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Intro: Thank you, New York. Today we're reminded of the power
Intro: of community and the power of coming together. Athletes, on
Intro: your mark. The first woman to finish for the second
Intro: straight year here in the New York City Marathon is Miki Gorman,
Intro: a smiling Miki Gorman, and why not. 2: 29:30 is
Intro: the time for Grete Waitz. Look at the emotion of Shalane Flanagan as she comes
Intro: to the line. Pointing to his chest, pointed to the USA he so proudly
Intro: wears across his chest. A great day for Meb Keflezighi.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Hey, everybody, happy New Year, and welcome to the first
Rob Simmelkjaer: Set the Pace of 2025. We are presented by Peloton,
Rob Simmelkjaer: as we are each and every week. I'm the host
Rob Simmelkjaer: of Set the Pace and CEO of New York Road
Rob Simmelkjaer: Runners, Rob Simmelkjaer, and with me, my lovely co- host
Rob Simmelkjaer: from Peloton, Becs Gentry. Happy New Year, Becs. How are you?
Becs Gentry: Hi. Happy New Year. I'm great, thank you. I think
Becs Gentry: we were both just discussing how much of a break
Becs Gentry: it actually felt like this year.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Yeah, it was amazing. We had a really nice quiet
Rob Simmelkjaer: period at New York Road Runners, fairly quiet on the
Rob Simmelkjaer: race front. I'll talk about that in a second. But
Rob Simmelkjaer: it was really quiet, really restful. I got away for
Rob Simmelkjaer: a little bit with my girls, did a little skiing
Rob Simmelkjaer: up in Vermont. That was nice.
Becs Gentry: Wow.
Rob Simmelkjaer: And it was just a really, really nice break. What about you? What'd you
Rob Simmelkjaer: guys do?
Becs Gentry: We did a very quick weekend before Christmas down at
Becs Gentry: the Jersey Shore with family, and then everybody was scattering
Becs Gentry: to different places for actual Christmas this year, so we had
Becs Gentry: our first Christmas just the three of us in our home in Brooklyn
Becs Gentry: which was wonderful.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Oh my gosh.
Becs Gentry: We created memories. Tallulah had her first coming down the
Becs Gentry: stairs on Christmas morning and Santi Claus as she calls
Becs Gentry: him. So it was very wonderful, and we have some
Becs Gentry: great neighbors and good friends, so it was a big
Becs Gentry: family local affair which was great.
Rob Simmelkjaer: There is nothing like a kid's first Santa, Christmas, and the magic
Rob Simmelkjaer: of that. It brings back all of the magic that
Rob Simmelkjaer: we felt as kids-
Becs Gentry: It does, yeah.
Rob Simmelkjaer: ... when you have a kid who's experienced that. It's
Rob Simmelkjaer: just amazing, so I'm sure.
Becs Gentry: She doesn't quite grasp it just yet. She loves Santa Claus,
Becs Gentry: the lights, but she doesn't understand the concept yet. So
Becs Gentry: the presents were just, the fun was opening them and
Becs Gentry: then it was like shove it aside, next one, okay.
Becs Gentry: So I think next year when she's three, four, that's sort
Becs Gentry: of when the real magic and all of that comes
Becs Gentry: is going to be... just judging by her excitement this
Becs Gentry: year for something she doesn't quite understand.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Yeah.
Becs Gentry: Oh, it's going to be so good. I can't wait.
Rob Simmelkjaer: You've got so much to look forward to with that. That's awesome. I'm glad you had a great time.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Did you do much running or were you kind of on the shelf?
Becs Gentry: I did not.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Good for you.
Becs Gentry: I was on the shelf. It was divine. My body
Becs Gentry: was like, " Thank you. My goodness me. What a great
Becs Gentry: Christmas present you can give me after this year."
Rob Simmelkjaer: You belong on the shelf, like an elf on the
Rob Simmelkjaer: shelf, Becs. You needed to sit still for a while
Rob Simmelkjaer: after what you did in 2024.
Becs Gentry: I did. Yeah, I really did. I really did take time off.
Becs Gentry: We worked up until the wire here at Peloton. We
Becs Gentry: were in until the Saturday, and Sunday there was classes,
Becs Gentry: but I went to the Jersey Shore from the studio
Becs Gentry: on Saturday, and then I didn't run for about a
Becs Gentry: week until after Christmas which is unheard of for me.
Becs Gentry: But I loved every second, and now I'm back on
Becs Gentry: it but in the gym. I'm in the strength, I'm in the building phase.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I love it, I love it.
Becs Gentry: It's great.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Well, that's great. Glad you had a break. I did
Rob Simmelkjaer: some running with some local friends up here in Connecticut.
Becs Gentry: Great. Oh, gorgeous.
Rob Simmelkjaer: One thing I did not run unfortunately was the New
Rob Simmelkjaer: York Road Runners Midnight Run on New Year's Eve.
Becs Gentry: Yeah, for good reason, for good... I was standing outside on
Becs Gentry: our way to our friend, our neighbor's house on New
Becs Gentry: Year's Eve, and I thought it was fireworks going off,
Becs Gentry: and Austin just turned and looked at me and went, " No, no, that is
Becs Gentry: thunder and lightning." And I said to him, " I'm so
Becs Gentry: happy I didn't go and run because I would've been
Becs Gentry: scared." And then you guys had to cancel it.
Rob Simmelkjaer: It was crazy. The Midnight Run which is a four-
Rob Simmelkjaer: miler on New Year's Eve, yeah, we just could not
Rob Simmelkjaer: put it on. Obviously it's crazy to see that kind
Rob Simmelkjaer: of weather on New Year's Eve in New York City.
Becs Gentry: It's wild.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Thunder and lightning. I was actually in Connecticut. I wasn't
Rob Simmelkjaer: there for the race this year, hadn't planned to be,
Rob Simmelkjaer: but yeah, Ted Metellus, our chief of event operations and
Rob Simmelkjaer: race director called me around nine o'clock and said, " Listen,
Rob Simmelkjaer: there's a lot of thunder and lightning in the forecast."
Rob Simmelkjaer: I was like, " What? Really?" I mean, I couldn't really
Rob Simmelkjaer: believe it in late December, and sure enough, a little
Rob Simmelkjaer: while later the skies in New York just lit up,
Rob Simmelkjaer: and we had no choice but to cancel that event
Rob Simmelkjaer: which was of course disappointing, although I think most runners
Rob Simmelkjaer: were kind of relieved because the weather was brutal. Who
Rob Simmelkjaer: wants to be out in the pouring rain on New
Rob Simmelkjaer: Year's Eve with lightning overhead?
Becs Gentry: Yeah.
Rob Simmelkjaer: It had been a weird year. We had had to
Rob Simmelkjaer: cancel the fireworks because of the drought that existed. Then
Rob Simmelkjaer: all the rain came so-
Becs Gentry: Kind of was irony, wasn't it?
Rob Simmelkjaer: But it was too late to have the fireworks. Then we tried to put on
Rob Simmelkjaer: a drone show and then we had to cancel that
Rob Simmelkjaer: because of some issues with drones around the country. So
Rob Simmelkjaer: there were all kinds of backs and forths and it just seemed like
Rob Simmelkjaer: it wasn't meant to be this year.
Becs Gentry: Exactly. But you know what we can take away from
Becs Gentry: this is that New York Road Runners puts the safety
Becs Gentry: of their people first, and as disappointing as it can be
Becs Gentry: to have to cancel things we know that that's the
Becs Gentry: best decision and there will always be other runs. I mean,
Becs Gentry: I can tell you a pretty cool four- mile run
Becs Gentry: that's coming up in spring this year that you convinced
Becs Gentry: me to do last year.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Yeah.
Becs Gentry: So there's always more races, people.
Rob Simmelkjaer: There's so many. Very well said, I couldn't agree more. Thank
Rob Simmelkjaer: you. I can tell you've been hanging out with me
Rob Simmelkjaer: for a while. You're speaking my language a hundred percent.
Becs Gentry: Exactly.
