Ballarat recap, run frenzy & YT channel 👀

Hey guys,

It's been a couple of weeks since my last founder update, and it's fair to say that it's been a wild ride for me personally during that time, but that might be a story for later.

On the Runly front, things have been in full swing. Let's break it down.

🎽 BALLARAT MARATHON

Over the ANZAC day weekend the Runly team head up the highway to Ballarat, for what has become one of Victoria's most anticipated race weekends.

For those not in the know, Ballarat Marathon has generated quite a bit of buzz and hype in a short space of time.

It's a really flat course, so it attracts a lot of runners going for PB's. But aside from the really elite field, the town of Ballarat is an absolute buzz. It's a true running festival.

Unfortunately we couldn't attend the first year due to a clash with another race we attended, but we were so pumped to be able to get there this year.

If you read this founder update regularly, you may know that I was a little traumatised from our previous event, where we were setup outside and it poured and poured all day long. Our equipment got destroyed, we hardly spoke to anyone & I wouldn't say it was a disaster, but it was toeing the line.

So when I saw rain on the radar for the weekend, and the expo being outdoors, I was filled with dejavu, and a little dread.

And unsurprisingly, the first day of running festival was a washout. Most of the expo packed up super early because of the rain. We held on as long as we could, but it got to a point where if we kept going we'd put our whole setup in jeopardy for the next couple of days. So I drove down to Bunnings (a hardware store, for our international friends), grabbed as many tarps as I could and we bunkered down the marquee for the night.

Despite the next couple of days looking ominous, we were treated to some beautiful sunshine for what was an epic weekend of racing.

Now, you won't believe how many Runly vests there were. It was incredible. I couldn't believe it.

We stayed with some friends up in Ballarat who were running, and they were in shock at how many Runly vests were on display on course.

Every time someone walked past the marquee with a vest, we'd give each other a little nod, or sometimes I'd get too excited and give them a massive double thumbs up with a big grin.

On the racing front, it was one of the best atmospheres I've seen at an event. The long straight finish on the main strip of the town is special, where thousands of spectators line the streets to cheer you on. It's definitely something very unique.

My highlight of the event was without a doubt the elite Miler. With an incredible field of athletes, it was a treat to watch them sprint it out with the sun setting behind the iconic buildings of Ballarat.

We had an epic weekend, with some incredible conversations, met some new people, saw some familiar faces, and I hope we'll do it all again next year.

🎬 FOUNDER YOUTUBE 

A couple of weeks ago I put the call out here to see if there would be interest in me putting together a YouTube channel documenting my journey of building Runly.

It's fair to say there's a lot of interest! (sorry I haven't been able to get back to all of your epic replies).

Over the next few weeks I'm going to be building this out and creating some content. Stay tuned 👀

⚡ RUN FRENZY

In the spirit of 'Click Frenzy' which is taking place at the moment, we've decided to run with RUN FRENZY.You can get 30% off all running vests, belts & socks for a few days only with code RUNFRENZY.

Run well,
Robbie