Author: Darren Pinder

 

The National Running Show has announced that it has awarded grants to four deserving recipients as part of the Elite and Community Grant Scheme which was launched at the National Running Show Birmingham earlier this year.

Runners of all abilities were able to apply for the grants issued by the National Running Show to help facilitate the next wave of elite athletes and community running groups. The programme’s judging panel featured a host of industry experts and included Olympic silver medallist, Wendy Sly, ultra-runner and Peloton Instructor, Susie Chan, Women’s Running Editor, Esther Newman, Mizuno’s UK Marketing Manager, Graham Johnson and Raccoon Media Group CEO, Mike Seaman. The judging was facilitated by Run Show Portfolio Director, Nathalie Davies.

The Elite grant is the top tier of funding which aims to support elite runners who inspire through their activities. The money can be used to purchase specialist equipment, access professional training and coaching and to cover travel costs to events. The second stream of funding, the community grant, offers groups across the UK an opportunity to apply for support. The criteria for selection identified those who help encourage inactive people to become more active, promote and encourage lasting sporting habits and help to develop positive attitudes towards running among young people.

The panel awarded three elite grants the recipients of which were GB and Welsh International endurance runner, Jenny Nesbitt, Scottish middle-distance endurance athlete, Sol Sweeney and Olympic marathon runner, Kevin Seaward. Speaking of receiving an elite grant Jenny Nesbitt stated: “This grant is going to provide me with so much more stability in order to make it to training camps and races which is fundamental to achieving qualifying standards and making that next step into the top elite area of the sport.”

The winner of the community grant was Durham Mums on the Run who said: “We are hugely grateful to the National Running Show for awarding us their community grant. This grant will be used to fund coach and leader training in order to set up an exciting new project that will be a brilliant addition to what we offer at DMotR.”

Mike Seaman, CEO at Raccoon Media Group and founder of the National Running Show, commented: “We have met so many inspiring runners in the five years since we launched the National Running Show, and not just athletes, runners who do a mile a week but are so motivated because of the positive physical and mental outcomes. When I set up the National Running Show it was my aim to be able to give back to this amazing community and I am delighted to be able to do that through these grants. We feel passionately that running is about more than getting fit and healthy, it’s about friendship, motivation and positive mental health and we know first-hand how important community running groups are in inspiring people who might be reticent to get out and take a few steps.”

The grant scheme for 2023 will be launched at the National Running Show Birmingham which takes place at the NEC on the 21-22 January 2023. For more information about the event visit https://nationalrunningshow.com/.

Raccoon Media Group, the award-winning health and well-being events company behind shows such as The National Running Show, The National Cycling Show, The National Outdoor Expo, and The National Snow Show, has announced it will remove aisle carpets from all future events.

This is the first of many initiatives from Raccoon Media Group as they strive to become net-zero by 2025, announced by CEO Mike Seaman at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in 2021.

Mike commented: “When I announced our ambitious target at COP26, we were still in the process of having our carbon footprint measured. This is an in-depth analysis of all areas of our business to identify where we can make carbon reductions, and I’m thrilled to see we could save over 15,100kg CO₂ e just from removing aisle carpets from our shows!”

Although they can be recycled, it’s not easy, and the carpet industry still produces significant carbon emissions. Mike explained: “We initially looked at recycling, but from manufacturing to installing and removing the carpet and then transporting it from venue to venue, it still added up to a significant footprint. So in the end, we decided to get rid of them completely.”

“Of course, we’re looking to our venue partners to come up with a sustainable yet comfortable alternative to make sure our visitors still have a great experience,” he added, “we’re looking forward to seeing what they come up with but in the meantime we will be pushing forward to remove all aisle carpets at our shows..”

To measure its carbon footprint, Raccoon Media Group partnered with ecollective, a carbon emissions analysis firm. Charlie Cotton, Founder of ecollective, said: “When you think of carbon footprints and emissions, you normally don’t think of carpets, but to tackle the climate crisis, no area of a business should be out of scope. When we worked through the data and presented it back to the Raccoon Media Group team, the numbers spoke for themselves.”