Rob Simmelkjaer: We obviously put safety first. So happy New Year. Sorry
Rob Simmelkjaer: we didn't get a chance to see you all on
Rob Simmelkjaer: New Year's Eve, but we know we'll see all of
Rob Simmelkjaer: you out there running one way or another in the
Rob Simmelkjaer: coming weeks. So, Becs, we have a fun thing we're
Rob Simmelkjaer: going to do this year. For the first show of
Rob Simmelkjaer: the year, a little bit different, we're calling it New
Rob Simmelkjaer: York Road Runners State of the Union. We're going to
Rob Simmelkjaer: talk a little bit about where New York Road Runners
Rob Simmelkjaer: is as an organization, where we are with our running
Rob Simmelkjaer: community, with our mission, our vision, all the things that
Rob Simmelkjaer: we care about to let you, our listeners, our community,
Rob Simmelkjaer: know what our plans are, what our priorities are for
Rob Simmelkjaer: the year ahead. Becs, we got a lot of great questions from
Rob Simmelkjaer: listeners and members.
Becs Gentry: We do. Yeah, thank you, everyone.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Yeah, thank you so much for all the questions. We're
Rob Simmelkjaer: going to run through those questions. Becs, you're going to
Rob Simmelkjaer: grill me on all the questions that we got.
Becs Gentry: I am. I know. It sounds so serious, but it's not. It's going
Becs Gentry: to be informative and wonderful.
Rob Simmelkjaer: A hundred percent. We're going to make it fun. We're
Rob Simmelkjaer: going to make it fun because that's what we do.
Rob Simmelkjaer: And Becs, we can start a little bit with just
Rob Simmelkjaer: some highlights from the last year. We had so much
Rob Simmelkjaer: happen at New York Road Runners. We issued a new
Rob Simmelkjaer: reimagined mission statement and vision statement which is a huge deal for
Rob Simmelkjaer: the organization and really kind of is a north star,
Rob Simmelkjaer: as I like to call it, for what we're doing
Rob Simmelkjaer: in the coming years. Our vision statement is to build
Rob Simmelkjaer: healthier lives and stronger communities through the transformative power of
Rob Simmelkjaer: running, and that's really what we're all about. We know
Rob Simmelkjaer: that running makes us healthier as individuals, it makes our
Rob Simmelkjaer: communities stronger, and it transforms us. You and I can
Rob Simmelkjaer: speak about that, we speak about it every week and
Rob Simmelkjaer: we speak about it with amazing people who have had
Rob Simmelkjaer: their lives transformed by running. So we know that's what
Rob Simmelkjaer: this organization's all about, but to put those words to
Rob Simmelkjaer: paper really helped. Our mission statement, we talk about being a
Rob Simmelkjaer: New York City- based nonprofit which is really important that
Rob Simmelkjaer: people understand. We are a nonprofit organization dedicated to transforming
Rob Simmelkjaer: the health and the wellbeing of our communities through inclusive
Rob Simmelkjaer: and accessible running experiences, empowering all to achieve their potential.
Rob Simmelkjaer: So that's what we're all about and that gives us
Rob Simmelkjaer: a sense of what we do and what we are.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Becs, we had an incredible year in terms of racing
Rob Simmelkjaer: and record numbers of finishers at the TCS New York City Marathon, 55,
Rob Simmelkjaer: 646. We also saw records at the United Airlines NYC Half with 27, 843-
Becs Gentry: One of my favorite races.
Rob Simmelkjaer: ... and the MasterCard. Yeah, amazing race, and the MasterCard Mini 10K-
Becs Gentry: Yeah, another.
Rob Simmelkjaer: ... was also a record with 9, 694 finishers as
Rob Simmelkjaer: well. So it was a big year for racing.
Becs Gentry: Do you think we can get over 10K this year
Becs Gentry: at the 10K?
Rob Simmelkjaer: I think we got a shot the way things are
Rob Simmelkjaer: going. It definitely is a good goal. So you're right. 10K for the
Rob Simmelkjaer: 10K, let's make that a goal.
Becs Gentry: Let's make it a goal. We should get that on New York
Becs Gentry: Road Runner social. Come on, 10K for the 10K.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Okay, we're going to do it. We're going to make
Rob Simmelkjaer: that happen. We'll get some good weather in June (inaudible) do that, Becs.
Becs Gentry: Everybody in your office hates me now.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Exactly.
Becs Gentry: They're like, " Ugh."
Rob Simmelkjaer: A memo to staff. Sorry, Becs made me do it.
Rob Simmelkjaer: But no, I think it's a good idea.
Becs Gentry: It's fun.
Rob Simmelkjaer: So let's put that down.
Becs Gentry: I'll run it.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Yeah. Okay, good, we've got one.
Becs Gentry: Got one.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Just need 9, 999.
Becs Gentry: We can do this.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I think we can do this. Okay.
Becs Gentry: We can do it.
Rob Simmelkjaer: We have a record number of New York Road Runners
Rob Simmelkjaer: members right now. We have new member exclusive events for
Rob Simmelkjaer: the first time. We had a first member- only race
Rob Simmelkjaer: this year. Grete's Great Gallop last year was a member-
Rob Simmelkjaer: only race for the first time, a part of Member
Rob Simmelkjaer: Week, which was awesome. And of course we had a
Rob Simmelkjaer: lot of great live episodes of Set the Pace, Becs,
Rob Simmelkjaer: where you and I got a chance to meet members
Rob Simmelkjaer: face to face. Love that.
Becs Gentry: Yeah, me too.
Rob Simmelkjaer: We've also, Becs, as you know, had a big focus on mental
Rob Simmelkjaer: health and mental well- being over the last couple of years.
Rob Simmelkjaer: We launched a new event, the New York Road Runners
Rob Simmelkjaer: Mindful 5K, a new race out in Queens which had
Rob Simmelkjaer: a mental health focus and a lot of great activations
Rob Simmelkjaer: around that, lots of new online resources and in- person
Rob Simmelkjaer: resources at the marathon for people to have a good
Rob Simmelkjaer: experience both with their mental health as well as their
Rob Simmelkjaer: physical health. And Becs, I'm super proud of one additional
Rob Simmelkjaer: thing we did in 2024, a really expanded commitment to
Rob Simmelkjaer: sustainability at New York Road Runners. We launched our Team
Rob Simmelkjaer: for Climate which was incredible. We had 250 runners run
Rob Simmelkjaer: the TCS New York City Marathon to help us raise
Rob Simmelkjaer: money to offset the carbon footprint of the marathon, and
Rob Simmelkjaer: that team crushed it.
Becs Gentry: Wow, yeah.
Rob Simmelkjaer: They raised over $ 600,000, nearly 800, 000 actually. The goal was
Rob Simmelkjaer: 600, they raised almost $ 800,000. So it was a great
Rob Simmelkjaer: year, Becs, and we're excited about so many things in 2025.
Becs Gentry: And rightly so, and congratulations to everybody who came over
Becs Gentry: the finish lines of one of the New York Road
Becs Gentry: Runners races for the first time or hundredth time. Wherever
Becs Gentry: you're at, congratulations. It was amazing, and obviously thank you
Becs Gentry: to all of the volunteers who help make the events go
Becs Gentry: as smoothly and smilily... that's not a word, but I'm going
Becs Gentry: to go with it... smilily as possible.
Rob Simmelkjaer: It is now. I love it. I love it. And one other thing that I want to mention about '24 and then we'll get into some of the '25 priorities
Rob Simmelkjaer: is our Rising New York Road Runners program-
Becs Gentry: Oh, the best.
Rob Simmelkjaer: ... which is our program for New York City public
Rob Simmelkjaer: school kids that introduces them to physical fitness and running.
Rob Simmelkjaer: We are now at 100, 000 kids in New York City
Rob Simmelkjaer: who are a part of that program, and we're just
Rob Simmelkjaer: so thrilled to see the growth of that because that's
Rob Simmelkjaer: fundamental to our mission is getting young people active. Those
Rob Simmelkjaer: are the runners of the future here in New York
Rob Simmelkjaer: City. So we're very proud of that as well. Now
Rob Simmelkjaer: what we're thinking about for 2025 already, well, obviously we
Rob Simmelkjaer: want to continue our focus on mental wellbeing and sustainability.
