Unifying Runners: Evolve Track Club's Social Media Strategy.
The intersection of technology and human connection has become vital for community engagement. By leveraging social media platforms, Evolve Track Club (ETC) integrates remote teammates with the established running community.
Social media has a pervasive influence. With over 5 billion users worldwide, its impact transcends age demographics, although its use is nearly universal among young people. Driving forces behind the growth of social media include a desire to share content to entertain and make connections.
Despite its popularity, concerns regarding its impact on mental health persist. Reports of depression, anxiety, and decreased social-emotional skills have companies and individuals questioning if social media is connecting or isolating its users.
Teams and companies must consider the range of impacts of adding an online format to a traditional team setting. There is a balance between building membership and maintaining a commitment to existing members.
Within running communities, team members face various situational barriers to community-building. Online and in-person teams struggle with physical distance from team members, social anxieties, and hindrances to involvement in online communities.
Is it possible that Evolve Track Club will best serve the running community by offering a hybrid of these programs?
Southern Oregon Running Community
When I first heard about Evolve Track Club, they were the new kid on the block. Southern Oregon has a well-established running community.
The old guard in Southern Oregon is firmly grounded in the oldest running club in Oregon, the Southern Oregon Runners. Established in 1969, the club maintains some of its founding members as active board members to this day.
The next established dynasty is the Rogue Valley Runners (RVR) store, which Hal Koerner opened in 2006. It is the sole running store for a hundred miles and is known for being a magnet in the ultra-running world for the prominent characters of the mid-2000s. Think Jenn Shelton, Erik and Kyle Skaggs, and Anton Krupicka.
Ashland is also home to Southern Oregon University (SOU). The University's NAIA Cross Country and Track programs perennially produce individual All-Americans and teams ranked among the nation's top ten. This brings a constant influx of motivated and talented young athletes to the area. Many of them work at the running store and are welcomed into the local running scene.
For members of the SOU track and cross country programs who desire to continue running beyond graduation, the traditional landscape of community-based clubs, like SOR and the running shop loyalists at RVR, may leave something to be desired.
Track practice had been a way for the athletes to spend the afternoon with friends, and a productive way to blow off steam. However, after the athlete’s collegiate eligibility has expired, running might become a way to explore beyond campus, make new friends, or find a renewed sense of belonging. It might also be a place to take a break from applying for jobs, or a distraction from looming student loans. For a few, it may also be a new chapter in their competitive running pursuits.
Some trial and error and exploring different preferences may be required to find the right fit for each athlete entering “the real world.” A team like Evolve Track Club fills a unique niche for these developing and exploring athletes. ETC engages both recreational and competitive runners by finding common ground in a desire to have fun. Although the way people have fun might look different to different people, ETC rallied diverse individuals around the same pursuit: happiness.
ETC was able to integrate existing members of traditional local running teams, like SOR and RVR, with a larger community of perhaps isolated, remote, or new runners. With a hybrid format that blended in-person and remote experiences, they created an inclusive team. ETC maximized the reach of a shared experience for members within and even around their club. ETC highlights and celebrates the full spectrum of running possibilities.
Evolve Track Club
Ethan Moengchaisong and Noble Boutin graduated from Menlo College in 2020, right in time for the COVID-19 pandemic. With a couple of matching business degrees and nowhere to go, they relocated to live with family in Ashland, Oregon.
Noble had spent some time exploring the corporate finance realm and was feeling less than inspired. He took a job at the Rogue Valley Runners store. Ethan had found a passion for the growing field of social media, marketing, and analytics. Both, Ethan and Noble established friendships with the SOU athletes, Hal, owner of Rogue Valley Runners, and the thriving community of runners that faithfully frequented the shop's Wednesday night group runs.
The Evolve Track Club started with a simple Instagram post on June 21, 2021, that consisted of a shot filmed by Ethan of Noble running laps at the local high school track and the caption, "Every run is a victory. Fast or slow. Long or short. Go get your double-u today!"
Their original idea was to create a remote, online platform for all kinds of fitness that focused on accessibility, inclusivity, and acceptance. This would be a very COVID venture indeed, striving to find connections while on lockdown.
