Running Mad

Our Story

This is our story, which begins in 2018 with a fairly straightforward frustration about how organised events worked.

Where it started

Mass-participation events are brilliant if you can get in, get there and keep up. Ballots, travel, hotels, early starts and cut-off times quietly exclude an enormous number of people who would love to take part. In 2018 we started putting on virtual challenges to remove all of that.

What we changed

  • Any activity counts, so walkers, cyclists and swimmers are not second-class participants
  • No cut-off times, ever
  • Distances from 1.5 miles up, so the entry point is genuinely low
  • Challenges can be split across days and weeks to fit real lives
  • Medals with real weight and detail, not thin discs on a printed ribbon

What grew out of it

What we did not anticipate was how much of it would become about fundraising and about groups. Schools, workplaces and clubs took the format and ran with it, and cause-led challenges turned into some of our most requested designs. Read how the fundraising side works.

What has not changed

Completion matters more than speed. Every design decision, distance option and policy we have follows from that one idea, and we have no plans to revisit it.

More about us

Ready to earn your medal?

Pick your distance and take on a virtual challenge — a medal for every finisher.

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