Gold Coast Marathon: Day Zero 0️⃣

RUNLY NEWSLETTER #117
Thurs July 3rd 2025

As I write this I am sitting in my hotel room on the Gold Coast with a much needed coffee, reflecting on what I call 'day zero' of the Gold Coast Marathon - bump in day.

Firstly, it's such an exciting time.

When I first walked in and saw our name on one of the booths, I actually had to pinch myself a little bit.

Who would've thought our little Melbourne-based brand would be activating amongst the global giants of running, sports & nutrition brands.

It's a great feeling just to be there.

But still, that doesn't make it easy.

It's been months and months of planning just to get to this point.

I think as a small independent business, we have to operate a lot differently to our peers at events like this.

This is also the first event my wife hasn't come to - with an 8-week old at home, she's got quite a bit on her plate right now 😅

Funnily enough, she has built a career in the world of sports events - would've come in handy.

But without her, it's just me for most of the week. My dad flew in from Melbourne to give me a hand setting up, which I am extremely grateful for.

Yesterday was the official bump-in day.

You've basically got 8 hours to get in, setup and get out.

But it didn't start there.

You see, the venue gives you 24 hours prior to bump-in to have your stock and equipment delivered.

I've been sweating on it all week, watching the tracking like a hawk.

And to my delight, it was delivered safely.

But the night before bump-in I double checked the delivery confirmation.
It said only 1/2 pallets was delivered.

What?

So I'm either going to have all my displays with no stock on them, or a bunch of stock with nothing to put them on.

In a move of desperation I called the venue at 10.40pm.

I don't really know what I was hoping for, they would obviously be closed.

But I dunno', maybe a security guard was there that could do me a favour and check the loading dock.

I know, very ambitious.

With nothing I could do, I went to sleep. Kind of.

The next morning I packed my bag and walked over to the exhibition centre.

I was one of the first ones there.

I turned the corner towards my booth.

IT'S THERE. THEY'RE BOTH THERE.

I can't even tell you the feeling of relief. This would've been one of the most grand disasters of unbelievable proportions.

Right, now the hard work starts.

If you've ever bumped-in to an event, especially by yourself or with a small team, you know just how hard it is.

With a brand new setup that we'd never used before, this was going to be a slow and painful process.

After a few deep breaths I got stuck in.

Displays first, I've done them before, they require no tools and they shouldn't take me more than two hours to put together.

Done.

At this point I thought, we (I) are absolutely flying here.

But then came the frame. It's basically a backdrop that turns our booth from a white soulless shell, into a space that's on-brand.

It basically creates a wall-to-ceiling backdrop for our products and displays.

This is brutally painful. Piece by piece. Tools, connections, nuts, bolts, instruction manuals.

No one else here seems to have to be working this hard - I thought to myself.

And you know what, it might be true.

When I looked around and saw some of the epic bump-in teams many brands had on deck, it made my little operation look like amateur hour.

So many people, trucks, equipment.

Maybe one day we'll have that luxury, but today is not that day.

I put my head back down and kept going.

Like an extremely high-vis angel that appeared around the corner, my Dad had arrived to help me out - straight from the airport.

It was much needed. Together we continued to build the frame, piece by piece.

We got the walls together, put the backdrop on and it was starting to look like a real activation.

But I had also designed a neon yellow arch that goes across the booth. We had never put this together, but on paper it was the simplest thing we'd do all day.

But, of course it wasn't.

We built the arch but we just could not get it to connect to the frame. Nothing we tried would work. And because it fits into the frame at a height, we couldn't risk it not being fully secure.

Unfortunately we had to go with out.

It was now 2pm. Two hours left before they kick us out and we haven't even touched a product yet.

We start to clean up to get ready for stocking the shelves.

This is a painful process.

Every carton needs to be opened, individual product taken out, drawstring bag removed, folded and stashed in rear zip pocket of every vest and sorted by size.

It's 3.54pm, 6 minutes 'til close and I've got nothing left to give.

There was no chance to eat today, other than grazing on some lollies, and I'm now putting the final touches on.

I take a few minutes to step back.

I walk around the expo, looking at some of the amazing activations here. It's like nothing I've ever seen before.

If you're a runner, it's basically Disney World.

And while I'm in awe of the spectacular activations, I'm also really proud of what we've put together.

We did it the hard way. It was scrappy and it took everything out of us.

But our little corner booth at #59 of the Gold Coast Marathon is a product of passion.

If you're in GC this week, make sure you swing by and say hello!

Run well,
Robbie