What happened next was a collaborative project. For example, Noble's sister, Bliss, is a certified yoga instructor and offered to post instructional yoga videos. A fellow Menlo College Graduate, Logan Pine, pursuing a career in physical therapy, offered to make a video of a strength training program for runners.
Their personable and friendly energy, as well as their drone and video coverage, were a welcomed addition to local events, including the weekly Wednesday night group run at RVR. Ethan and Noble also created "Content Days;" ," an open invitation to hang out at the track and be featured in reels and posts. Athletes from the SOU team and the local community started showing up and spending summer evenings together at the track. The content and connections that ETC captured felt candid and fun.
Ethan and Noble carried this momentum and built a website, designed a logo, and made racing kits. By August, the merchandise was on pre-sale, and by December, they sponsored a team at the Sound Running Cross Country Championships.
Noble and Ethan started filming at all the events they could get to. ETC was inviting and engaging, whether at a small college track meet or the Team USA Olympic Trials. They constantly collected content with their iPhones or a full mic and a long telephoto lens.
They interviewed and featured aspiring masters runners, fun runners, professional runners, and fans of running with equal enthusiasm and energy.
When they tried throwing a shot-in-the-dark invite to collaborate with professional runners on Instagram posts, the big names accepted! ETC was featured alongside personalities like Keira D’Amato, Evan Jager, and Nikki Hiltz. In three months, ETC engaged with over 200,000 Instagram accounts.
Growth of the Team
The growth of ETC was organic, albeit volatile and chaotic. Both Ethan and Noble prefer feeling overwhelmed and challenged, in contrast to feeling bored. This is convenient, given the indiscriminate growth of the team.
As others recognized ETC's potential reach and the increasing quality of their product, they also recognized Ethan and Noble's willingness to support other people's projects. They offered an abundance of support, earnest and cost-free. This led to more and more people asking to collaborate. The big-hearted and ambitious duo showed up in a big way.
Partnerships emerged with start-up running apparel companies like Lief Running, a company based in Southern California that makes specialty running shorts, and Dyln Running, which works with artists to create high-performance running singlets.
Requests from other teams also spiked. Cascadia Elite, another Pacific Northwest-based running club, asked ETC to create reels that served as bite-sized mini-docs highlighting their athletes.
Next, ETC co-hosted a post-race beer garden and DJ alongside Dyln Running following the Rogue Valley Marathon. There was also an ETC-branded downhill mile through Ashland with prizes and post-race festivities.
Ethan describes feeling compelled to keep feeding the project's momentum for fear that it would stall if he didn't keep pushing ahead. He likens it to the feeling he gets when training for a goal race: to keep doing more. Their willingness to say "yes" to every project is honorable, but it also risks unpredictable or divergent outcomes.
The team, at various times, had the following initiatives:
Creating a Team and Company Organizational StructureInternal Team BuildingCoachingTeam-Branded ApparelTravel to Events to both Compete and Gather ContentSponsoring Content DaysFilming and Editing ContentMaintaining a Social Media PresencePodcastCommunity OutreachBusiness PartnershipsIn-Person EventsOrganize Post-Race Functions
What stands out about Evolve Track Club is its ability to be all things—a media company, a running team, community leaders, and friends. Doing everything at once is impossible; however, ETC took a swing at it. They kept showing up relentlessly, meeting with those willing to meet with them, ready to have fun and find solutions.
Guiding Philosophies
Most Important Thing: Have fun.
The team's guiding principle and main priority was having fun. If filming a road trip to a race with your friends sounds fun, do it.
Ethan and Noble recommend taking some time to do a passion project after you graduate from college. Explore where it takes you, build new skills, and learn about yourself in the process.
Ethan and Noble never made any money from ETC and were lucky to break even on their events. Making money wasn't the point. The point was to support and spend time with their friends. In the process, they learned skills around filming and editing content and organizing events that have turned into careers and possibilities.
How About We Try This?
In creating a space free from deadlines and bottom lines, ETC encouraged creativity. Noble and Ethan empowered one another to spitball ideas, to try, and to fail.
During my interview with Ethan and Noble, they produced one of the many notebooks full of the ideas and sketches of content and events they had dreamt up at coffee shops together and since put into action as part of ETC.
They recall being among industry leaders when they started producing high-quality reels featuring their friends and professional athletes. These 15- to 30-second, quick-hit clips show running highlights set to a top-trending track. These are now commonplace but were only first introduced to Instagram a little more than a month after Evolve Track Club's first post.