Raccoon Media Group set up a Sustainability Working Group to work with suppliers and exhibitors to reduce their carbon footprint. Event carpeting was one of the first areas they focussed on.

Matthew Lambert, Director of Operations at Raccoon Media Group, said: “When we got the data back from ecollective, we jumped at the chance to make a real difference. So when visitors flock to the National Running Show South in May, they’ll take part in a much more sustainable show experience. Not only have we removed aisle carpets, but our ambassador teams all wear T-shirts made from recycled plastic bottles produced by our partners Scimitar.”

“In addition, we removed over 20,000 plastic merchandise bags, discouraged the use of single-use printed materials, and swapped our printed show guides with a digital alternative. We even replaced our VIP gift bags with ones made from sustainable and biodegradable jute.”

Raccoon Media Group is calling on the rest of the event industry to follow its lead and assess their supply chains. Matt continued: “We want to challenge every supplier and partner to join us in focusing on minimising their carbon footprint and offsetting any emissions that can’t be reduced. We’ve also given our visitors the option to offset their emissions from travelling to the venue. We want our guests to feel confident that whenever they visit one of our events, it’s as sustainable as we can make it. Even down to the (lack of) carpet under their feet.”

Raccoon Media Group, who organise passion-led consumer events in the health and well-being space, is looking to crack another market by launching the first ever National Egg and Spoon Show. Following the rapid growth of Egg and Spoon racing over the past two years, The National Egg and Spoon Show promises to deliver a weekend of Inspiration, fun and motivation to thousands of visitors who are keen to turn exercise into eggs-ercise.

The show promises a spoon full of hard-boiled speakers such as ultra-spooner, Susie Chan, Olympic Gold Medallist – turned spoon advocate – Iwan Thomas MBE, a man who always sees life sunny side up, Danny Bent, and a special appearance from the legend that is Humpty Dumpty, for a special ‘Wall-side Chat’ on the Eggsperation Stage.

The show will break onto the scene on the 1-2 April 2023 at the Farnborough International. Set across two-days it will host over 100 eggs-tra egg-citing exhibitors and 10,000 wonderful visitors. If that isn’t an-oeuf, top brands Pulseroll, Sports Tours International and Outside and Active have already signed up for this break-through event.

Raccoon Media Group CEO, Mike Seaman, who is a lifelong egg and spooner said, “This is an egg-citing time at Raccoon Media Group, I am over the spoon to be announcing this brand-new event. Its going to be an egg-citing egg-travaganza of awesomeness for the egg and spoon community. This market has been under-served for a long time; we haven’t just scrambled this idea up it’s been boiling around for a while. We can’t wait to get cracking!”

To celebrate the launch of The National Egg and Spoon Show, we are releasing a special free ticket code to our sister shows when you use the code “EGGSPOON” at checkout.

The National Running Show South
The National Snow Show
The National Cycling Show
Run Show Chicago
Run Show LA
Run Show Boston

For more information, please head to nationaleggandspoonshow.com

With just 5 weeks to go until the National Running Show South the organisers have revealed the latest speaker in the line-up. Four-time Olympic champion, Sir Mo Farah, will be joining famous faces from the world of running including Paula Radcliffe, Steve Cram, Shakira Akabusi, Jenni Falconer, Jo Pavey and Danny Bent on 7-8 May at Farnborough International.

Farah is one of the most decorated athletes in British track and field history and won eight world championship medals between 2011-2017 and four Olympic gold medals in the 5,000m and 10,000m at London 2012 and Rio 2016. His ten global championship gold medals (four Olympic and six World titles) make him also the most successful male track distance runner globally in history.

Run Show Portfolio Director, Nathalie Davies, commented: “We are delighted that Sir Mo will be joining the incredible speaker line-up and can’t wait to showcase some of the biggest talents in the running world at our event. The National Running Show South will give runners of all abilities unprecedented access to industry experts, top brand exhibitors and a range of brilliant features.”

