*Blog* Isn’t a “virtual race” cheating?

12th September 2019

Isn’t a “virtual race” cheating?

A question we often get asked by people who haven’t heard of virtual events before. In my personal opinion, it’s a big NO! Having run both virtual and organised races myself, I truly believe that it is harder to earn a virtual medal than a real race one.

Why you ask?! Motivation for one! Organised races give you a sort of “I’m here now, I’ve got to do it” mentality. Adrenaline, nerves and determination as well as competitiveness and even fears of embarrassment overtake you and make you feel superhuman at that moment (yes, we all crash and burn after the race!). When earning a virtual medal, it is very easy to dip out of your runs. Excuses, life itself, tiredness, kids, work load, they all play a big part in our motivation to run that morning, afternoon, evening. There is a LOT of wiggle room for runs until the last moment, even during the runs itself by cutting them short and coming home. Sadly we often have people who order their medal and then don’t complete it because they haven’t done the distance and lost the motivation, it makes us sad. However it’s hard to motivate yourself, especially if the weather is against you or the work/life balance isn’t balancing right now.

Therefore we are proud of EVERY runner who submits their evidence and shows that they have reached their goal. We don’t care if you have walked half a mile a day to earn it, you’ve got out there, usually in pretty harsh weather conditions and you’ve done it! You should be as proud of yourself as we are of you! That hard work needs to be recognised so please know we have a little cheer and smile to ourselves when we seal your envelope. We then love hearing how you’ve received them and fallen in the love the with medals too. We love being with you on your journey, we feel privileged to be your motivation and your goal!

So in essence, no, virtual races aren’t cheating at all………..they’re something to be proud of and we love working with you!