Sydney Mara expo was tough 🫣

RUNLY NEWSLETTER #151
Sept 4th 2026

I'm baaaaaackkk. 

It's Robbie here, Runly founder. In case you're not familiar with these founder updates, every couple of weeks I try to give you an insight into behind the brand.

The good, the bad and well, the strange.

I've got a lot to catch you up on. So grab a cup of tea, nestle in, and we'll crack into it.

Firstly, I want to send a huge congratulations to those who took part in the Sydney Marathon over the weekend.

What an incredible race this has become. Truly spectacular. And a perfect way to showcase our country on the global running stage.

For us, well we took part in the Sydney Mara Running Show.

This year was certainly different. The Running Show took place at Sydney Olympic Park, not quite the dazzling spectacle of the previous year's Darling Harbour location.

But nevertheless, it was set to be the biggest running expo that Australia has ever put on.

Now, for context, it's our second year in a row activating at the Syd Mara Running Show. 

Last year was obviously the first where Sydney had become a World Major. The hype around it was insane which I think is one of the reasons the venue needed to be changed - more space, better flow for runners collecting bibs and shopping merch.

For us, we flew up Wednesday morning from Melbourne for bump-in day. And I have to say, things went a little too well.

If you've read my event stories, you know things can go bad very quickly. For example, late last year at the 2XU Wellness Run, we got a call overnight that our marquee had essentially been blown away from a freak gust of wind and all of displays were broken.

But not this time. Smooth. Efficient.

It was a record bump-in time for us with an even bigger space than previously.

After the success of last year we decided to double our activation at this year's Running Show. A decision that I can assure you, does not come cheap, especially for a small business.

But that's what it's all about. A bigger space to serve our growing Runly community.

But of course, despite wrapping up and heading out for a late lunch, all was not quite complete.

Bump-in closed at 5pm.

But at 4.45pm I got a call from a somewhat familiar number as I exited the shower at my AirBnb.

Hello? I answered.

It's Sam (made-up name) from the expo, what on earth are you doing with your pallets? THERE'S NO STORAGE AT THIS EVENT UNLESS YOU'VE PRE-BOOKED IT.

I felt like a high school student being told off. I drief off, chucked on whatever clothes I could find and ran back down to the expo.

I had two big pallets with bags, extra stock and equipment. In previous years I was able to store them within the expo, but apparently I just got lucky.

I tidied up my pallets and in a moment of panic, I saw a familiiar face.

My team had gone for the day. The team being Dan, who stuffed up his accom and was trying to find an alternative, and my Dad who flew up just to help me bump-in.

But a smily bloke came towards me and gave me a strong dap handshake.

Last year, when setting up my Dad had befriended one of the venue's logistics team (of which there are so many). He even gave him a pair of socks.

He came over, we had a little chat and I told him about my situation. No probs bro, I got you, he said.

Never has such a relaxed phrase filled me with so much confidence.

He chucked some labels on our pallets and swiftly re-located them on a pallet truck into venue storage. 

What a guy. Saved the day.

Roll on Day 1.

There's something about the first day of not just Sydney Marathon, but any Major Mara.

There's always a queue to get in. The hype is enormous. And importantly, people are eager to get their hands on the official merchandise.

It's funny, because although we open our activations at 7.45am, it takes a good hour for people to get through the ASICS merchandise hall.

It gives us a bit of extra time to prepare, set things up and tidy up.

Which was very welcome for me on the first morning, because our Sydney City Edition Socks display had fallen over caused by a tumbling poster.

That was my fault.

Taping a HUGE laminated poster to a textile material was never going to end well.

No problems though, I borrowed a chair from the venue cafe and was able to fix everything in fifteen minutes.

The first day of an expo is usually the quietest. I assume because it's a Thursday, and locals who work may find it difficult to get there during the day.

It's easy to panic that things are slow on the first day, and I've activated at enough running shows to know this.

But it did feel a little different this time.

Early on I realised what was happening.

Usually running shows have a 'snake' effect, where a bit like Ikea, you have to follow it all the way around until you get to the exit.

For those trying to get out as fast as possible, it's annoying.

For those wanting to see everything, it's great.

