Athlete Letter

Dear Athlete,

It's such an exciting time to be in the outdoor active space in the great state of Arkansas. The world is finding out how all that we have to offer for individuals and families to play in the great outdoors. There is world-class mountain biking; road riding is second to none with well-maintained lightly traveled roads or multi-use trail systems, crystal clear lakes and state parks with an abundance of trails. No wonder we are called The Natural State!

So what's so special about 2020 you ask.  This will be our 18th year of producing events as a company with over 25+ years of event production experience.  We have several new events and our team is expanding. Also, we are continuing the goals and objectives of lowering the barriers to entry for both new and current participants.  See 2019 Initiatives for a full review.

The past 12 months has seen significant changes to our portfolio of events and as mentioned our team has doubled in size.

New Events:

• Iron Mountain Legend - trail runs at DeGray Lake State Park in the Ouachita mountains.
• Chinkapin Hollow Gravel Grinder - a two-day gravel ride.
• DeGray Lake Triathlon - one of the oldest triathlons in the state.
• Big Dam Bridge 100 - the largest bike tour in Arkansas and one of the largest in th region.
• City of Colleges Half Marathon - formerly known as Soaring Wings, this running event will take place in Conway.

With those new events, our current list which totals 15 and even more coming online in 2021, we needed to add more staff and expand the responsibilities of our current team. We are excited to realize our potential as a company with such a great group of people.

Staff:

• Carmen Newberry - Director of Operations
• Madeline Bruce - Communications Coordinator
• Amanda Nunnally - Customer Relations Coordinator
• Logan Hall - Events Coordinator
• Jana Cohen - Assistant Race Director - BDB100
• Chuck Spohn - Sponsorship Coordinator - BDB100

We want to say Thank You to all our athletes who’ve participated in our events over the past 17 years and we hope that you will continue to toe the line with us in the future. And as we said last year, for those who’ve not been a part of the All Sports Productions’ family or not had your expectations met in the past…then we invite you to give us chance.  We believe you won’t be disappointed.

See you on the roads in 2020….

Bruce Dunn – Event Director / Promoter
All Sports Productions

Our main initiative in 2019 was to lower the barriers to entry for both new and current participants.

One of those areas of concern for many of our athletes and to us as well has been the ever-increasing prices of entry fees.  We realize this has become a major issue in the multisport world.  Costs for event promoters has increased exponentially over the past several years and with decreased sponsorship due to an increase in other events…promoters (including us) have had to raise entry fees to keep events sustainable.

However, All Sports Productions is going to take a different approach moving forward.  We have made several changes to our pricing model and participant choices for goods and services.  First, we have lowered prices on all our amateur events.  We not only want new people to participate in the multisport lifestyle, but we also want our current customers to be able to do more of our events. 

In addition to the overall lowering of entry fees, we offer a further reduction in price during early-bird sign-up periods each year. And we have a rollover/transfer policy so if you register early to save money and then can’t attend the event, just let us know before the event and we will roll your entry.

Secondly, we are giving athletes a choice on whether they want a race t-shirt by offering a price reduction to not receive a shirt or the ability to upgrade the t-shirt to a premium fabric.  And finally, where there are optional pre-race events, we are giving athletes the choice to participate or not.  If someone doesn’t want to participate, then they shouldn’t have to pay for others. 

In other words…we want our athletes to have choices!

Finally, we are raising the bar on our post-event offerings of food and drink.  If the venue and the event allow for us to offer these services, then we are going to make it something special.