual Running™ (VR™) Series to its portfolio of events, giving walkers and runners alike a start line from anywhere in the world with distances for everyone. The Rock ‘n’ Roll Virtual Running Series will be offered exclusively through the newly launched Rock ‘n’ Roll® Virtual Running Club™ (VRC™), a web-based platform allowing runners to race, engage and connect with a new series of weekly races, challenges, and rewards.
“For over twenty years, the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Series community has been Bringing Fun to the Run® through a mixture of music, community and celebrating achievement,” says Andrew Messick, President & CEO for The IRONMAN Group. “At our core, it is about finding fun and motivation in the moments that challenge us. While this seems truer and more important than ever before, this has always been the brand’s heartbeat. We believe that this new Rock ‘n’ Roll Virtual Running Club will enable the running community to stay active, find structure and reach their finish lines in a positive, flexible and safe environment as they come together through a common passion.”
The new Rock ‘n’ Roll Virtual Running Club will offer options for everyone including challenges and virtual races in a variety of distances. The inaugural virtual race, Rock ‘n’ Roll VR1, will be open and available to the entire global community and consist of a 5K run. Virtual races will begin weekly on Fridays at 5 p.m. ET and close Sundays at 8 p.m. ET.
To compete for and earn rewards and additional benefits, participants will track their activity by a GPS and heartrate device and upload to the member dashboard for tracking and displaying activity, member leaderboards, and rewards. The Rock ‘n’ Roll Virtual Running Club platform is compatible with many of the top wearable technology devices, including Suunto, Garmin, MapmyRun, and Polar, among others.
The virtual race collection from the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Series will feature fun, community-inspired events with distances for everyone.
Rock ‘n’ Roll Virtual Running Club
- Runner Dashboard – The athlete’s home base within the Rock ‘n’ Roll Virtual Running Club. Runners can log their races, see their upcoming Rock ‘n’ Roll Virtual Running Series events and challenges, and view achievement badges on this easy-to-navigate dashboard.
- The Beat – While participants run and race in this new virtual space, resources will be incorporated into a section of the platform called The Beat, making Rock ‘n’ Roll Virtual Running Club a central destination for all participant’s racing needs. Content will include a library of instructional and motivational videos and articles for users with information related to fitness, nutrition, running, coaching, community and of course playlists. The Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Series’ nonprofit partners, Rock This Town®, a program of the IRONMAN Foundation and St. Jude, will be featured in the Community section of the platform.
- Events – The Rock ‘n’ Roll VR Series will rotate through of a variety of distances including 5K, 10K and half marathon with the inaugural virtual race, Rock ‘n’ Roll VR1, consisting of a 5K run.
- Challenges – Rock ‘n’ Roll Virtual Running Club will offer a number of community and partner inspired challenges each week., including challenges from Brooks Running, United Airlines, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Science in Sport. The challenges will be available for free to all to participate in providing a fun way for walkers and runners to train, race, achieve goals, get rewarded and have fun with fellow Rock ‘n’ Rollers from anywhere in the world.
- Rewards – The more activity, training and racing walkers and runners do, the more points they gain. Points are earned by distance traveled (not time) and accumulate throughout the year and showcase how athletes stack up against each other. Points also convert into Credits, which can be redeemed for rewards that are showcased in this section of the platform.
Full details and specifics regarding the Rock ‘n’ Roll Virtual Running Series and Rock ‘n’ Roll Virtual Running Club are available on www.runrocknrollvr.com. For more information on the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Series, please visit the website at www.runrocknroll.com.