The world’s first social running league, Checkpoints Race, has launched with support from global social media agency, We Are Social.

We Are Social worked with Checkpoints Race to define its brand positioning, ensuring the challenge was developed to maximise its social potential. The agency produced a brand strategy for Checkpoints Race based on the insight that people are more likely to be motivated to complete and excel at sporting challenges when supported by a wider community.

To get involved in Checkpoints Race, runners from all over the world can register, either as a fully-formed team of five, or as individual runners who will then be teamed up with other participants. Checkpoints Race will launch a crowdfunding campaign starting 23^rd February, when participants will be able to get an early bird subscription.

Participants will be able to download the Checkpoints Race app, which synchronizes with popular running apps such as RunKeeper or Strava. The app, available from April 1^st, prompts teams to complete a set of challenges and monitors their progress.

Teams have four months to work together, from wherever they are in the world, to complete the challenges. As they do so, entrants collect ‘energy points’ through the Checkpoints Race app. The points are earned both by completing challenges and by gathering a community of supporters to ‘virtually cheer’ the team on.

The top 50 teams with the best results across all the challenges will qualify to compete in the Checkpoints Race finale, a relay race which will take place in the French Alps in September. At the race itself, runners will be equipped with internet-connected t-shirts which will track their progress and broadcast the competition online, with help from helicopter footage and on-board cameras on support cars.

We Are Social will also be working with Checkpoints Race to support the build up to the event with content across multiple social media platforms, including Facebook, to drive registration and build anticipation around the event.

Sandrine Plasseraud, managing director, France, We Are Social, said:

“When Checkpoints first approached us with their idea of launching a globally connected race, we loved the project straight away. It’s a perfect fit for us, truly social with the potential to impact the running community positively as we help them hit their targets with support from all over the world.”

Francois Andre, co-founder, Checkpoints Race, said:

“We wanted to work with a global digital agency who would help us engage with runners all over the world. We Are Social has the same spirit as us: hard working, flexible, proactive and ambitious. Their help in building our brand identity has been crucial to the launch of the world’s first social running league.”