The Color Run

The Color Run
Genre	5K run (untimed)
Location(s)	International
Inaugurated	January 2012 Phoenix, Arizona
Website
thecolorrun.com thecolorrunlatinoamerica.com

The Color Run is an event series and five kilometre paint race. It takes place in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, New Zealand, Australia, and the UAE. The untimed event has no winners or prizes, but runners are showered with colored powder, made of food-grade corn starch, at stations along the run.^[1][2]

The Color Run is an event that is owned and operated by The Color Run LLC, a for-profit company.^[3]

History

Founding

The Color Run, also known as the Happiest 5K on the Planet, was founded by Utah native and event producer Travis Snyder in March 2011, in an effort to encourage professionals and novices to run together for fun and to promote healthiness and happiness.^[4][5] Its first event took place in March 2011 in Phoenix, Arizona, with 6,000 participants.^[5][6] The addition of color to the event is heavily inspired by the Hindu festival of Holi, as well as day-glow events, such as Disney’s World of Color.^[7]

International growth

The Colour Run has reached more than a triple growth in the number of events held, which more than 300 events hosted in over 50 countries in 2014. Until July 2015, The Colour Run have held over hundreds of events worldwide including 112 events held in the United States, 7 in the United Kingdom, 6 in Australia and 4 in China in 2015. With the increasing popularity of the event, The Colour Run has introduced The Colour Run Night in 2014 which features a 5K run under the dark.

Participants in the 2014 Color Run in Paris passing the green station, located next to the Musée d'Orsay

In 2012, The Color Run held events in over 50 North American cities, with a total of more than 600,000 participants.^[4] It has therefore become the largest five-kilometer event series in the United States.^[8] In 2013, events were planned for over 130 cities in the United States, South America, Europe, Africa and Australia.^[5][9] In February 2013, IMG Worldwide announced a multi-year partnership with The Color Run, LLC, with plans to expand the event series into dozens of countries in Europe and Asia.^[10] Hundreds of similar color-themed running events have since launched throughout the United States and internationally.^[11]

The Color Run and IMG extended their partnership for the expansion of The Color Run™ into dozens of countries across Europe, the Middle East and Asia. "IMG has announced an aggressive slate of events across the globe in major markets like Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Singapore, Seoul, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Dubai, Barcelona, Madrid, Amsterdam, Brussels, London, Dublin, Manchester, Toronto, Vancouver,Vietnam and many more. IMG continues to add countries to its portfolio with a new focus on the Middle East with the addition of Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon and Egypt."^[12]

The Color Run held their first event in Paris, France April 13, 2014.^[13] The course ran under the Eiffel Tower.

Course and participants

Runners at the green color station at the Color Run in Munich, Germany, 2013

The untimed event emphasizes fun over competition. Open to first-time runners as well as families and children, each event has a designated walking lane.^[14] Registration fees typically start at around $35 US.^[15] According to The Color Run’s 2012 figures, over 60% of the participants were running a five-kilometer race for the first time,^[8] and over 70% of the participants were women ages 18–40.^[5] In 2013, there are expected to be a million participants.^[15]

Runners begin dressed in clean white T-shirts, and pass through a color station once every kilometer. Each color station is associated with a different color, with volunteers blasting the runners with dyed cornstarch out of spray bottles.^[2][16] At the finish line following the untimed run, there are typically celebrations featuring a dance party and food vendors.^[14]

The Color Run currently holds the title of the largest running event in the world. Since early 2011, Travis Snyder has grown The Color Run from a start up to over 200 annual events and over 2 million annual participants in countries throughout North and South America, Europe, Africa, UAE, Australia, and Asia.^[17]

Shine Tour

In 2015, The Color Run created a new tour, The Shine Tour. With the new Shine Tour, the Color Run organizers want to create an immersive and transformative experience beyond anything runners have experienced with them so far.^[18] The participants are inspired to be 'shined' in the crowd full of sparkles.

Kaleidoscope Tour

The Kaleidoscope Tour was The Color Run's new tour for 2014. The planned features were to include kaleidoscope attractions on the course, photo opportunities and "Kaleidoscope fun" at the finish festival.^[19] The Color Run Erie, one of 98+ tour stops in the Kaleidoscope Tour, sold out in less than a month with 10,000 participants.^[20]

The Color Run Night

On Saturday, October 18, 2014, the very first Color Run Night took place in the United States in the Philadelphia area. Around 10,000 people gathered for the event. The run involved glow-in-the-dark powder, glowing color zones, black lights along the course, and a black light head lamp for each participant to run with.^[21]

Participants dress in black and get coated with fluorescent powder on this 5k course. The run finishes with a festival that includes more colour and light, and lots of music and dancing.^[22]

On Saturday September 5 at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve at parc Jean-Drapeau, Montreal will host the first edition of Color Run Night™ in Canada.^[23]

