STICKING TO THEIR ROOTSEvent company Aravaipa Racing is using a recipe for success in the
quickly growing sport of trail running by blending old school, community
culture with heavy doses of fearless innovation and literal forward
movement.
By Pamela Hall
How do you scale a business to a national level but keep the homegrown
culture that made it successful in the first place? It’s this challenge that keeps
event director and media production company CEO Jamil Coury fired up. Let’s
take a look at how and why Aravaipa is offering new and improved
opportunities to their community while staying true to their “dirt bag” roots.
History of Growth
If trail and ultra running is considered a niche sport now, 20 years ago,
running for long distances through the woods was a nearly inconceivable
concept to the general public.
There were just 309 trail races in North America in 2003, and it was just a few
years later in sunny Phoenix, when Coury, a university student at the time,
discovered the trail running community. The discovery would lead him to
develop a passion for competing in and creating trail running events in his
home state of Arizona and beyond.
Why trail running?
To those in the sport, trail and ultra running has been a profound answer to
many of society’s current physical, mental and emotional struggles. Are you
stuck in an office chair much of the day? Does your mind feel worn out by
near constant notifications and digital overload? Are you lacking meaningful
face-to-face time with friends?
It’s no secret typical lifestyles in the US have been taking a dive in terms of
quality for a while now. Studies like this one have shown some time away
from notifications and traffic out in nature with friends is an effective
prescription for many of humanity’s woes.
People have flocked to the sport of trail running for the exposure to and sense
of adventure the natural world provides. They’ve come for new friends, or
quality time with old ones, and often a burning question, “What am I capable
of?”
Tejas Trails, another pioneer in the industry, describes potential benefits of the
sport on their website, “what you'll find is more than just trail running... it's a
community... it’s family...it's serenity...it's a break from chaos...it's testing...it's
translatable to the rest of life...it's life-changing.”
Looking Back and Moving Forward
Entrepreneurship runs deep in the Coury family, “I always wanted to work for
myself. That's what my family did, my dad, his brothers, my
uncles…entrepreneurial endeavors are in my blood. So that was always the
goal. I just went to college to get a degree, to get a job and check the boxes,
because I didn't really know [exactly] what I wanted to do.”
Direction appeared quickly the first year Coury began working at a tax firm.
He was offered the chance to take over Javelina Jundred, now an iconic ultra
distance event, then in its infancy. In addition, Coury spent a few weeks hiking
the Arizona Trail that year and reflected on how he wanted to direct his
career, “there was just a lot of thinking that happened along the way”. The
experience was instrumental in cementing in his mind the kind of life he
wanted to build for himself. When finished the 800 mile hiking tour, he never
returned to the tax firm. Instead, Coury added his own branch to the Coury
family tree of entrepreneurship. His like-minded and supportive family
jumped in and together they marked courses, cooked food for race aid
stations and created new events.
Coury had a vision of providing opportunities for the community to discover
the trails in Phoenix. “We're pretty lucky here with our trail systems and the
fact that the regional park systems are open to events.” Coury wanted to
create a race series showcasing the Valley’s trails. At the time, there were a
few companies around the US doing similar things, such as Pacific Coast Trail
Runs in California and the aforementioned Tejas Trails in Texas. But Arizona
just had a handful of one-off races.
The growth of the sport and of Aravaipa has been steady and profound over
the past two decades. In the past decade, the sport has grown 345% from
137,234 to 611,098 participants.
Courtesy of RunRepeat
“What's interesting about ultrarunning is that even as traditional distance
races are declining in participation, ultra race participation is growing
steadily and has been for the past 20+ years (Source: State of Ultra Running
2020).“
Aravaipa has grown along with the industry, or maybe more accurately,
served as a catalyst for the growth of the sport. They host over 40 events
yearly in Arizona, Utah, Colorado and the northeast United States. In addition,
the media arm of the company, Mountain Outpost, has been a significant
contributor to the expanding sport.
Corrine Shalvoy, owner of the “Women Can” apparel company, Aravaipa
Racing Team member and trail race broadcaster credits Coury and Aravaipa
with being instrumental in the exposure and subsequent growth the sport
has experienced. “His media businesses and storytelling have made such an
impact and raised awareness of the sport.” She and Coury both also believe
the increase in numbers can be attributed to organic growth stemming from
friends inviting friends out for a trail run.
Coury’s use of technology in a largely “off-the-grid” sport has broadened reach
and empowered people to try out the trails. He explained, ”I feel like all the
stuff we're doing now, we've always been doing since day one, it's just at a
different scale now…even [from] day one, we were always doing media.”
Showing audiences what is possible and sharing athlete’s inspiring stories has
been vital. Coury adds “If people don't even know about the sport, they're
never gonna sign up for a race.”
In addition to traditional video storytelling through YouTube and other social
platforms, Aravaipa has been a pioneer in broadcasting livestream coverage
of bigger impact ultra races. This means Aravaipa produced live coverage of
races from 100 kilometers to over 250 miles using their own small professional
team to man ground cameras and drones along with volunteers streaming
via their personal cell phones at race checkpoints…many times in remote
areas without reliable service. The response was wildly positive. In fact, just a
few weeks ago at the race where Aravaipa’s seeds were planted, the Javelina
Jundred, 3.6K viewers tuned in for an opportunity to follow along, hear
individual runner stories and watch the race unfold while bantering with the
community via the live stream chat. Aravaipa will live stream 20+ races this
year and over a dozen of them will be contracted outside Aravaipa events.
Scenes from Javelina Jundred 2024
Echoing the growth of the sport, Aravaipa’s first event, the Javelina Jundred,
has grown from a total of 129 finishers in the 100 kilometer and 100 mile
distances in 2008 and 717 finishers in their 2024 edition of the event.
The motivation behind the desire for excellence in scaling is based on the
desire to provide opportunities for people to connect with themselves, each
other and see where their own feet can take them.
“I believe we are still rooted in…what I feel like is the old school way. But…part
of me is very interested in…how do we make things better and innovate on
the pointy end of media and tech and all those things? How do we push the
limits and can we make this better?” Coury says, “I'm not one that has it all
figured out. I'll be the first one to admit it, but I have to keep evolving...I want
to keep leveling up and eventually lead an organization that is across the
country and has divisions everywhere, inspiring people all over the place to do
amazing things.”
While Coury may not have “it all figured out”, watching the growth of the
sport and how Aravaipa plays a role will be best viewed from getting out on
the trail ourselves and bringing along a friend or two.