Everyday life is anything but ordinary now. The necessary official measures regarding social distancing force us to drop deeply ingrained routines and stay at home whenever possible. However, regular exercise and athletic activities are still recommended by experts. From experience we know how difficult it is to maintain a structured training without a competition goal. In cooperation with Swiss Running we have therefore developed ViRace. The app should enable the participation in cancelled competitions without having to be on site and with virtual instead of direct contact to the competitors.
The idea behind the app summarized
- Enabling participation in cancelled competitions (timekeeping and tracking via app) Participation on an individually chosen route in order to comply with the social distancing regulations
- Live information about the intermediate status and your own performance via headphones. Favorites (e.g. friends) can also be selected in advance, for which you will receive intermediate results update.
- Offer the organizers visibility (e.g. for sponsors) despite the cancellations and thus make a small contribution to the preservation of the physical competitions
Which runs are offered?
In our database, created in cooperation with Swiss Running (running guide), there are more than 100 cancelled running competitions in Switzerland and other countries. The day of the virtual competition corresponds to the original competition day and the starting time is determined in advance. All participants start the race simultaneously.
Registration and Favorites
The registration is done via app and is possible until the start of the race. Start lists for the various events are updated regularly and can also be viewed via the app.
In the app, runners who are friends can be marked as favorites. The live results, which are communicated at regular intervals via headphones, include updates on the overall result as well as intermediate results of your selected favorites. This is intended to provide an overview of the run and, despite physical distance, to create a sense of community among the participants.
The Race – Requirements and Recording
The only condition for participation is that the app is running. The measurement of the distance as well as the timing is done with the app..
The course is chosen by the runner as they wish. The runner must run alone. This enables the compliance with the official recommendations regarding Social Distancing. The race will be finished by the app as soon as the given distance is covered.
Get the Android app:
Get the iOS app:
A cooperation between:
One reply on “Virtual running races”
[…] The idea behind the app, developed in cooperation with Swiss Running, is to offer added value to organizers of cancelled or postponed races with viRACE. The service is free of charge for both the organizer and the user. A detailed description of the functions can be found here. […]