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Royal Parks Half Virtual Race raises over £1m for charitable causes
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Funds Raised
£1,000,000
Participants
6,000
Charities
250
The Royal Parks Half Marathon takes place each October, starting and finishing in Hyde Park. It is the only half marathon that travels through central London and four of the Royal Parks and is one of London's largest half marathons, with over 16,000 participants. District Technologies was selected to provide their Virtual Race experience.
Challenge
The Royal Parks approached District to launch a Virtual Race version of the event during the Covid pandemic. With charity fundraising at the forefront, the event not only had to cater for the competitive runner, but also the charity fundraiser enjoying the experience with friends. We wanted the virtual race app to convey a sense of community, and use our technology to deliver a virtual race that was true to the live event day experience.
Solution
District launched the Royal Parks Half Marathon re-imagined Virtual Race App, were participants registered for the event were able to run their 13.1 miles from anywhere in the world. Participants were engaged through the experience with celebrity start videos, augmented reality filters, and location based audio cues, recreating the iconic run with a compelling narrative for unique, digital first, virtual race experience.
Results
Over 6,000 runners from 42 countries took part in the event, raising over £1m for charitable causes in this iconic virtual race
"The GPS tracking and leader boards created a seamless virtual race day experience, whilst the feed posts allowed the participants to feel they were part of something bigger. To date, our reimagined Royal Parks Half has raised just short of £1m for the 250 plus charities that took part. We are delighted with the results and feedback, and are very grateful to the brilliant team for helping us create this industry leading, digital virtual race solution"
Gemma Marks
The Royal Parks Half Marathon