Being early adopters, they quickly dialed in plug-and-play templates for reels. Then, upon walking into the USA Olympic Trials with an oversized lens, they realized it was surprisingly easy to get access to athletes in a less lucrative sport, like track and field. From there, ETC cranked out videos and partnerships at an impressive clip.
Their experiments helped them learn what worked and what didn’t. For example, their podcast wasn’t successful and ended after a few episodes. Upon reflection on their experiments, Noble recalls wishing they had focused on running-specific content sooner. They weren’t nearly as passionate about the general fitness and wellness initiatives, which caused them to feel spread thin.
They enjoyed the challenge of organizing events and wished they could have planned more post-race events. At the start, this had felt like a reach, but once they did a few, they realized they were capable and enjoyed the challenge.
Met People Where They Are.
Evolve Track Club was ever accommodating in making connections. Not only would they show up to your venue, on your schedule, with unlimited enthusiasm, but you'd have a great time.
They would make you feel unique and fun, and they could paint you as tough and professional, cool and charming, or anything you wanted. This was a reciprocating exchange, and you would become part of ETC's growing resume of content.
Their kindness also often made you part of their growing fan base. Although their generosity was a potentially delayed investment, it ultimately had an exponential return.
Evolving Opportunities
One of the things that made ETC work so well was the balance and collaboration of Ethan, the soft-spoken, behind-the-scenes tech whiz, and Noble, everyone's fast-talking hype-man, brimming over with personality. These two may have been complementary parts of a team. Each part filled the gaps in the other's skillset to make the most of their strengths. With a partnership, they were able to create what they couldn't have done alone. However, they would each need to continue to adapt to thrive independently.
In time, the number of requests for Ethan and Noble reached a breaking point. As much as they wanted to keep feeding Evolve Track Club their time and energy, they were also ready to consider sustainable opportunities, working toward meaningful careers that allowed them financial stability. It was time to capitalize on the possibilities they had created with ETC.
Noble has since taken a job as an assistant coach and social media manager with Under Armor and their professional team, Mission Run Dark Sky, out of Flagstaff, Arizona. This has allowed him to travel the globe, supporting athletes and highlighting their experiences on social media.
Ethan now resides in L.A. and has created Cheve, a full-stack design agency. This means he is involved in every step of the process, from concept to product, including creative idea generation, brand strategy, communications, graphic design, and video production. He has recently been on the ground at major Ultrarunning events like Western States and Broken Arrow, Araviapa Running's Black Canyon, and Javelina Jundred.
When asked about the future of Evolve Track Club, they both lit up at the idea of reviving the team in some capacity. They even thought of producing some longer-format videos, for example. However, life is very busy for them both, and the rebirth of the team might be down the road sometime. There remains the potential to evolve—to be innovative, inclusive, and, most importantly, to have fun.
**** Note:: Much thanks to Emily Pomainville for her advising and guidance in writing this article. She is a copy-editor and fantastic friend who I’ve greatly enjoyed working with.
LINKS TO RESOURCES IN ARTICLE
Evolve Track Club Instagram - Running team & media.
Cheve - Ethan is a full-stack designer with a decade of experience helping people and businesses overcome challenges. He is passionate about designs that leave a lasting impact on people's lives. With a diverse creative toolkit, including graphic design, brand strategy, video production, and more, Ethan offers everything your brand needs to succeed in today's highly digital and fast-paced world.
Mission Run Dark Sky - Professional Running Team Sponsored by Under Armour.
Southern Oregon Runner’s Club - Oregon’s first running club has been an integral part of the running scene since 1969 when the club was formed to promote health and fitness through the sport of running and walking.
Rogue Valley Runner’s Store - After years of doing what we do best, the RVR brand has caught on and has truly become a household name. (Never mind the owner is the world famous Ultrarunner, Hal Koerner).
Southern Oregon University Track & Field - NAIA College located in Ashland, Oregon.
Lief Running - Running shorts designed in California.
Dyln Running - a luxury running apparel brand born from a love of art, movement, and self-expression. We blend the creative aesthetic of fashion with the best technology available in sportswear to create pieces that have sophisticated style and performance-driven design.
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