Rob Simmelkjaer: We're going to continue to have resources at events. The
Rob Simmelkjaer: Mindful 5K will come back. Team for Climate is going
Rob Simmelkjaer: to expand not only to the marathon but also the
Rob Simmelkjaer: United Airlines NYC Half and the RBC Brooklyn Half, so
Rob Simmelkjaer: we're excited about that. Technology is a huge focus, Becs, of
Rob Simmelkjaer: what we want to do, and so everybody in our
Rob Simmelkjaer: running community is soon going to start to see the
Rob Simmelkjaer: impact of some of these technology initiatives. We're going to
Rob Simmelkjaer: be launching a new registration platform in 2025. This is
Rob Simmelkjaer: coming soon, and so people can start to get ready
Rob Simmelkjaer: to see this. One of my goals, I joke around
Rob Simmelkjaer: about this, Becs, as CEO of New York Road Runners.
Rob Simmelkjaer: You know that little walking man that you see sometimes
Rob Simmelkjaer: when you're go on our website and you have to wait and wait
Rob Simmelkjaer: and wait to get on the website to register for
Rob Simmelkjaer: a race? My goal is to kill that walking man.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I want him dead, seriously.
Becs Gentry: Sinister.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I know. So that's the evil side of Rob Simmelkjaer.
Becs Gentry: He's gone.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I want that to go away because I want people to
Rob Simmelkjaer: have a much cleaner, more efficient experience of signing up
Rob Simmelkjaer: for our races.
Becs Gentry: I would agree with that.
Rob Simmelkjaer: So we're partnering with a platform called haku and soon
Rob Simmelkjaer: everybody out there will be getting some messaging around that.
Rob Simmelkjaer: So keep your eyes peeled on your email because that
Rob Simmelkjaer: is coming very, very soon at New York Road Runners.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Speaking of technology, Becs, we're also working closely with our
Rob Simmelkjaer: partners at TCS to launch a new app for New
Rob Simmelkjaer: York Road Runners. Many of you have used the kind
Rob Simmelkjaer: of one- off apps that we have for the TCS New
Rob Simmelkjaer: York City Marathon and the United Airlines NYC Half. We
Rob Simmelkjaer: are going to create a new year- round app that
Rob Simmelkjaer: will allow you to track runners at all the races
Rob Simmelkjaer: with one app no matter what, and it's going to
Rob Simmelkjaer: have lots of other great bells and whistles as well.
Rob Simmelkjaer: So that's coming also in 2025. So tech is a
Rob Simmelkjaer: big, big focus. Other things, Becs, programming, we're going to
Rob Simmelkjaer: bring more programming back to the RUNCENTER in Manhattan over
Rob Simmelkjaer: on 57 Street, fitness classes coming back, more panels and
Rob Simmelkjaer: discussions and things like that. We're going to expand the
Rob Simmelkjaer: Race Week programming during our big race weekends like the
Rob Simmelkjaer: United Airlines NYC Half, the Brooklyn Half, and the New
Rob Simmelkjaer: Balance 5th Avenue Mile. So more coming up, more member-
Rob Simmelkjaer: only events at RUNCENTER and more live podcasts both at the
Rob Simmelkjaer: RUNCENTER and around New York City. So, Becs, I'll get
Rob Simmelkjaer: to see you in person even more-
Becs Gentry: Yay.
Rob Simmelkjaer: ... which I'm excited about because we spend so much time looking at each other on these screens. So that'll be fun.
Becs Gentry: Yes. Absolutely.
Rob Simmelkjaer: And some new stuff from Peloton coming as well.
Becs Gentry: Oh my gosh.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Do you know about this?
Becs Gentry: I do.
Rob Simmelkjaer: New classes with you guys.
Becs Gentry: I'm very, very excited for this. I was part of the filming
Becs Gentry: of the first one I think that will be dropped
Becs Gentry: and we cannot wait to share that with the world.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I get so many great comments from Peloton members about
Rob Simmelkjaer: the new video and the footage and the things we
Rob Simmelkjaer: do on Peloton for runners. People love it. You're a
Rob Simmelkjaer: big part of that, Becs. And so we're going to continue to
Rob Simmelkjaer: expand what has been an awesome partnership with New York
Rob Simmelkjaer: Road Runners and Peloton. So we're excited about that.
Becs Gentry: Absolutely.
Rob Simmelkjaer: So those are some highlights. And, Becs, we got so many
Rob Simmelkjaer: great questions.
Becs Gentry: We did.
Rob Simmelkjaer: So I'm going to put you in the seat of the
Rob Simmelkjaer: interviewer here and you can fire off some of the
Rob Simmelkjaer: questions that our members and our listeners asked of me, and
Rob Simmelkjaer: we'll go through some of those.
Becs Gentry: Absolutely. So as Rob said, we put it out there, we
Becs Gentry: got all of your inputs, and we were inundated with
Becs Gentry: the amount of questions that you had for Rob, for
Becs Gentry: New York Road Runners as a general organization. So we've
Becs Gentry: sifted through them and we could do multiple podcasts getting
Becs Gentry: these questions out, but we've put together a handful here.
Becs Gentry: So Rob is in the hot seat, the CEO of
Becs Gentry: New York Road Runners is ready to answer some questions.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Oh boy.
Becs Gentry: Here we go. We're going to kick off with a very
Becs Gentry: popular theme and that was capacity and number of races.
Becs Gentry: So capacity being how many people can run each race
Becs Gentry: and number of races being how many races of held
Becs Gentry: throughout the year. So the first question comes from William D.
Becs Gentry: S. and he says, " Why are you not allowing more
Becs Gentry: runners at sold- out races, especially the NYC Marathon?"
Rob Simmelkjaer: All right, so the first thing that people should know about
Rob Simmelkjaer: how many runners are allowed in our races, Becs, is that
Rob Simmelkjaer: we have an agreement with the City of New York.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Depending on the race, it's either with the City or
Rob Simmelkjaer: with the Parks Department. All of our races that take
Rob Simmelkjaer: place in parks like Central Park or Prospect Park or
Rob Simmelkjaer: Flushing Meadows, we have an agreement how many runners can
Rob Simmelkjaer: be in that race. So we have a limit to
Rob Simmelkjaer: each race in terms of how many we can have.
Rob Simmelkjaer: The Parks care about that because they want to make
Rob Simmelkjaer: sure that the park isn't overcrowded and that they have
Rob Simmelkjaer: time to clean up and let others use the parks.
Rob Simmelkjaer: So each race has what we call a cap and
Rob Simmelkjaer: that's what we're allowed to have. Now if we have
Rob Simmelkjaer: a cap of say 5, 000 runners for a race
Rob Simmelkjaer: in Central Park, we have an estimate, we kind of
Rob Simmelkjaer: know how many people are likely to show up at
Rob Simmelkjaer: a race. We don't know exactly, but we know for
Rob Simmelkjaer: any given race there's typically a no- show rate. We
Rob Simmelkjaer: do a great job, we have a team at Runners
Rob Simmelkjaer: that does a great job figuring out how many people to
Rob Simmelkjaer: let in to races. So we are focused on getting
Rob Simmelkjaer: as many people in to every race as we can,
Rob Simmelkjaer: but there's only so much we can do. We can't
Rob Simmelkjaer: overfill. We can't go way above our numbers because that
Rob Simmelkjaer: is not what's in our agreement with the city. And
Rob Simmelkjaer: so, yeah, we wish we could let everyone into every
Rob Simmelkjaer: race, but that's just not the way it is, and
Rob Simmelkjaer: so we're doing our best to accommodate the incredible demand
Rob Simmelkjaer: that exists for our races right now.
Becs Gentry: Wonderful answer. Well done. First one, whew. Wipe that sweat
Becs Gentry: from your brow.
Rob Simmelkjaer: It's the number one question I get so I'm so
Rob Simmelkjaer: used to answering it.
Becs Gentry: Exactly.
Rob Simmelkjaer: And I get it. It's what we call a good
Rob Simmelkjaer: problem to have because so many people are passionate about
Rob Simmelkjaer: running, but of course we want everyone running, so we'll
Rob Simmelkjaer: talk more about that as we go.