In addition to an incredible speaker line-up, huge brands including adidas, Coros, Hoka One One, Mizuno, Pulseroll, iPRO, Forestry England, Ordnance Survey and Runderwear have also announced that they will be present at

 

The National Running Show has scooped the Best Consumer Show Award at the Exhibition News Awards 2022. The award recognised the fourth instalment of the flagship show, The National Running Show, Birmingham. The winners of the 2022 Exhibition News Awards were named at the event at Battersea Evolution on Friday 18 March. Hosted by actor, comedian and writer Hugh Dennis, the awards celebrated the very best of the exhibitions industry.

The 2022 show was the fourth National Running Show to be hosted at the NEC in Birmingham and attracted over 18,000 visitors across the two days and included a stellar line-up of speakers including Lord Sebastian Coe, Iwan Thomas, Scott Jurek, Jenni Falconer, Susie Chan, Jonnie Peacock and Kadeena Cox. Winning the hugely sought after Best Consumer Show award shows the huge dedication and commitment the team has to delivering a show that is relevant, well timed to deliver beginning of season content and not ‘end of line’ products with a big focus on inclusivity and community.

The Show’s ethos has always been ‘no matter how far or how fast you run’ and this approach has helped build a community of runners who feel welcome, motivated and inspired and who continuously feedback the positive experience they have at the show year on year.

Nathalie Davies, Run Portfolio Director, commented: “We are thrilled to have won one of the most prestigious awards in our industry. We have a very clear vision of the type of event we want to deliver for the running community and our commitment to that and our unwillingness to waver on providing the best experience possible has paid off. This is the best way to end an incredibly challenging couple of years and we can’t wait to bring our community together again for the next event in May.”

More than 14 thousand outdoor enthusiasts attended the first edition of The National Outdoor Expo in partnership with Ordnance Survey at the NEC, Birmingham this weekend (19-20 March 22), immersing themselves in the best that the outdoor industry has to offer. The sun shone, fun was abundant, sustainability was discussed from every angle and visitors came face-to-face with the famous faces who inspire and motivate them to live a healthy, active, sustainable lifestyle, absorbing the best mother nature has to offer.

The show’s two stages played host to experts and adventurers from across the world of outdoor pursuits including Ben Fogle, James Cracknell, Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Iwan Thomas, Sabrina Pace-Humphreys, Julia Bradbury, Ed Stafford, Anna McNuff, Darren Edwards, Mario Rigby and Dwayne Fields, regaling packed theatres with the highs, lows, achievements and failures from a life spent in the outdoors.

The show was created for runners, campers, climbers, walkers and lovers of outdoor cooking, excursions, open water swimming, kayaking and paddleboarding. Visitors in their thousands spent the weekend enjoying the incredible spring weather out of Pendigo Lake, making the most of the Expos’ watersports offering from NOWCA, Venture by Pyrahna and Red Paddle Co. Budding climbers tested their skills on the Climbing wall sponsored by Montane X BMC, learned bushcraft skills in the special zone run by Wildway Bushcraft, tested the terrain on the trail running track from Decathlon and OS and learned new skills in The Outdoor Kitchen feature with Camping and Caravanning Club.

Visitors were able to shop their favourite brands, get the latest kit and tech and discuss their requirements with the experts. Top brands including Ordnance Survey, Whereabouts, Decathlon, adidas TERREX, Salomon, Vango, Red Paddle Co, Cotopaxi, Rumpl, Teva, 2XU, Mountain Hardware, Grayl, Earthwear, Knog, Fulfil Nutrition and Nomad Trailers were on hand to help visitors find the right kit for them.

The Expo attracted adventurers of every age with families, couples, friends and solo visitors travelling from as far afield as Shetland and Cornwall to attend the event. Packed full of interactive activities, visitors cheered each other on as they battled it out in the Speedtent Challenge with Vango,. Other features included a Wildlife Pavillion with Actively Outdoors plus a special Director’s Cut film and Q&A with Kendal Mountain Festival. The team at The Outdoor Guide were on hand to ensure that visitor’s outdoor accessibility needs were met, with brands including All Terrain Wheelchairs, ICE trikes and Mountain Trikes assisting visitors to find the right equipment to help them be active outdoors.

