Where There’s a Will… There’s a Race!

By Kim Donegan

Hairy Gorilla, Dodge the Deer, Helderberg to Hudson…these local “bucket list” running events are only a portion of what makes ARE Event Productions one of the most popular event timing and race production companies in the Northeast. Since the formal creation of AREEP in 2006, four years after the launch of the Albany Running Exchange, Josh Merlis and his well-rounded approach to creating and managing meticulously planned and operated events have made AREEP a household name in the Capital Region running community. Its reach continues to expand across the Northeast, with occasional trips to the Middle Atlantic and West Coast. 

I started working there in August of 2014, when the business was still operating out of Josh’s garage. In 2015 we moved into its current home on Railroad Avenue in Albany as his dream of a full-scale operation came to fruition. I encourage you to read the history of how the business was born, as it is best told by the founder himself: areep.com. This story, however, focuses on how this small yet mighty force survived one of the most difficult times in our generation.

The year 2020 was on pace to be the biggest in the history of AREEP. We had more fulltime staff, event crew, and equipment than ever. Nearly 200 races had contracted with us to time their events, and online registrations were at an all-time high. The trucks were getting wrapped with our new logo, thousands of B-tags sat ready for print, and boxes of race bibs waited for the assembly line. 

And then everything came to a screeching halt.

Like most of the world, we thought a few races would be cancelled or postponed, and then life would resume. As the weeks went on and Covid cases surged, more race directors were calling to cancel, until finally the devastating reality set in: in-person racing wasn’t going to resume any time soon. Since winters in the Northeast are spent resting and prepping, cashflow doesn’t pick back up until warmer weather approaches, and registrations begin pouring in. As we refunded more and more race registrations, everyone started to panic, except Josh.

If you’ve ever met Josh, you know that he is steady under pressure, and is physically incapable of giving up. I once told him that it was unfair that he was such a brilliant programmer and race director…and timer, writer, and engaging public speaker. Oh, and he’s fast too. He smiled, but simply said, “Thank you.” It didn’t take long for the gears to start turning in the head of this modest and focused entrepreneur. Piece by piece, he laid out a plan.

Everything was going virtual – it was literally the only option. Within a few weeks, Josh had programmed fully customizable options into ZippyReg (the online registration software he developed from scratch) that allowed registrants to choose how their entry fee would be handled for cancelled races. AREEP-owned events provided the option to participate virtually, defer, or receive a full or partial refund. The first test case was the second annual Helderberg to Hudson Half Marathon. Within the first day of the announcement, dozens of loyal AREEP registrants asked if they could simply forego their entry fee in an effort to support the small business that they knew was facing a dire situation. After making the formal addition of the entry fee “donation” category, more and more entrants contributed to AREEP in a way that meant more than they could possibly have known. 

Since race packets were already prepped and ready for distribution, the AREEP crew split up the Capital Region into “sections,” and we each spent a few hours hand-delivering them. While driving around, we brainstormed ideas on how we could bring in revenue to make it through the summer amidst the absence of a spring racing season. From merchandise blowout sales to using the trucks and vans to deliver groceries, we ultimately decided that continuing to provide people with the opportunity to do what they loved – and what we were best at – was the way to go. Josh cooked up two virtual race series. The Social Distance Running Challenge used a play on the early pandemic “toilet paper shortage” and encouraged people to complete one or more 5K, 10K, or 13.1M distances. By submitting times, participants “raced” for the goal to be 1-Ply Superstar, a 2-Ply Achiever (two or more distances), or official status as a Golden Roll Emperor (all three distances).

We offered another race packet hand-delivery service, and people continued to support AREEP by signing up for the next virtual event, the Capital District Challenge. The “CDC” (no pun intended) a good display of Josh’s programming skills in which he built an interactive map of the Capital Region where registrants logged every mile and “heat mapped” the roads. On multiple occasions, I drove to random parts of town just to run on roads that no one had logged so I could add to the heat map! We hosted a drive-through packet pickup at the office and one at my house. Dozens of people shared their appreciation for the entire AREEP crew for their dedication and for coming up with ways to keep them motivated, especially as pandemic anxiety started creeping in. The accountability, along with posting selfies to virtual photo boards (another one of Josh’s ideas) gave people hope, a reason to smile, and log mile after mile. 

As the leaves began to fall, with empty race calendars, the allure of virtual events began to fade. It was then that Josh got to work on the most extensive event operations plans he had ever developed.

In an effort to create safe in-person events, he broke down every aspect of a race from the minute a person entered the parking lot, to when the last cone was picked up from the course. In-depth math examples citing participant density and the number of people per square foot every minute were documented. Over 20 pages were submitted to local government officials pleading for the “right” to have an in-person event that would be safer than a trip to the grocery store. Cupless water stations, wave starts, pre-bagged race packets and drive-through pickups, boxed lunches, and open-space finish areas provided a nearly contact-free experience. His dissertation left hardly any margin of risk, and officials had no choice but to say “yes.”

In June, a modified version of Dodge the Deer 5K was held at the privately owned farm of an AREEP staff member, and in August the Froggy Five Miler was given permission to be held at Dippikill, a private retreat facility owned by the Student Association of the University at Albany. Thacher State Park was the first public facility to agree by allowing the Thacher Park Trail Running Festival to go off in August. The following weekend, the second annual Helderberg to Hudson Half Marathon stayed alive when it moved from the Helderberg-Hudson Rail Trail to Altamont Fairgrounds. 

In October, it was back to Thacher for the Hairy Gorilla Half and Squirrelly Six trail races. With the success of the Helderberg race staged out of Altamont Fairgrounds, the Upstate Classic road race was born in November. It was cold, it was hilly, but there were “smiling eyes” from under masks for the 1,200 participants who had waited nearly a year to get outside and race.

In 2021, Josh went on to create two other annual events, both staged out of Mohawk Harbor in Schenectady: Electric City 5 Miler (March) and Miles on the Mohawk (May). These races were born out of necessity, during a time when people who wanted to race most of all, got to do just that – safely.

Some local races did not survive the pandemic, but out of the ashes, new races were born and will live on as ARE Event Productions continues to show the Capital Region that where there’s a will… there’s a race.

Kim Donegan (kzdonegan@gmail.com) worked for AREEP from 2014 to January 2021 when the pandemic forced the team to make tough decisions, and Kim ultimately moved on to another role. She and her husband, Shaun, live in Malta and stay busy with their twin four-year-old daughters.