Becs Gentry: Exactly. And I think, Willie, as you will find, there are
Becs Gentry: a lot of races, not a lot of marathons, but
Becs Gentry: that's what makes it so unique. And so, as Rob
Becs Gentry: will talk about, there are other things we can do to help people
Becs Gentry: get in.
Rob Simmelkjaer: And by the way, the Marathon, as I've just mentioned, all these races
Rob Simmelkjaer: had a record number of finishes.
Becs Gentry: They did.
Rob Simmelkjaer: The big ones, Marathon, the Half, Brooklyn, so we did
Rob Simmelkjaer: let in more people, right, and we actually have seen
Rob Simmelkjaer: the number of finishers go up in these races, but
Rob Simmelkjaer: there are limits to how many we can let in. We had 160,
Rob Simmelkjaer: 000 applications to the Marathon, Becs. Trust me, if we
Rob Simmelkjaer: let in-
Becs Gentry: So that is three times as many that are allowed in nearly.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Yeah, exactly. And if we let in 75,000, well, not only would
Rob Simmelkjaer: that be a problem with the City, but trust me,
Rob Simmelkjaer: you don't want to run the New York Marathon with 75, 000 runners in it.
Becs Gentry: I was going to say.
Rob Simmelkjaer: That would not be a good time.
Becs Gentry: You're stuck between a rock and a hard place in that
Becs Gentry: situation because, yes, we want to have as much happiness
Becs Gentry: and as little disappointment as possible when it comes to the 160, 000-
Becs Gentry: plus people who entered. But think about it. On that
Becs Gentry: course, these are still New York streets, some of them
Becs Gentry: are narrow, some of them are wide. Some of the
Becs Gentry: bridges are long, some of them are short. That finish
Becs Gentry: line, the final turn into Central Park, you guys, if
Becs Gentry: you've never run it, it is narrow. So you do not
Becs Gentry: want to be battling for your spot at the finish
Becs Gentry: line with a bunch of people, let alone toilets, water,
Becs Gentry: hydration, fuel, all of those things. So the numbers are not there
Becs Gentry: to disappoint. The numbers are there again for safety first
Becs Gentry: and enjoyment levels of it.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Bingo.
Becs Gentry: Yeah.
Rob Simmelkjaer: You could do this. You answer these questions. All right? No, we'll go
Rob Simmelkjaer: to next one.
Becs Gentry: Next one.
Rob Simmelkjaer: What's your next question for me, Becs?
Becs Gentry: Okay. A couple of people have asked this question, so Tellami
Becs Gentry: and Jay Elewan. Will there be more races coming or
Becs Gentry: added in the next foreseeable future, let's say?
Rob Simmelkjaer: Yeah, good question. So we did add one race last
Rob Simmelkjaer: year, as I mentioned, the Mindful 5K. We are currently
Rob Simmelkjaer: putting on 40 races a year for adults.
Becs Gentry: Wow.
Rob Simmelkjaer: There are 52 weeks in a year. So there's not
Rob Simmelkjaer: a whole lot of room for more races, but that
Rob Simmelkjaer: said, we are looking for opportunities to add here and
Rob Simmelkjaer: there and ways that we can add not only races, and this is
Rob Simmelkjaer: I think an important point. It doesn't all have to
Rob Simmelkjaer: be a race. Right? It doesn't all have to be
Rob Simmelkjaer: a 9+ 1 official race that counts toward your credit
Rob Simmelkjaer: to get into the Marathon the following year. We want
Rob Simmelkjaer: people running in different ways. So we are definitely looking
Rob Simmelkjaer: to add " running experiences," quote, unquote. They may not all
Rob Simmelkjaer: be official races in the way that you're thinking of
Rob Simmelkjaer: them, but we are looking to add opportunities for people
Rob Simmelkjaer: to run, and there will be more coming out about that
Rob Simmelkjaer: as the year goes on, no question about it. So
Rob Simmelkjaer: yeah, we're looking to grow, but we definitely are at
Rob Simmelkjaer: a pretty high point already in terms of how many
Rob Simmelkjaer: races we have. So the answer is yes, but slowly
Rob Simmelkjaer: and very deliberately because we already have 40 races on the calendar for adults.
Becs Gentry: Oh my gosh. It's so many. For adults, so you know, the kids' races are there as well.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Yes.
Becs Gentry: Okay, so let's keep this vein going and we go
Becs Gentry: into race accessibility, but also membership. So I've added membership
Becs Gentry: here because this is something that you're going to talk
Becs Gentry: about more in order to further explain the decisions about
Becs Gentry: numbers. So similar questions from Shani Weiner asks and Jenny
Becs Gentry: Dujour, amongst other people, and it is about how New
Becs Gentry: York Road Runners is managing the increased popularity of the
Becs Gentry: races. Most of these questions are focused on the big
Becs Gentry: race, TCS New York City Marathon, and how race accessibility
Becs Gentry: is going to be balanced in the face of increasing
Becs Gentry: running popularity. So I think the bulk of the question
Becs Gentry: is how can more people run the TCS New York
Becs Gentry: City Marathon for the first time, how are you going to do that or how can they do that.
Rob Simmelkjaer: It's an excellent question. So what I would start by
Rob Simmelkjaer: saying is that if you live in the New York
Rob Simmelkjaer: City area, and I don't know if the people asking
Rob Simmelkjaer: these questions live in the New York City area, there is
Rob Simmelkjaer: a guaranteed way to run the Marathon. We have the
Rob Simmelkjaer: 9+ 1 program. If you run nine of our races
Rob Simmelkjaer: and volunteer at one in the course of a year,
Rob Simmelkjaer: you will run the Marathon the following year. So it's
Rob Simmelkjaer: available to anybody who's willing to make that commitment. It's
Rob Simmelkjaer: a really smart way to get in because you're also
Rob Simmelkjaer: working on your running as part of that. And so
Rob Simmelkjaer: I really encourage anybody who is in this area who
Rob Simmelkjaer: wants to run the Marathon to explore doing it through
Rob Simmelkjaer: that program. There are obviously other ways for first- time
Rob Simmelkjaer: runners to get in. The drawing is a hard way
Rob Simmelkjaer: to get in, but I meet people all the time
Rob Simmelkjaer: who say they entered the drawing and got in their
Rob Simmelkjaer: first time, first time trying. Right? So it happens all
Rob Simmelkjaer: the time. We don't have any particular advantage for first-
Rob Simmelkjaer: time people applying for the drawing, but you can definitely
Rob Simmelkjaer: get in that way. Obviously you got to get a little
Rob Simmelkjaer: bit lucky. And then of course there's the charity route,
Rob Simmelkjaer: and again, I know that's competitive right now between Team
Rob Simmelkjaer: for Kids and other charities. There are ways to get
Rob Simmelkjaer: in. So I would start by saying that. Now another
Rob Simmelkjaer: thing I would say is make sure you're a New
Rob Simmelkjaer: York Road Runners member because if you're a member your
Rob Simmelkjaer: chances of getting into these races is better because we
Rob Simmelkjaer: introduced in 2024, something I didn't mention before, the first ever Second-
Rob Simmelkjaer: Chance Drawing for all these big races for members. So
Rob Simmelkjaer: if you don't get in through the regular drawing and
Rob Simmelkjaer: you're a member, you're entered into a pool automatically without
Rob Simmelkjaer: doing anything for a second drawing that's only for members
Rob Simmelkjaer: that gives you another chance to get in. So it
Rob Simmelkjaer: increases your chance of getting in. I had such a
Rob Simmelkjaer: great time calling members last year, Becs, who got in
Rob Simmelkjaer: through that Second- Chance Drawing and they were thrilled. So
Rob Simmelkjaer: that's another way to do it. When it comes to
Rob Simmelkjaer: races, we also introduced something new in 2024 called the Member-
Rob Simmelkjaer: Only Standby List. So you can put yourself, if you're
Rob Simmelkjaer: a member, on a list for a race and say, "
Rob Simmelkjaer: Hey, if spots open up in this race, I'd like
Rob Simmelkjaer: to run it," and we did a lot of that.
