The Reggie Awards – our playful nod to “registration” excellence – celebrates event organizers who create extraordinary experiences within the athleteReg community. Each month, these passionate individuals share their stories, strategies, and the magic that makes their events uniquely special. Ready to share your victory story from the podium? Introduce yourself here.

This month’s winner showcases how merchandise offerings and thoughtful custom questions streamline event planning, simplify logistics, and create additional revenue streams while giving directors valuable data to deliver an exceptional participant experience.

Event Overview

Event Director:  Scott Olmsted
Event Name: The Ride Collective / Copper Triangle
Event Registration Site: https://www.bikereg.com/coppertriangle
Event Website: https://www.theridecollective.com/

How many years have you been organizing this event?
19 years.  Started in 2006

How many participants attended your most recent event? Last year’s copper triangle held 1800 participants. We average around 2000.

Tell us about your event:

The Copper Triangle, a famous 79-mile road cycling event starting at Copper Mountain Resort in the heart of the Rockies, is more than just a challenging ride through stunning scenery. With a significant 6,500 feet of climbing across three high-altitude passes – Fremont, Tennessee, and Vail – it’s a true test for cyclists. Beyond the breathtaking views and gorgeous roads, this event has a powerful purpose: fundraising for the Davis Phinney Foundation for Parkinson’s disease. Over the years, the Copper Triangle community has come together to raise over $1.5 million for this important cause. After conquering the climbs, participants and their supporters can enjoy an Alpine Celebration featuring food, entertainment, and a cycling expo.

Merchandise Strategy

What’s your process for selecting which merchandise items to offer? Do you involve participant feedback? First off, we partner with a super talented designer who crafts a brand new theme each year. This ensures that every piece of merchandise isn’t just a random item, but a unique memento that truly captures the spirit of the Copper Triangle and the stunning scenery of the ride.

Next, we definitely look at what has been popular and successful in previous years. We have a good sense of the core items that participants love and will actually use.

Finally, we like to sprinkle in a few new and exciting things that we think folks would find interesting and want to take home as a special reminder of their Copper Triangle experience. While we don’t have a formal feedback process for selecting items each year, we definitely pay attention to what people purchase and what we hear anecdotally, which informs our choices for those “fun and interesting” additions.

Can you share your top-selling merchandise item and what made it stand out from the rest of your offerings? Yes, our Jersey is very popular and so is our hats and t-shirts 

Custom Questions

Can you share an example of how data collected through custom questions helped you improve your event planning or logistics? For all our events, we include lunch, and during the registration process, we ask about dietary restrictions. This data is invaluable in helping us determine the required quantities for each lunch item or menu option, ensuring we have enough of what our participants need.

How do you decide which items with an additional fee will be included in custom questions versus your merchandise store? We typically include items with an additional fee in the custom registration questions if they are essential for event logistics or have limited availability, allowing for early indication of interest (basic yes/no). Our merchandise store features a broader range of items like apparel and accessories, offering more detail with pictures and descriptions for leisurely browsing and purchase.

Lessons Learned

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned about event merchandise that you wish you’d known when you started? The biggest lesson we’ve learned about event merchandise is the critical importance of accurate forecasting to avoid overstocking. In the early days, we definitely experienced the pain of purchasing significantly more inventory than we sold, leading to leftover items. It truly is a bit of a balancing act, but meticulously tracking inventory year over year is absolutely key to making smarter purchasing decisions and minimizing waste.

Do you have a strategy to promote merchandise to both registered participants and non-participants? Do you use social media and email to promote? Yes, we definitely use social media and email to promote our merchandise to both registered participants and others. We try to show how the merchandise is part of the whole Copper Triangle experience wherever we can.

Just for fun

What’s the signature element or tradition that makes your event uniquely yours? (The thing participants rave about year after year!) Ah, we’re lucky enough to have a couple of signature elements that our participants absolutely love! First, there’s the legendary “Dirty Banana” at Aid Station 2 – a simple banana elevated to iconic status with peanut butter and a coating of trail mix. People talk about it all year! The second tradition that keeps riders smiling (even through the pain!) is the reward of warm, delicious brownies waiting for them at the very top of Vail Pass, after tackling our toughest climb. Those two treats have become synonymous with the Copper Triangle experience and are definitely something folks rave about year after year!