Esther Beal, Event Director at The National Outdoor Expo commented: “The feedback we have had after this weekend’s event has blown us all away. We are a small team with a huge heart for the outdoors and to have been able to welcome so many people to our first event and give them an opportunity to meet some of their hero’s was mission accomplished. The weather was on our side and the active outdoor element of the Expo worked seamlessly with the inspiration and retail opportunities inside the hall. Our plans are already underway for 2023 and it is going to be bigger and better than ever.”
The National Outdoor Expo will return on 18-19th March 2023, tickets will go on sale on 1 September. To be notified when tickets go on sale register for the Expo’s newsletter.

More than 14 thousand outdoor enthusiasts attended the first edition of The National Outdoor Expo in partnership with Ordnance Survey at the NEC, Birmingham this weekend (19-20 March 22), immersing themselves in the best that the outdoor industry has to offer. The sun shone, fun was abundant, sustainability was discussed from every angle and visitors came face-to-face with the famous faces who inspire and motivate them to live a healthy, active, sustainable lifestyle, absorbing the best mother nature has to offer.

The show’s two stages played host to experts and adventurers from across the world of outdoor pursuits including Ben Fogle, James Cracknell, Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Iwan Thomas, Sabrina Pace-Humphreys, Julia Bradbury, Ed Stafford, Anna McNuff, Darren Edwards, Mario Rigby and Dwayne Fields, regaling packed theatres with the highs, lows, achievements and failures from a life spent in the outdoors.

The show was created for runners, campers, climbers, walkers and lovers of outdoor cooking, excursions, open water swimming, kayaking and paddleboarding. Visitors in their thousands spent the weekend enjoying the incredible spring weather out of Pendigo Lake, making the most of the Expos’ watersports offering from NOWCA, Venture by Pyrahna and Red Paddle Co. Budding climbers tested their skills on the Climbing wall sponsored by Montane X BMC, learned bushcraft skills in the special zone run by Wildway Bushcraft, tested the terrain on the trail running track from Decathlon and OS and learned new skills in The Outdoor Kitchen feature with Camping and Caravanning Club.

Visitors were able to shop their favourite brands, get the latest kit and tech and discuss their requirements with the experts. Top brands including Ordnance Survey, Whereabouts, Decathlon, adidas TERREX, Salomon, Vango, Red Paddle Co, Cotopaxi, Rumpl, Teva, 2XU, Mountain Hardware, Grayl, Earthwear, Knog, Fulfil Nutrition and Nomad Trailers were on hand to help visitors find the right kit for them.

The Expo attracted adventurers of every age with families, couples, friends and solo visitors travelling from as far afield as Shetland and Cornwall to attend the event. Packed full of interactive activities, visitors cheered each other on as they battled it out in the Speedtent Challenge with Vango,. Other features included a Wildlife Pavillion with Actively Outdoors plus a special Director’s Cut film and Q&A with Kendal Mountain Festival. The team at The Outdoor Guide were on hand to ensure that visitor’s outdoor accessibility needs were met, with brands including All Terrain Wheelchairs, ICE trikes and Mountain Trikes assisting visitors to find the right equipment to help them be active outdoors.

Esther Beal, Event Director at The National Outdoor Expo commented: “The feedback we have had after this weekend’s event has blown us all away. We are a small team with a huge heart for the outdoors and to have been able to welcome so many people to our first event and give them an opportunity to meet some of their hero’s was mission accomplished. The weather was on our side and the active outdoor element of the Expo worked seamlessly with the inspiration and retail opportunities inside the hall. Our plans are already underway for 2023 and it is going to be bigger and better than ever.”
The National Outdoor Expo will return on 18-19th March 2023, tickets will go on sale on 1 September. To be notified when tickets go on sale register for the Expo’s newsletter.

Raccoon Media Group adds The National Equine Show to its rapidly growing portfolio of sports consumer events in the UK and the USA. The event will be a home for equestrians, providing a luxury retail experience, a first-class speaker line-up and experiential features in a premium environment.