Rob Simmelkjaer: In fact, 4, 000, about 4, 000 members gained access
Rob Simmelkjaer: to sold- out races in 2024 through the Members- Only
Rob Simmelkjaer: Standby List. So it's another great way to get into
Rob Simmelkjaer: races by being a member. And then lastly, Becs, I
Rob Simmelkjaer: want to talk about a level of membership that is a
Rob Simmelkjaer: huge help. It's more money, but it is not that
Rob Simmelkjaer: much more money considering the benefit that you get. If
Rob Simmelkjaer: you join not just as a basic member but as
Rob Simmelkjaer: a Member Plus member of New York Road Runners, you
Rob Simmelkjaer: get additional time ahead of everybody else registering for races
Rob Simmelkjaer: to sign up. It's a two- day window that is
Rob Simmelkjaer: available only for Member Plus members to sign up for
Rob Simmelkjaer: all the races that are going on sale in a
Rob Simmelkjaer: given period. And so it's basically a guarantee, Becs, that
Rob Simmelkjaer: you're going to get into these races as long as
Rob Simmelkjaer: you make sure you set your calendar, remind yourself to
Rob Simmelkjaer: get on the website and register during that two- day
Rob Simmelkjaer: window. The races do not sell out during the Member
Rob Simmelkjaer: Plus period. Again, it's a bit more money, but not
Rob Simmelkjaer: a huge amount more. I think it's, I'm going to
Rob Simmelkjaer: be corrected on this if I get it wrong, but
Rob Simmelkjaer: I think it's about another 60, $ 65 to be a Member
Rob Simmelkjaer: Plus member versus the $ 60 to be a basic member.
Rob Simmelkjaer: So when you think about how much you're getting in
Rob Simmelkjaer: having that access to races, it's well worth it, and
Rob Simmelkjaer: I encourage anybody who is really focused on getting into
Rob Simmelkjaer: races to upgrade their membership to Member Plus because it
Rob Simmelkjaer: makes a huge difference.
Becs Gentry: Absolutely, agreed. I mean, get in on that, everyone. Come
Becs Gentry: on. Start the new year strong with a little gift
Becs Gentry: to yourself there.
Rob Simmelkjaer: A hundred percent.
Becs Gentry: Okay. So I think you sort of answered this question in your last
Becs Gentry: answer there, but I think we could dive a little
Becs Gentry: bit deeper into it because this question is from SD5289NY,
Becs Gentry: and they have asked what your plans are to make membership
Becs Gentry: worth it for 15- plus year members getting shut out of
Becs Gentry: races. So I think we can go a bit deeper
Becs Gentry: on that membership and what's happening there.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Yeah, a hundred percent. I mean, first of all, I
Rob Simmelkjaer: want to say that I have no higher priority as
Rob Simmelkjaer: CEO of New York Road Runners than to make membership
Rob Simmelkjaer: a great experience for our members, and when I first
Rob Simmelkjaer: came a couple years ago what I saw was membership
Rob Simmelkjaer: that basically was a discount. What you really got for
Rob Simmelkjaer: being a member two years ago was a discount on
Rob Simmelkjaer: races, if you got into the races. What we want
Rob Simmelkjaer: to do is make it about a lot more than
Rob Simmelkjaer: that. We want to obviously emphasize the community side of
Rob Simmelkjaer: it, but create a whole new set of benefits for
Rob Simmelkjaer: members of New York Road Runners. And so that is why
Rob Simmelkjaer: you've seen us add some of these things in the
Rob Simmelkjaer: last year that I just mentioned, the Second- Chance Drawing,
Rob Simmelkjaer: the Members- Only Standby List, the members- only race that
Rob Simmelkjaer: we had last summer and we'll have again. Members also
Rob Simmelkjaer: get access to exclusive non- race events we have at
Rob Simmelkjaer: our expos, during Member Week, throughout the year, exclusive experiences
Rob Simmelkjaer: for members, members swag that we give out to our
Rob Simmelkjaer: members, and we're thinking about these things all the time.
Rob Simmelkjaer: So we will be announcing more member- only perks in
Rob Simmelkjaer: 2025. I mentioned the app earlier, Becs, and I think the
Rob Simmelkjaer: app is also going to give us more opportunities over
Rob Simmelkjaer: time to give our members exclusive access to things that
Rob Simmelkjaer: live in the digital sphere, and so that's a big
Rob Simmelkjaer: focus. So understand the question. Get it. Members, we love
Rob Simmelkjaer: you, we care about you, and we want to make
Rob Simmelkjaer: sure that this membership is worth it because even if
Rob Simmelkjaer: you're struggling to get into races, we want to make
Rob Simmelkjaer: sure you're getting a great experience. And again, not to
Rob Simmelkjaer: wear out that point, but if you're a Member Plus
Rob Simmelkjaer: member, well, then the race experience, getting into races becomes
Rob Simmelkjaer: a lot easier as well. So that's the message to
Rob Simmelkjaer: all the members out there.
Becs Gentry: Exactly. We love that and we love our members. Okay, so
Becs Gentry: here's one that is big in the running community and
Becs Gentry: it's called entry swapping. So it's a little bit of
Becs Gentry: a touchy subject, but let's get into it. This might
Becs Gentry: get you a little bit hotter under the collar, Rob.
Becs Gentry: Okay, so ValBrecht4 has asked, " With races filling up instantly after
Becs Gentry: registration opens, what is New York Road Runners plans to
Becs Gentry: make sure slots don't go unused on race day?"
Rob Simmelkjaer: All right, thank you, Val, for the question. So I
Rob Simmelkjaer: answered this in a couple of different ways by talking
Rob Simmelkjaer: about the fact that we sell a number of slots
Rob Simmelkjaer: that takes into account people not coming. Right? So that
Rob Simmelkjaer: is a way that we try to ensure that slots
Rob Simmelkjaer: don't go unused because we're selling more slots than there
Rob Simmelkjaer: are actually available in the race. So that's the first
Rob Simmelkjaer: thing we were already doing that you may not know
Rob Simmelkjaer: about if you're just a member kind of paying attention
Rob Simmelkjaer: to what's happening. So that's number one. All right, second
Rob Simmelkjaer: is about the member standby list. I mentioned again, the Member-
Rob Simmelkjaer: Only Standby List which is important as part of this
Rob Simmelkjaer: and how many people got in through that. So we
Rob Simmelkjaer: talked about that already. Now what I think you mentioned
Rob Simmelkjaer: is the swapping of bibs, and that is essentially a,
Rob Simmelkjaer: hey, I can't run this race, but my friend, Becs,
Rob Simmelkjaer: would like to run. Can I give Becs my bib?
Rob Simmelkjaer: Now just handing somebody else your bib right now is
Rob Simmelkjaer: very, very, very much against the rules.
Becs Gentry: Yes.
Rob Simmelkjaer: You cannot run a race with somebody else's bib and
Rob Simmelkjaer: can't emphasize that enough because if you do that there's
Rob Simmelkjaer: a chance, a good chance in fact, that it's going
Rob Simmelkjaer: to be noticed because you'll run a time that's a
Rob Simmelkjaer: little unusual maybe for that person or we'll just... listen,
Rob Simmelkjaer: it's a good chance that we'll see that, and we
Rob Simmelkjaer: don't want that for a lot of reasons. It's not just because
Rob Simmelkjaer: of selling these bibs, it's because there's a safety issue.
Rob Simmelkjaer: If something happens to a runner and you've got somebody
Rob Simmelkjaer: else's bib on, we can't contact your emergency contact. We
Rob Simmelkjaer: don't know who you are. We can't deal appropriately with
Rob Simmelkjaer: any emergencies that happen. So you just can't run with somebody
Rob Simmelkjaer: else's bib, full stop. Now we know that in some
Rob Simmelkjaer: other race organizations you can officially transfer a bib to
Rob Simmelkjaer: someone else. It's something that we are very much looking
Rob Simmelkjaer: at. Our technology does not support that right now, but
Rob Simmelkjaer: I mentioned earlier that we're going to be switching over
Rob Simmelkjaer: to a new registration platform called haku. haku does support
Rob Simmelkjaer: that, so we are looking at what we can do, how
Rob Simmelkjaer: we can do it. Can't say anything about that yet
Rob Simmelkjaer: because we're not really sure yet what makes sense, but
Rob Simmelkjaer: it is definitely something that is on the road map.