The Color Run Australia

The Color Run events in Australia began in 2012 and are held in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Townsville, Sunshine Coast, Perth, Newscastle, Wollongong, Adelaide, and Canberra and previously Cairns. The inaugural Australian Color Run took place in November 2012 in Melbourne. The run had 12,000 participants, and over 3,000 kg^[24] of coloured powder was thrown around the 5 km track at Flemington Racecourse. Part of the money raised was donated to the Australian Paralympic Committee. The second Color Run, held at Sydney Olympic Park in February 2013, had over 20,000 runners.^[25] The event raised around $200,000 for Heartkids.^[26] The 2014 national charity partners^[27] include Australian Red Cross, Beyond Blue, Vision Australia, Cancer Council, Starlight Children’s Foundation Australia, RSPCA, Heartkids and Fight Dementia. The sponsor, Swisse, were planning to generate over AUD$1 million in charitable contributions through all 13 Color Runs in Australia in 2014.^[28]

Charity partnerships

The Color Run, LLC a for-profit organization, partners with a national or local charity at each event, such as a children’s hospital or a local food pantry in Africa.^[5][29]

Global Poverty Project is The Color Run's global charity partner. According to a 2013 Huffington Post article, "Color Runners around the country will have the opportunity to not only run in the happiest race ever, but also get involved in the movement to end extreme poverty through GlobalCitizen.org, where they can learn about issues, take actions, and raise funds for non-profits."^[30]

Corporate sponsorship

Finish Festival at The Color Run in Munich, 2013

Different corporations sponsor The Color Run in different locations, for example Chevrolet in the US in 2012 and 2013,^[31] Shout in 2014,^[32] Swisse in Australia,.^[28] and Dulux in the UK and Ireland.

Major League Baseball and the Minnesota Twins teamed up to host the inaugural The Color Run MLB All-Star 5K presented by Nike on July 13, 2014, at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds in Falcon Heights, Minnesota as part of the festivities of All-Star Week.^[33] On hand to get runners started were Hall of Famers Juan Marichal and Dave Winfield; former Twins Scott Erickson and Doug Mientkiewicz; MLB executive vice president of business Tim Brosnan; The Color Run founder Travis Snyder; actor/comedian Rob Riggle; and T.C. plus eight of his fellow MLB mascots, along with Runicorn, mascot for The Color Run. Kat Perkins, the Minneapolis-based singer and top-five contestant on The Voice, performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" before the race.^[34]

Mitsubishi was named the “Official Vehicle Partner” of “The Color Run Night” on October 18, 2014.^[35]

For the second year in a row, Major League Baseball and The Color Run partnered together during All-Star week in Cincinnati for The Color Run MLB All-Star 5K, Presented by Nike. The event featured appearances by baseball legends, mascots and other special guests.^[36]

Reception

According to Running USA, non-traditional running events have increased from low six figures in 2009 to 4 million in 2013. About 60% of The Color Run entrants have never run a 5K. Most are brand new runners of all ages with an approximate 50/50 gender split.^[37]

Negative criticism of The Color Run stems from the fact they are a for-profit company,^[38] and some participants are upset to learn that not all proceeds are given to charity.^[39][40]

The Color Run was featured on ABC’s Extreme Weightloss which aired on September 2, 2014.^[41]

Awards and recognition

The Color Run was honored as the Best B2C Marketing Team at the 2014 Utah Marketing Awards.^[42]

Travis Snyder, Founder of The Color Run, was selected as part of Utah Business Magazine's 2015 Forty under 40.^[43]

The Color Run Founder and CEO, Travis Snyder, was the keynote speaker at Running USA’s The Next Evolution conference held June 28–29 in Chicago.^[44] The Next Evolution takes a look at important industry topics, with this year's focus on non-traditional races.^[17]

Runners World named Travis Snyder one of The 50 Most Influential People in Running for his innovation, social media savvy, and strategic influence in the running industry. ^[45]

Safety concerns

On 27 June 2015 a serious dust explosion occurred in Taiwan due to colored cornstarch powder. This brought public attention to the possible dangers of substances such as the starch powder used at The Color Run. The Taiwanese authorities have since banned events islandwide involving flammable colored powder.^[46]

On 30 June 2015 the Singapore Police Force (SPF) and Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said in a joint statement that they will assess all safety aspects associated with the use of coloured powder before granting approval for the upcoming Color Run event to be held in Singapore.^[47] Additional measures such as changing the coloured powder to non-combustible materials such as coloured water mist may be required before the event is given approval to proceed.^[48]

Due to ongoing safety concerns, Shanghai has called off its Color Run.^[49] On 2 July 2015, Shenyang has also decided to call off its Color Run and will provide full refunds to all participants.^[50]

Hong Kong officials are also considering banning the use of colored powder spray in public events and the cancellation of two upcoming events that employs the use of these colored powders - a music party called “Life in Color” scheduled to be held on July 25 and “The Color Run” set for Dec. 6.^[51]

The organisers of The Color Run have said they are committed to staging safe and secure events, asserting that they have "not had any fire-related incidents in over 500 events around the world involving more than 4 million participants."^[52] They have also stated that "as a professional events company with highly vetted policies and processes, we conduct thorough testing to ensure the safety of our materials and their application, and we are confident in the safety of our events."^[53]

References

External links

• Official website

Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Color Run.

• Serious hazard to cameras