Five Questions With: George Ross

GEORGE ROSS, the creator of Race Rhode Island, has developed a new “one-stop shop” website that includes information about mass participation races throughout the Ocean State. / COURTESY GEORGE ROSS
GEORGE ROSS, the creator of Race Rhode Island, has developed a new “one-stop shop” website that includes information about mass participation races throughout the Ocean State. / COURTESY GEORGE ROSS

George Ross, the creator of Race Rhode Island, talks about the new website he created – racerhodeisland.net, featuring information about races in and around Rhode Island. He said he was motivated to create a “one-stop shop” website that would include information about mass participation races, something he said was lacking in the Ocean State, as other sites about Rhode Island events had more of a national focus.

PBN: Tell me about the website. Who created it?

ROSS: I created the website. I run a digital marketing business called Web Strategic Marketing and as a lifetime runner and recent convert to triathlon, I saw an opportunity to combine my professional skills and my passions together to provide a wonderful resource for active people in Rhode Island.

PBN: Was there anything like this available before?

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ROSS: Yes and no; historically there have been websites that provided race directory information for specific sports running, triathlons, cycling, etc., [but] those websites have a national focus; this website is about Rhode Island for Rhode Islanders.

The objectives of RaceRhodeIsland.net are:

  • Provide a directory, a one-stop shop, for multisport (run, bike, swim) and any other mass participation races such as obstacle races, stand-up paddle boards, kayaks and as esoteric as Chinese Dragon Boat races (an event which is held in Pawtucket). The logic was pretty simple: active people do active things, people who run do obstacle races, people who do triathlons do cycling events, so why not provide Rhode Islanders with one place to find all that they love!

    The site has a one-touch validation system; if you are looking for a specific event, suck as a 5K, then press the 5K button, it is that simple to use.

    Race directors can add their own events with a very simple submission form (and edit them) free of charge.

    The site proactively shares information, which no one else does. Once per week I share the listing of the upcoming weekend’s races via social media along with blog postings to keep the Rhode Island community up to date.

  • Provide a resource for Rhode Island’s active community. One of the most popular pages on the site is a listing of all of the organized group runs in the state. It also lists open water swims and bike rides, but those seasons have closed. The site also lists all of the race management companies that provide services in Rhode Island.
  • To be mobile compliant; it operates beautifully on smart phones. This is a huge advantage over the other sites that do not.
  • Connect Rhode Island events with organizers of those events.
  • Engage the active community via social media.

PBN: What has feedback been like?

ROSS: The feedback has been overwhelming. The Facebook page jumped to 400-plus likes in a short period of time and has received seven 5-star reviews in the first few months and the first advertisers are supporting the site … which is well ahead of my plan for the site because I figured that it would take me a full year to build traffic.

PBN: Do you anticipate any more changes to the website, or new features?

ROSS: Websites are living breathing organism and should always be adapting. Ideally, I would like to add race results but that landscape is very complicated. However, if the site continues to gain traction at the rate it has so far, I will pursue this.

PBN: Do you have an app as well?

ROSS: At this point the site works extremely well on a cell phone, which takes the pressure off having a dedicated app, but I will be evaluating app development in 2017.

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