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Becs Gentry: marketers to learn more. Okay, now let's talk about race
Becs Gentry: types, Rob, because we have at the moment everything from
Becs Gentry: a mile, I mean excluding the kids' races, a mile
Becs Gentry: up to the TCS New York City Marathon in distance. Historically,
Becs Gentry: there have been other distances involved in New York Road
Becs Gentry: Runners events and we have had a question from T.
Becs Gentry: Y. Gellans. I'm sorry if I've mispronounced your name there.
Becs Gentry: It looks like it might be Dutch.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Ty, I think it's Ty.
Becs Gentry: Ty, Ty Gellans, there we go. You wouldn't think I do this for
Becs Gentry: a job, right, leaderboard names. Okay, Ty has asked, " Will
Becs Gentry: there be any ultra marathons again?"
Rob Simmelkjaer: Ty, this is one of the most frequent questions I get.
Becs Gentry: From me too, Ty.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Appreciate the question. We used to host an ultra marathon.
Rob Simmelkjaer: It was called the Knickerbocker 60K, but the pandemic came
Rob Simmelkjaer: along and that's one of the few races that we
Rob Simmelkjaer: did not bring back post- pandemic for lots of reasons.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Didn't have a huge amount of interest in the race,
Rob Simmelkjaer: it's a really long and hard day for our staff
Rob Simmelkjaer: for a relatively small number of runners. So we didn't
Rob Simmelkjaer: bring that back and it's not currently on the roadmap.
Rob Simmelkjaer: However, however, that doesn't mean that there aren't great ultras
Rob Simmelkjaer: to run in the New York City area. Black men
Rob Simmelkjaer: Run, New York City, and the NYC Way are keeping
Rob Simmelkjaer: the ultra community in New York engaged with their annual
Rob Simmelkjaer: Ted Corbitt 50K which is a local ultra marathon that
Rob Simmelkjaer: will be held actually coming up on January 26th in
Rob Simmelkjaer: Prospect Park. We're going to put a link to that
Rob Simmelkjaer: race in our show notes. There's a virtual option for that
Rob Simmelkjaer: race as well. So check it out. And with the new
Rob Simmelkjaer: registration platform, one of the things we do want to
Rob Simmelkjaer: do going forward is actually highlight some other races that
Rob Simmelkjaer: are not Road Runners' races happening in the tri- state
Rob Simmelkjaer: area that will give people a chance to have some
Rob Simmelkjaer: different experiences, and ultras are a big part of that.
Rob Simmelkjaer: So we probably will not be putting on an ultra
Rob Simmelkjaer: ourselves anytime real soon, but others are doing it and
Rob Simmelkjaer: we're going to make sure that we point our runners
Rob Simmelkjaer: in the direction of those races because we want those
Rob Simmelkjaer: races to succeed and thrive and to give runners a
Rob Simmelkjaer: chance to experience those things with other organizers as well.
Becs Gentry: Absolutely, and that's all part of the running community. We
Becs Gentry: are just one vein of the heart of New York
Becs Gentry: running being New York Road Runners, and as Rob just said,
Becs Gentry: there's other organizations and we all work together and we all
Becs Gentry: run together. So let's share, let's share those miles. Okay,
Becs Gentry: Jess Gray, " Would you consider including treadmill for the virtual
Becs Gentry: program?" Thanks, Jess. I love this question. I bet you're
Becs Gentry: a Peloton member.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Yeah, that's a good question actually. Well, the question fascinates
Rob Simmelkjaer: me a little bit. I mean, yes, if you're doing
Rob Simmelkjaer: it on a Peloton, you're likely to have a great experience.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I've been running on the treadmill a lot lately, Becs.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I ran five miles this morning, we record on Tuesdays,
Rob Simmelkjaer: on the treadmill because I have no other way to
Rob Simmelkjaer: run right now on a weekday when it's 20 degrees
Rob Simmelkjaer: and dark at my preferred running time. So I got
Rob Simmelkjaer: into the gym and ran five on the treadmill. I
Rob Simmelkjaer: just can't... I do it, Becs. I have to admit, I
Rob Simmelkjaer: really need to start running with you and your classes
Rob Simmelkjaer: because I just do not enjoy this, Becs.
Becs Gentry: Yes.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I do not enjoy running on the treadmill. I got to
Rob Simmelkjaer: start doing these classes with you guys because maybe that
Rob Simmelkjaer: would just make the time pass. It kills me. I'm
Rob Simmelkjaer: just not a treadmill guy. But anyway, I digress. Obviously
Rob Simmelkjaer: Jess is, and so first of all, we partner with
Rob Simmelkjaer: Strava on virtual racing and the thing about those virtual
Rob Simmelkjaer: races on Strava is we track it by GPS, right?
Rob Simmelkjaer: So we need to see, Strava does, that you actually
Rob Simmelkjaer: ran the distance that the virtual race was so that
Rob Simmelkjaer: we can tell you ran, and that's why there are
Rob Simmelkjaer: not any current options to participate in those virtual races
Rob Simmelkjaer: on a treadmill. But I think it's an interesting question. Becs,
Rob Simmelkjaer: let's talk about it with your colleagues at Peloton and
Rob Simmelkjaer: see if there's a way to solve for that.
Becs Gentry: I would agree.
Rob Simmelkjaer: It's actually an interesting idea.
Becs Gentry: That would be.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Peloton users with a Peloton Tread or a Tread+ can
Rob Simmelkjaer: already run segments of the TCS New York City Marathon with
Rob Simmelkjaer: the incredible scenery that is recorded for those races. You
Rob Simmelkjaer: can run the course on the Tread. We've got new
Rob Simmelkjaer: content coming out as we mentioned. So yeah, let's have
Rob Simmelkjaer: a conversation. So the answer for now, Jess, is no,
Rob Simmelkjaer: but we will talk to Peloton and see what's possible.
Becs Gentry: Yeah. But hold please.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Maybe there is a way to solve for that. I don't know.
Becs Gentry: Yeah, we could, we could. My brain is whirring. Let's have a chat.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I love it.
Becs Gentry: All right, next and final question in this category is
Becs Gentry: RunningNYCS. Maybe more races in the afternoon and not so
Becs Gentry: early in the... I think morning is what they meant
Becs Gentry: here, not so early in the morning if you can, question mark.
Rob Simmelkjaer: RunningNYCS is not a morning person apparently.
Becs Gentry: No. Absolutely not.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Would like races in the afternoon. And by the way,
Rob Simmelkjaer: I get it, especially this time of year.
Becs Gentry: Yes, the 7:00, 8:00 AM, they're hard, that time.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I totally, yeah, I'm doing my runs right now on the weekends at noon or 1: 00 because I'm just
Rob Simmelkjaer: trying to get as much warmth as I can. The
Rob Simmelkjaer: issue around this, well, there's two issues. Number one, permits,
Rob Simmelkjaer: I talked about earlier and the Parks department, and especially
Rob Simmelkjaer: if we're closing streets, the Department of Transportation wants these
Rob Simmelkjaer: races to happen at a time that has the lowest
Rob Simmelkjaer: impact on others out there. So people who want to
Rob Simmelkjaer: just use the park, the busiest times in Central Park
Rob Simmelkjaer: or Prospect Park or wherever are going to be those
Rob Simmelkjaer: late morning and afternoon hours where people are out and about
Rob Simmelkjaer: with their kids or on bikes or whatever. So the
Rob Simmelkjaer: races do disrupt the use of the park and it
Rob Simmelkjaer: definitely is not a good thing to have races happening
Rob Simmelkjaer: at that time. And then also afternoon races in the
Rob Simmelkjaer: summertime obviously are a challenge when the temperatures are too
Rob Simmelkjaer: high. So great question. It's something that actually I'll think
Rob Simmelkjaer: about a little bit in the winter months, see if
Rob Simmelkjaer: there's a thing we could do around afternoon races. But
Rob Simmelkjaer: for now, based on our permits, the answer unfortunately is
Rob Simmelkjaer: you're going to have to set that alarm, RunningNYCS, and
Rob Simmelkjaer: get yourself up and make it to one of our
Rob Simmelkjaer: starting lines at 8:00 or 9: 00 AM, whatever time it is.
