østerbro classic; where to start?

Seen in hindsite, the Østerbro Classic could seem like something we just thought would be fun and work because it was tried before.

I can guarantee you that was not the case. And that is something I am really proud of!

Looking back, we started planning really early because we wanted to have time enough for both propper planning, execution and befor everything else brainstorming. What we wanted to build with Copenhagen Series was a pretty broad scope, so the hard thing was actually settling on 1 thing to focus on first.

The thing needed to be classic enough to generate traction and get people to sign up, as well as fresh enough to show people what we mean by stating we want to change things a bit.

The compromise we found was using a tried and tested format, that ensured people knew what they were signing up for. Furthermore, that would give us the mental space to focus on how to frame the race and how to change the things we thought would be great to focus on.

Our hypothesis for classic races like a half or 5k is that everything surrounded it is either made too fancy (think finisher medals and finish line portals) or not made with the runners in mind (think how to hang out post race and what merch and gear is provided to the runners). Furthermore, we wanted to find a way to align all output with our purpose of creating a good sport for the elites.

Over the next couple of posts, we will go through some of those smaller factors that we tweaked. I’ll try to think back to what we discussed, some of the different versions we had and what we think worked great and what we would try a second take on.

Hopefully the sum of these posts will show you what the Østerbro Classic consisted of for us. At the same time, we will write smaller pieces spread over time talking about the ethos and mission of what we do. Again - the goal with all of these posts is to show you what we believe can be built.

Until next post - thank you!

Ras