For exhibitors and brands, it makes sense because you get more eyes on your activation.

The setup this year was different. It was open. 

And as luck would have it, we were positioned directly behind two large-scale activations who had their back to us, they were facing the other way.

So, for visibility, it was going to be a struggle.

We found ourselves in a position in the expo hall where, unless someone was really keen to see everything, or they just happened to choose our direction to move past, then we were going to miss a lot of attendees.

No layout or flow will ever be perfect. I get it. But we copped it this time.

I even had a few messages from people were planning on coming past to say that they couldn't find us and it was all a bit overwhelming.

It was hard, and deflating. I had some friends pop by, and they even mentioned how quiet we were (despite the venue being packed). 

And so what does it mean for us?

The weekend really highlighted something important to me.

Why do we actually do these large-scale events?

On one hand; it's expensive, you get lost in a sea of brands, your offers are dilluted by the magnitude of exhibitors, the resources it takes to pull off are intense and I'm away from my young family for a week every time.

But on the other hand; rarely will you ever get 40,000 runners come through one venue in a matter of three days. The exposure you get to your community is immense, you get feedback, build relationships and put your products on show.

Ultimately, we broke-even at the Running Show (slight loss actually, but who's counting).

Some of you might be thinking wow, what a waste of time and effort! 

And others will be thinking wow, I'm surprised you can even break-even given how much you have to put into it!

But back to my point, this event more than any other highlighted something to me.

It challenged me more than any other event I've done.

It made me re-think the way we go about it.

I left the Running Show on the Saturday night before race day thinking, I don't know if we can justify doing this again next year.

I was exhausted physically and mentally, I was scattered and wondered where we went wrong in all this.

But over the next couple of days I had some time to reflect.

YES, we were significantly disadvantaged in terms of position and flow this time.

But we can only control what we can control.

In a situation like that, how do you adapt? How do you make the most of it?

By the start of Day 3, the final day, I knew what was happening and how things were going to end up.

So at 7am before open I messaged the team, Dave & Dan.

I basically said, guys, it's been a rough couple of days, but let's just go have fun. Do our best to connect and chat with our community that have been incredibly supportive to us.

So that's what we did.

And it was the most fun we had all week. The spirits were up, and we took it all in our stride.

With experience, I would have embraced the situation we were in this way earlier, but that's life.

The other thing I learnt is that we need to be adaptive. Okay, so we had low traffic. How do bring the audience to us? Is it interactive comps or giveaways? Some kind of attraction, meet and greets with athletes?

Whatever it is, we need to have a Plan B and C, and be able to adapt.

I met a great contact while I was there, and I was watching their activation. 

Although it was entirely different to our brand, and they weren't selling any products (food product, they were sampling), I watched them rotate what they were doing several times per day.

One minute they had a spin the wheel to win prizes, next minute they had cooked up their product and were offering hot samples.

At any given time the queue for their activation was long, and the engagement was huge.

I learnt a lot last week. It was a hell of an experience that I will be better for both as a founder and person. It definitely built character and I came away with practical learnings that are invaluable.

AND DESPITE ALL OF THIS.

I want to thank anyone and everyone who came to see us over the week.
Perhaps I have painted a bleak picture in the context of storytelling, but regardless of our challenges, my heart was full with the number of customers and people from the Runly community that came to say hello.

This is not an exaggeration at all - I probably had 50 people who came in just say to 'I love your products, keep doing what you're doing'.

In my darkest (and quietest hour) at the expo, a lady came through and said "I own every single one of your vests. They are the best things I've ever bought for my running. I love what you're doing, and don't you ever quit."

How can something like that not make you smile?

You cannot help but feel inspired and energised by the people that attend these major races. It's unrivalled.

The type of person that is drawn to running is my type of person. They are intrinsically motivated, they're outdoor people and they want to be part of something bigger.

I really hope that this founder update hasn't come across as negative. I wanted to portray to you the challenges that happen behind the scenes, and that everything is not always a pretty Instagram feed.

This is the real, authentic stories and adversities faced by small businesses here and all over the globe.

Thanks for listening, and it's a pleasure to have you here for the journey.

Run well,
Robbie.