Becs Gentry: Absolutely. I know, it's not great, but if you're training
Becs Gentry: for one of those marathons or longer races, you got
Becs Gentry: to get up early because you got a long day
Becs Gentry: ahead of you. So it gets you in the habit. Right?
Rob Simmelkjaer: A hundred percent. Win the morning, win the day, I always say.
Becs Gentry: Oh, we like a mantra.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Get on out there. Make it happen.
Becs Gentry: Okay, let's talk about expanding the mission. We have C. J.
Becs Gentry: R. Palmeiras has asked, " Why not franchise to other countries,
Becs Gentry: Brazil, for example?"
Rob Simmelkjaer: So as I mentioned earlier, we're a New York City
Rob Simmelkjaer: based nonprofit. We're not a for- profit organization, and our
Rob Simmelkjaer: mission really is focused on serving local communities here in
Rob Simmelkjaer: the five boroughs of New York where there is so
Rob Simmelkjaer: much need that we want to fill and have the
Rob Simmelkjaer: impact that we have here in New York. So that
Rob Simmelkjaer: is the primary focus of the organization. There are a
Rob Simmelkjaer: lot of great running organizers and organizations out there around
Rob Simmelkjaer: the world, and we love to see the international runners
Rob Simmelkjaer: coming in to visit us for the TCS New York City
Rob Simmelkjaer: Marathon and other races all around the year. We are
Rob Simmelkjaer: going to start working to do a better job of
Rob Simmelkjaer: pointing people in the direction of local running organizations where
Rob Simmelkjaer: they can run, but right now it's not really something
Rob Simmelkjaer: to franchise. It's an interesting question, franchising. It's not like
Rob Simmelkjaer: we're making burgers or something that could actually really be
Rob Simmelkjaer: franchised. I mean, it's running. Right? It's putting on racing
Rob Simmelkjaer: events. People can do that in other places. Obviously we
Rob Simmelkjaer: have incredible tradition in New York of putting on really high-
Rob Simmelkjaer: quality races and other things, but I don't really think
Rob Simmelkjaer: it's like even if we were a for- profit, like a
Rob Simmelkjaer: franchisable thing per se. But again, as I mentioned, we're
Rob Simmelkjaer: really focused on New York City right now.
Becs Gentry: Amazing, and rightly so. We've got it. Okay, so Nuvoletta Italiana
Becs Gentry: has asked, " Will the partnership with country's return? We miss
Becs Gentry: Italy Run, Japan Run, et cetera."
Rob Simmelkjaer: I know, Becs, that some of those previous runs were so
Rob Simmelkjaer: popular. The Italy run was huge. The Japan Run, the
Rob Simmelkjaer: UAE Healthy Kidney 10K, those were really popular races. They
Rob Simmelkjaer: were all off the calendar by the time I came
Rob Simmelkjaer: in as CEO. Now one thing people should know is
Rob Simmelkjaer: that those were actually sponsored races. So those countries, their
Rob Simmelkjaer: tourism boards or some other element from those countries were
Rob Simmelkjaer: actually sponsoring those races, and just like TCS sponsors the
Rob Simmelkjaer: Marathon or United Airlines sponsors the Half. So those were
Rob Simmelkjaer: sponsors. Those races went away, and the thing is, it's
Rob Simmelkjaer: challenging to bring some of them back, Becs, because it's
Rob Simmelkjaer: kind of like hard to do it in a fair
Rob Simmelkjaer: way. If we brought Italy Run back, let's say, right,
Rob Simmelkjaer: well, then there'd be 20 other countries that would raise
Rob Simmelkjaer: their hands the next day and say, " We want a
Rob Simmelkjaer: race. We want one of those races." It would be
Rob Simmelkjaer: hard to determine in a fair way what country should
Rob Simmelkjaer: get a race and what country shouldn't get a race,
Rob Simmelkjaer: and we feel really bad if we didn't represent all
Rob Simmelkjaer: the different constituencies and nationalities that are out there. This
Rob Simmelkjaer: is New York City, we've got the most international, diverse
Rob Simmelkjaer: population in the world, and I would feel bad if
Rob Simmelkjaer: we couldn't have a race for every country, but we
Rob Simmelkjaer: can't have a race for every country. So therefore it's
Rob Simmelkjaer: a little bit better, from my point of view, just
Rob Simmelkjaer: not to have country races because that way we're treating
Rob Simmelkjaer: everybody equally. So thank you for the question, but that
Rob Simmelkjaer: is definitely not coming back. So please continue to go
Rob Simmelkjaer: out and enjoy the Nutella and all the great stuff
Rob Simmelkjaer: that was at the Italy Run and the other part. We
Rob Simmelkjaer: miss having that stuff and we definitely have fond memories
Rob Simmelkjaer: of those events and those races.
Becs Gentry: Oh my gosh. I'm sure they were so, so fun.
Becs Gentry: All right, let's move on to the verticals, addressing the verticals.
Becs Gentry: These are things that kind of feed in to what
Becs Gentry: makes New York Road Runners what it is, aside from just
Becs Gentry: the running. So we've been asked by L. Joey, " Will
Becs Gentry: New York Road Runners develop program for senior runners?"
Rob Simmelkjaer: Good news, L. Joey, we have one. Absolutely, we have
Rob Simmelkjaer: a great program for senior runners and walkers that's called
Rob Simmelkjaer: New York Road Runners Striders' program. It was launched nearly
Rob Simmelkjaer: 15 years ago in 2011. It is a free program
Rob Simmelkjaer: and it offers senior adults physical activity for people who
Rob Simmelkjaer: want to lead a more active life, and I think
Rob Simmelkjaer: just as important, meet new people in their communities. We
Rob Simmelkjaer: have a lot of folks who are walkers. It's called
Rob Simmelkjaer: Striders. It's primarily but not exclusively a walking program. We
Rob Simmelkjaer: have a lot of folks in that program who might
Rob Simmelkjaer: start walking, but then they will graduate up to run-
Rob Simmelkjaer: walking and then even just running. We have folks who
Rob Simmelkjaer: walk our races, who run our races, who are all
Rob Simmelkjaer: part of that Striders' program, and a majority of our
Rob Simmelkjaer: Striders' coaches are seniors themselves who actually do a great
Rob Simmelkjaer: job offering a peer- to- peer experience for these people
Rob Simmelkjaer: in a safe setting. So any seniors out there who
Rob Simmelkjaer: are interested should check out the Striders' program. Now if
Rob Simmelkjaer: you don't think Striders is right for you, then I
Rob Simmelkjaer: would really encourage you to check out all of our
Rob Simmelkjaer: other training and programming options. Group Training is for all
Rob Simmelkjaer: ages, and that's available in communities all around the city.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Open Run, our weekly free running program in New York
Rob Simmelkjaer: City Parks, again, open and accessible to runners of all
Rob Simmelkjaer: ages and abilities. So they're there, and I think if
Rob Simmelkjaer: you show up at one of those you'll find a
Rob Simmelkjaer: welcoming community with people in your age cohort. I've met
Rob Simmelkjaer: so many people, Becs, who signed up for Open Run really
Rob Simmelkjaer: to get moving, and what happened is they made friends.
Rob Simmelkjaer: They found a community that is so important for people
Rob Simmelkjaer: at all ages, but I think especially for seniors, Becs,
Rob Simmelkjaer: who sometimes become a bit more isolated. It's really important
Rob Simmelkjaer: to have that community, and Road Runners is a great
Rob Simmelkjaer: way to find that.
Becs Gentry: Exactly. And if you want to find out more, we
Becs Gentry: had a wonderful guest on the podcast last year, Dr.
