Bring the SkirtChaser 5K to Portland - vote now

I wrote about Skirt Sports and the SkirtChaser 5K a while back, and it’s time to revisit. In a previous article, I used the SkirtChaser Series as an example of how to utilize one of the most enduring elements of a race, the party after.

Some races, large or small, are fairly fine events, but then when it’s over, the participants quickly leave. Good race directors know that the longer you can get your participants to linger afterward in a fun-filled atmosphere, the more rewarding the experience will feel, and the greater word-of-mouth promotion you will have from past participants. If the race isn’t small enough to have immediate results and awards, then people tend to leave too quickly, prompting race directors to think up creative ways to reward your attendance.

Raffle prizes and give-away’s are popular, as well as food and refreshment. Beer is almost always welcome. Several races around town capitalize on this after-party atmosphere and have great reviews year after year.

What’s interesting about the SkirtChaser series is that these races basically evolved from the other direction: the 5K race is simply an excuse to hold a block party. Triathlete Nicole DeBoom won the 2004 Ironman Wisconsin wearing a home-sewn prototype skirt that she designed, and the Skirt Sports apparel company was born. Based in Boulder, Colorado, they developed the SkirtChaser 5K Series to get their product out there to other communities.

You can see the video on their website, but basically there’s an all-women’s start, a “Catch Me” wave, followed by a men’s “SkirtChaser” wave three minutes later. Women who sign up receive a running skirt, and men receive a SkirtChaser t-shirt. There’s also a $500 cash prize for the overall winner, whether male or female. Then, there’s the block party, with a “scandalous” fashion show and live music, and of course, great food and beer. First, second and third place winners will receive prizes, plus there are additional crazy awards, such as the “most likely to make out at the water station” award.

Last year they went to six cities, but nowhere near Portland. This year, however, they’re looking for six additional venues for 2010, and Portland, Oregon is on the list. All you have to do is go to www.skirtchaser5k.com and vote for Portland, Oregon. Vote now, as the deadline is just a couple weeks away, October 15^th. Voters in the cities selected will be entered to win two deluxe entries to the SkirtChaser in their cities.

For more info on Skirt Sports and their products, go to www.skirtsports.com.

Strands, moneyStrands, and a Bad Marketing Choice

There is now Strands.com, which is a new "social networking tool" self-titled a "People Powered Discovery." It looks like a combination of Facebook and active.com, where you fill out a profile, log your workouts, and connect with like-minded, fitness-minded people. So, what does it actually do? Nothing, really, but it's yet one more social networking site to glean information from you, from which they can directly or indirectly sell to third-party companies or advertisers. I assume that if you can make money from such networking, it may be a good way to connect with new clients or consumers. Or, it's possible you could find a new job, or a new friend, or a new mate. I haven't signed up for the service, so I'm just guessing at what it can do, based on the information provided on its home page.

But wait, there's more. Their sister site is called moneyStrands.com, and where they want you to sign up and give them all your financial information. They want to do your finances, so you don't have to. They even have a spokesperson, Monica, and she has a profile. You can read her profile and see how moneyStrands has worked for her. Interestingly, it's all a lie, because Monica is a cartoon. https://money.strands.com/content/monicas-profile

A spokesperson is a real person. Catherine Zeta Jones is being paid for being a spokesperson for T-Mobil. So, the whack thing about Strands is that they've set up this entire story about this spokesperson, Monica, with an actual profile describing how she graduated from a college in Oregon and moved to San Francisco, and likes sushi and yoga, etc.

I don't have anything against cartoons as mascots, etc, but when a social network that is trying to convince you that it's OK to sign in and give them all your information by giving you information about their real-live spokesperson employee, your trust in this company is going to be based on the authenticity of this person.

And, I don't know - maybe this Monica is a real person. But if so, why not show her face? You know, if Jared from Subway was a cartoon, that would be OK, except that his whole thing about losing 100 pounds on the Subway diet would then be meaningless. It's just weird that you go to the Strands site, and there's photos and a video tutorial with real people, and then if you click the tiny link to money.strands, you get Monica. When you check out what money.strands is all about, you realize that no real person would simply give away all their financial and personal data, hence the cartoon. A spokesperson is supposed to instill confidence is their company, but Monica just makes me suspicious.