A look back to take a step forward

The team at ATC10K always likes to take some time to look back on the year and grade ourselves a little on how everything went down. This is why we’re constantly asking you for feedback and fully take in your comments, emails, coffee meetings, and group runs. We’ve done this in the past a little more privately, but you’ve always seen the byproduct of it through other blog posts, or changes in the race. This year, we wanted to share a little more “behind the curtains”, so here you have our own look inward, our 2023 SWOT Analysis:

Strengths

  • Community
    • We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again (and again) – Charlotte has the most tight-knit running community full of love and drive to rise the tide for all boats. We’re beyond proud to call this city our home.
  • Brand
    • Yes, strengths are an opportunity to toot our own horn a bit and we think the brand you’ve helped us build is stronger than ever. We can feel your trust with our namesake through your engagement in-person as well as in the digital landscape.
  • Course
    • The signature piece of this race continues to lead the charge with our marketing and attraction. Call it the perfect kind of disruption or a race course built for the ages, we’re in love with the Queen City’s inner beltway changing from 50mph to 5mph every Labor Day weekend.

Weaknesses

  • Growth
    • We know this is the traditional resume example of sandwich your positive in a negative type of answer, but we still feel it’s relevant. Our growth has been amazing with multiple years over 25% now, but that comes at a cost – a “good problem” if you will. This has caused shortages due to the difficulty with forecasting, but we are working to reel in the hiccups that come with this growth in 2024.
  • Pace
    • Each year we ask the stakeholders and rule makers if we can remove the 13:45 min/mi pace requirement we’re forced to include. We will continue to push until all paces are welcome similar to other keystone races in other cities.
  • Expo
    • Don’t get us wrong, we love Camp North End and never want to leave, nor do we plan to! With that though, your feedback is telling us we need to expand the footprint and the hours in 2024. We’ll be adjusting and reworking this year, so feel free to continue to send in ideas and constructive criticism!

Opportunities

  • Signage
    • We’ve recognized that there’s a ton going on, and we do a great job of talking to y’all about that on our email and in social, but need to take that to some race weekend signage now. Call it a course map or a selfie station… we’ll have you covered in hopes to simplify your Labor Day weekend.
  • Sponsorship
    • With intention, nearly all of our partners are based in the Queen City and they’re in love with the running industry. We would love to find a few more to really help us take this event to the next level. The industries we’ve identified that we would like to chat with are medical, real estate, and insurance. If you happen to know a lead in the Charlotte area, let us know…
  • Community Engagement
    • Race weekend concludes with you sprinting through the streets of one of the fastest growing cities in the nation. We want to do a better job of getting all of those apartment complexes, businesses, and friends in on the party! Look for larger cheer station opportunities this year and get the whole family out to make it one continuous celebration.
  • Teams
    • Charlotte has run clubs on run clubs on run clubs and we love it! In 2023, we had 221 teams with some over 100 members strong. We want you to have a place to gather, custom options, and more organization assistance from the ATC10K team.

Threats

  • Weather
    • This is not an attempt to make this list political, but climate change is affecting our industry as well. In 2023, we saw races across the country cancelled for flooding, heat waves, and major storms. This is natural, but not in the cities that felt it this past year. We have been lucky in the past, but we’re keeping our head on a swivel during hurricane season this year. You’ll notice there’s an extra option for race insurance this year in registration that you’re welcome to purchase.
  • Construction
    • Crane city y’all, crane, crane city y’all. If you haven’t noticed, Charlotte is growing and nothing is stopping it (other than the NFL schedule) and we’re feeling that too. Just last year, I-277 was ripped up to be repaved and there are constantly closures around new apartments, wider streets, or a water line bursting. We meet with the local and regional government monthly in an attempt to try to control the uncontrollable.
  • City Growth
    • This one is a constant theme throughout this SWOT, but here it’s meant as other events coming in. Large scale events like music festivals, stadium takeovers, and national races (think IronMan) are popping up left and right. We’re all for more races and fun in our city, but this just means we need to stay on top of our game to make it worth your dollars.