Competitor Group Inc (CGI), the leading active lifestyle sports media and event entertainment company, has formed a global, integrated women’s endurance sports platform with the acquisition of Women’s Running magazine, the Lady Speed Stick Women’s Half Marathon Series and WomensRunning.com.
“This is a watershed moment for our organization as we greatly expand our media and event portfolio with a collection of powerful assets from which we will create the largest participatory platform in the world dedicated to female athletes,” said Scott Dickey, CEO of CGI.
“The launch of a new women’s endurance sports platform gives us the opportunity to capture the power of a rapidly expanding and passionate audience from the ‘physical to the digital’ as we continue to make strategic investments supporting our growth as a market leader in the global active lifestyle movement.”
Events catering and dedicated to the female audience are a rapidly growing segment of the endurance sport industry, fuelled largely by ‘an influx of female participants seeking personal fulfillment with every stride taken in a running or multisport event.’ CGI’s global platform will engage and market the active lifestyle to all facets of women’s lives, from pre-race, to race weekend to post race lifestyles decisions supported by a variety of media and event assets.
At the foundation of the platform is the Lady Speed Stick Women’s Half Marathon Series featuring five destination events across the US, with plans to expand to eight races in 2013. This will compliment the nearly 50,000 female runners the company expects to have in women’s-only events in Europe in 2013.
The new platform will also leverage mobile, digital, social media, travel, training and merchandising opportunities for partners to reach the increasingly important number of affluent female participants in the endurance sports sector.
“I am honoured to be involved in developing and launching CGI’s new global women’s platform, what I believe is one of the most exciting developments in women’s endurance sports in decades,” said Dawna Stone, founder of the Women’s Half Marathon Series and Women’s Running magazine who has joined CGI as a consultant and media contributor.
Stone added, “There is no-one better than the Competitor Group to continue expanding and improving the Women’s Half Marathon Series and Women’s Running magazine. This agreement will allow us to reach even more women with our message about the importance of a healthy, active lifestyle.”
The increased participation of women has been driving the latest renewed ‘fitness boom’ in the endurance industry. Over the past decade female membership of USA Triathlon (USAT) has grown from 27% to more than 38% at the end of 2011. Participation of women’s running in the United States has also exploded over the past decade, with over 7 million women finishing a US road race in 2011, according to industry group Running USA.
Across CGI’s flagship Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Series featuring 24 North American events and 500,000 participants in 2012, over 60% of all race participants are women. In its first year branded as part of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Series, the 45-year old Madrid Marathon doubled women’s participation from 8% to 19% year-over-year. Additionally, in Europe, CGI operates the Corrida da Mulher, a women’s only 5K held in partnership with the Maratona Clube de Portugal, which annually takes place in Lisbon the last weekend of May.
