BUFFALO RUN ADVENTURES | Looking To Sponsor A BRA Event

Are you thinking that your company may want to be a sponsor of Buffalo Run Adventures? If so, that would be awesome. I’ve put together a few things about my philosophy on sponsors as well as what I’m looking for and not looking for. I don’t have various levels of sponsorship like some races do.

 Currently, my sponsor list is fairly small and pretty low key. I’d kind of like to keep it that way, but at the same time, I would like to get more stuff for my runners. So here’s some stuff to hopefully help you decide if you want to be a sponsor.

1. Do you represent a running or outdoor related company? Or do you have a service or product that would be of value to hard core trail runners? 
2. Are you new to the fitness, particularly running, industry? This isn’t a prerequisite, but I’m always willing to help a new company out with exposure.
3. Can you provide samples for goody bags or items that can be given away as raffle prizes?
4. Are you willing to support all four events on the Buffalo Run calendar? These are the Antelope Island Buffalo Run, the Mountain View Trail Half Marathon, the Frary Peak Hill Climb, and the Antelope Island 50K/100K. Approximately 1300 runners total.

Here’s some demographic info for you

1. The Antelope Island Buffalo Run has about 600 entries.
2. The Mountain View Trail Half Marathon has about 100 entries.
3. The Logan Peak Trail Run has about 150 entries.
4. The Harriman 25K/50K has about 125 entries.
5. The Antelope Island 50K/100K has about 200 entries.
6. The average age of the runners is early 40’s.
7. We have disposable income (maybe more of that than good common sense!), otherwise we wouldn’t be able to do these crazy runs.
8. The 2023 Antelope Island Buffalo Run drew runners from two foreign countries and 13 states. 

What I’m Looking For In A Sponsor

• Samples of product that can be placed in runner’s goody bags.
• If not samples, then product that can be given away as raffle prizes.
• Sponsorship for all events throughout the year.
• Stuff that I would typically use in my daily running life.
• Volunteers to man an aid station.
• Reduced rates on lodging or food for the event’s out of town guests.
• Cash.  If your company wants to provide cash, it would go entirely to prize money and would need to be a substantial amount. No sponsor cash will go towards race operations.  If this is what you’d like to do, let’s talk.  I do offer cash to the top three men and women for each of my races.  It’s not much at the moment.

What I’m Not Looking For In A Sponsor 

• Stuff that’s not really running, fitness, or outdoor related. I’m not putting timeshare pamphlets in the goody bags.
• Stuff that is clearly a scam. Everything goes through my BS filter and I can be very skeptical.
• Stuff that will conflict with faithful sponsors that I have had over the years. In other words, two running stores would not work.

Here’s What I Typically Provide To Sponsors

• A logo and website link on the Buffalo Run Adventures website
• Sponsor mention during the pre-race briefing and in the various e-mails I send out to the entrants.
• Shout outs on social media.
• Free entry to run the event. The number of entries would depend on the sponsorship.
• We can talk about your company setting up a booth or canopy during the events so that you can get more exposure to your product.
• I typically don’t put sponsor info on the entry shirts. What I have heard over the years is that runners don’t really like all that stuff on their shirts, so I don’t put it on.

Just Want To Put A Flyer In My Runner’s Goody Bags?

Here’s the info on that. I reserve the right to charge you so much per runner. It takes time to stuff goody bags, and unless we’ve made some sort of arrangement on a trade, then count on it costing. Other races do this, I think I might as well.

I guess my overriding philosophy is that I want to keep these events very runner-centric.

I intentionally keep the entry fees a little on the low side compared to other events of the same distance. I would like to keep them as low key and grassroots as possible (if that can be done with over 500 runners). I also will not relinquish any control over how I run these events. I don’t want to let these events become just another corporate, over-hyped marathon type races.

If you like what you’ve read and want to help out, let’s talk. You can contact me at ultrajim@digis.net or call me at 801-644-7346.

BTW, for you race shirt vendors, I already have a local shirt and printing vendor, I like them a lot, they provide excellent service at a very good price and I intend to stay with them. Save your breath, email, and phone call, I’ll just tell you “NO”.

Jim Skaggs