Becs Gentry: Leo Murillo, who has been a runner with New York
Becs Gentry: Road Runners for a really long time. He's definitely one
Becs Gentry: to talk to about the progression of running all the
Becs Gentry: way through the life, and now as his senior running
Becs Gentry: stage is here and blossoming, go check out that podcast
Becs Gentry: as well if you want to find out a bit more.
Rob Simmelkjaer: A hundred percent.
Becs Gentry: All right. Two more questions, Rob, before you've sweated everything out again after
Becs Gentry: your run. We've been asked by SuburbanDadRunner, " What can you
Becs Gentry: do to better support New York City's club culture?"
Rob Simmelkjaer: So the clubs are such a huge part of what
Rob Simmelkjaer: we do at New York Road Runners and a huge
Rob Simmelkjaer: part of the running community in New York City. Right?
Rob Simmelkjaer: So many people get into running by joining a club.
Rob Simmelkjaer: They're finding communities there. We love it. It's a huge
Rob Simmelkjaer: part of what we are about, and we are constantly
Rob Simmelkjaer: trying to support and nourish the club ecosystem in New
Rob Simmelkjaer: York City and beyond. So we have something called Club
Rob Simmelkjaer: Council which is essentially an organization that all the clubs
Rob Simmelkjaer: join and allows these clubs to register with New York
Rob Simmelkjaer: Road Runners on our website. People can find clubs by
Rob Simmelkjaer: looking at that section of our website. A lot of
Rob Simmelkjaer: folks find their club by looking at that, and we
Rob Simmelkjaer: work daily with them. We have a small department at
Rob Simmelkjaer: New York Road Runners. There's a guy named Anil Bhambhani
Rob Simmelkjaer: whose job is supporting in the clubs. That's his full-
Rob Simmelkjaer: time job at New York Road Runners, and so he
Rob Simmelkjaer: is having back and forths with the clubs day in and
Rob Simmelkjaer: day out. The Club Council also has meetings four times
Rob Simmelkjaer: a year, quarterly, where we get together, we talk to
Rob Simmelkjaer: the clubs about what's going on at New York Road
Rob Simmelkjaer: Runners, we hear back from them and work with them
Rob Simmelkjaer: on making sure it's a great experience. Now a big
Rob Simmelkjaer: part of the club scene is what we call the
Rob Simmelkjaer: Club Points series which is a chance for all the
Rob Simmelkjaer: clubs to compete every year. They complete for points in
Rob Simmelkjaer: all the different age groups and genders. And then we
Rob Simmelkjaer: have a big gala called Club Night where we honor
Rob Simmelkjaer: the clubs and we honor the runners who are competing
Rob Simmelkjaer: for these awards of Runner of the Year and Runner
Rob Simmelkjaer: of the Year at every age group and all the
Rob Simmelkjaer: great things. So both clubs and local runners get honored
Rob Simmelkjaer: at this. And then we also have a club- only,
Rob Simmelkjaer: essentially, or at least club- preferred event in the summer
Rob Simmelkjaer: called the NYRR Team Championships. That's a five- mile race that
Rob Simmelkjaer: takes place in Central Park and it showcases all the
Rob Simmelkjaer: clubs. Clubs are given preferred entry into that race. So
Rob Simmelkjaer: the clubs get a lot. We also give bibs to
Rob Simmelkjaer: every single club for each one of those Club Points
Rob Simmelkjaer: series races. That includes the Marathon, the big Halfs. So they're getting
Rob Simmelkjaer: entries to use as well. So it's a really deep
Rob Simmelkjaer: connection that we have with the clubs. We're always looking
Rob Simmelkjaer: to improve it, to deepen it. If you've got other
Rob Simmelkjaer: ideas, ways you think we can better support and engage
Rob Simmelkjaer: clubs, please reach out to your Club Council rep on
Rob Simmelkjaer: your club, they'll reach out to us. We're having a
Rob Simmelkjaer: lot of really good conversations to make sure that the clubs
Rob Simmelkjaer: continue to thrive because they're such an important part of
Rob Simmelkjaer: our community here in New York.
Becs Gentry: Amazing. All right, we have one final question today from
Becs Gentry: Michael Garofolo. " When is the next wave of races for
Becs Gentry: the 9+ 1 program opening registrations?"
Rob Simmelkjaer: Yeah. So soon, Michael. Our next set of races that
Rob Simmelkjaer: will be open for registration will be opening in late
Rob Simmelkjaer: January, early February. Keep an eye on your email for
Rob Simmelkjaer: that. Okay? Very important, keep an eye on your email,
Rob Simmelkjaer: keep an eye also on New York Road Runners' social
Rob Simmelkjaer: channels so that you can know when it's announced that
Rob Simmelkjaer: we are launching those races. I mentioned that we're doing
Rob Simmelkjaer: this technical work, the new technology, new platform. So the
Rob Simmelkjaer: reason that the date is unclear still is because of
Rob Simmelkjaer: the work that's being done there, but it will be
Rob Simmelkjaer: in the late January, early February period. So be patient. Watch
Rob Simmelkjaer: your emails.
Becs Gentry: And just keep up to date with the New York
Becs Gentry: Road Runners' website, the race calendar. Get yourselves involved with
Becs Gentry: any and all races you can. And don't forget that
Becs Gentry: you can come and train as well. If you don't
Becs Gentry: get into the races, it doesn't mean you can't come along
Becs Gentry: for the community runs and all of the incredible training programs
Becs Gentry: as well that New York Road Runners' offer.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Becs, great job grilling me. Great job with those questions. Thank you for doing that. Don't you have to go to a class?
Becs Gentry: I do.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Aren't you supposed to teach a class?
Becs Gentry: I do.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Okay.
Becs Gentry: I have to go and teach a class in about 50 minutes, yeah.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Oh, you got plenty of time. You got plenty of time.
Becs Gentry: Plenty time, yeah.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Well, this was fun. Did you learn some things about
Rob Simmelkjaer: New York Road Runners?
Becs Gentry: I did. I really did. There's a few things I had
Becs Gentry: no idea about. Yeah, my brain, as I said, is
Becs Gentry: whirring on ideas of how we can get some of
Becs Gentry: these questions answered and the world made better for some
Becs Gentry: of our members out there as well, both on the
Becs Gentry: New York Road Runners' side and on the Peloton side.
Rob Simmelkjaer: There's so much opportunity, so I'm really excited about what
Rob Simmelkjaer: 2025 has in store for Road Runners-
Becs Gentry: Me too.
Rob Simmelkjaer: ... for all of our runners and our members out
Rob Simmelkjaer: there, for Set the Pace as well, because I'm excited
Rob Simmelkjaer: just to get started with a whole new set of
Rob Simmelkjaer: conversations with great people who make running a big part
Rob Simmelkjaer: of their lives. I hope that all of our listeners
Rob Simmelkjaer: out there are as fired up for the year as
Rob Simmelkjaer: we are.
Becs Gentry: Yes.
Rob Simmelkjaer: I love it. I love it. Well, thank you, Becs.
Rob Simmelkjaer: Thank you to all the listeners and the members who
Rob Simmelkjaer: sent in those amazing questions. They were really good questions.
Rob Simmelkjaer: By the way, keep the questions coming. You don't have
Rob Simmelkjaer: to just do it when it's a special episode. You
Rob Simmelkjaer: can always throw questions in in the comment section or
Rob Simmelkjaer: as a review to the podcast in Apple podcast. We
Rob Simmelkjaer: will always check them out. Remember to check the show
Rob Simmelkjaer: notes out as we're going to have some information and
Rob Simmelkjaer: links to some of the answers that I gave today.
Rob Simmelkjaer: And that's it. That does it for our first episode
Rob Simmelkjaer: of Set The Pace for 2025. Hope you enjoyed it.
Rob Simmelkjaer: If you liked the episode, subscribe, rate it, leave a
Rob Simmelkjaer: comment so we can continue to add listeners to our
Rob Simmelkjaer: community here on Set the Pace in 2025. Once again,
Rob Simmelkjaer: I want to wish you all a very happy New
Rob Simmelkjaer: Year. Hope you guys have a great year running and
Rob Simmelkjaer: beyond. Enjoy the miles. We'll see you next week.