- Fitness App Runna launched straight run by Runna, a new Race-Finder Platform
- Users can choose a race and ‘seamless’ integrate it with Runna’s plans
- ‘Tens of thousands’ of races in ‘more countries’ promised for expansion
Fitness app Runna is well known as one of the best fitness apps for runners thanks to its AI-generated and adaptive training plans. Now it is launching a platform to find you the right race to participate in too – and automatically generates a training plan to lead you right up to race day.
Runna has revealed races from Runna, a new site that is said to be ‘separate’ from its popular app while still operating with ‘trouble -free integration’. The new platform will be a search engine that allows users to find and sign up for races in several countries, although we do not yet know which regions are being rolled out first.
Runna allows runners to ‘browse thousands of events around the world without juggling with multiple tabs or incomplete lists’, which simplifies the enrollment process. Users will be able to browse races via tags ranging from the standard distance and the times of the year to more specialized tags filtration for events with specific height levels, climate, night races and even dog-friendly races.
Runna says that when a race is selected, users with a Runna account will be able to ‘instantly’ build a personal runna training plan around it. Presumably, if you enter a 10K run of three months, you will be able to enter the desired times in your Runna app and follow the instructions to generate a plan based on both your goals and the route. All that’s left is shopping for some of the best running shoes to help you cross the line.
This is one of the first major new features from Runna after its acquisition of Strava earlier this year. In a statement included in the press release, Runna’s CEO and co-founder Dom Maskell said: “We realized that we were well positioned to build the world’s most comprehensive race discovery platform, and it has been a true love work from our team. Having Strava with us will help strengthen our credibility in this field.”
The platform is now available in public beta with extensions scheduled for events in ‘several’ countries.
Analysis: A comprehensive all-in-one solution
Finding a race can be challenging: It is often a coincidence to roll through running alphabetically across multiple listing sites until you find something that happens to be both within driving distance and far enough to fit your calendar. Even then it is a bit of a shot in the dark, and different places host different events.
Running of Runna could be about to change all that. Even if you are not a Runna subscriber and it’s a really good app that earns 4.5 stars in our official Runna review-a comprehensive tagging system to filter to the races you want seems like a no-brainer.
I opened up the early version and tried to search for a nature -filled 10K ‘Fun Run’ in or around my local city, and I got a perfect match on an event that took place next March that fits my criteria exactly. I probably wouldn’t have heard of the event if I hadn’t tried to search for running.
With Strava’s support – bringing partnerships with big events that let’s do this – it seems to be a recipe for success. With the public beta that is now available, I will dive in to find my next race very soon.
