跑着挣钱正是时候

    接力比赛公司面临的另一项明显的挑战包括：同类比赛竞争。随着越来越多比赛涌现，已经形成了一个拥挤的市场。部分比赛已经倒闭。去年7月，曾标榜自己是“让你腹部绞痛、肌肉紧绷、难忍呕吐感”的障碍风格比赛的Metro Dash向参加者发邮件表示，公司已经停业。

    要避免Metro Dash这样的命运，关键可能是引入著名品牌。但是对于那些没有足够资源支持的企业，重要的是真正地在社交媒体形成影响力。Ragnar在Facebook上拥有接近12万名关注者——超过了波士顿马拉松或者纽约马拉松的关注者人数，这个事实可能令部分人感到震惊。此外，Tough Mudder的关注者也接近300万。拉姆帕说：“泥浆、啤酒和火焰。与这些东西相关的事情更具吸引力。”200英里接力赛仍然有望保持增长，尽管增速可能赶不上泥浆赛跑、火焰障碍赛。（财富中文网）

    译者：成鹏

    The other obvious challenge for relay companies: each other. As more and more begin popping up, it creates a crowded market. Some have already been killed off. In July, Metro Dash, which billed itself as a "gut-wrenching, muscle-pounding, make you wanna throw up" obstacle-style race, e-mailed runners to say it had gone out of business.

    The key for avoiding Metro Dash's fate may be to pull in big-name brands but also, for those without the resources to do that, to truly rock social media. Ragnar has nearly 120,000 likes on Facebook; that's more than the Boston or New York Marathon, which may seem shocking to some. Tough Mudder, meanwhile, has almost 3 million. "Mud, beer, and fire," says Lamppa. "Something about all that is just more appealing to people." Look for the 200-mile team relays to keep growing, though maybe not as fast yet as the muddy, fiery obstacle races.