The show will take place on the 4-5 March 2023 at the NEC, Birmingham set across two-days it will host 135 brands over an 8,000 space presenting all the brands that any show jumper, dressage, jockey, eventer or every day horse rider could want to see. The show will provide retailers with the perfect opportunity to speak directly to 10,000 equestrians helping them to select the right equipment and clothing for the season ahead, in and out of the arenas.

Event Director, Liz Ormesher who is a lifelong horse lover said: “After months of research and due-diligence we have found the perfect event model to support the equestrian community, there was a need for us to create a premium shopping experience where retail wasn’t fitted in around the horse shows. Secondly, the important conversations in the equine world, such as horse and riding well-being, safety, DE&I and sustainability, that need to be discussed on a bigger platform. Thirdly the calendar was missing an event in March to get people ready for the season ahead. So that’s exactly what we’ve created.”

The event is already breaking records for the number of brands confirmed in pre-launch stage and Liz continues, “The response has been incredible and we are delighted to already have a host of key partners and supporters lined up for the event including, British Equestrian Trade Association (BETA) and the British Equestrian Federation (BEF) and we’ll be working with them closely throughout the year on data projects to fill the national statistic gaps we have across the sport in general and within the different disciplines.”

The three stages will play host to some of the sport’s biggest names including – Charlotte Dujardin, Carl Hester, Esme Higgs , Lydia Heywood, Alex Huan Tian, Piggy March and Khadija Mellah with more of the most well-known eventers, dressage, show jumpers, influencers, who will be sharing educational advice, skills and insight, expected to be announced in the coming months.

As well as the Inspiration Stage there will be a Skills & Safety and Yard Facilities stage, providing new and experienced horse owners and riders with an armoury of information and advice to get started or advance in their chosen horse discipline. There will also be luxury features such as The Catwalk, Horse and Rider Zone, a Champagne Bar, a Nail Bus and a Shop & Drop area for visitors to enjoy.

Claire Williams from BETA, is delighted with the partnership and has said ‘The new event fills a gap in the calendar and offers our retail members an opportunity to reach customers directly on a new and exciting platform.  It offers BETA the opportunity to talk to an audience of engaged equestrians about key topics such as rider and feed safety as we look towards the start of the competition season.’

Do you know someone who loves horses?

The box office will be opening soon with 500 limited free tickets available for the pre-launch. Sign up now https://nationalequineshow.com/sign-up-hpxt to access the pre-launch free tickets and we’ll notify you with a code as soon as the box office goes live. Not your thing? Make sure you let your horse loving friends know.

For more information about The National Equine Show visit nationalequineshow.com
The ticket box office will be open for pre-sale soon, but you can send ticket queries to alex@raccoonmediagroup.com. All commercial queries should go through to liz.ormesher@raccoonmediagroup.com

Follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/nationalequineshow/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/NationalEquineShow and connect with us on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/79402484/admin/

The Exhibition News Awards returns for its 15th annual ceremony this year and promises a not-to-miss evening. Two events that Outside & Active have covered in recent months, The National Running Show Birmingham and The National Snow Show, have both been nominated for the coveted awards in recognition of the success of each event.

National Running Show:

After the resounding success of the 4th Annual National Running Show Birmingham -attracting almost 20,000 runners to the NEC over a weekend – the show has been nominated for the coveted, Best Consumer Show Award. This award nomination recognises the hard work put in from staff to produce the event which then became whole by the thousands of amazing runners who attended over the weekend.

National Snow Show:

The National Snow Show headline feature, The Snow Dome Ski Slope, has been nominated for Best Feature Area at the 15th Annual EN Awards event taking place this March. The award nomination recognises the incredible effort from The National Snow Show and Snow Dome team to bring the Ski Slope to almost 10,000 visitors that attended the launching consumer show back in October. The show promised to bring together the Snow and Ski community under one roof after 18 months of difficulty for the industry – and absolutely delivered on all fronts.

For the full article, head to the Outside & Active Website.