Friday, May 07, 1999
When pigs fly: Quirky name puts new race on the map
Flying Pig Marathon charges straight into U.S. top 10
BY JOHN FAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
What's in a name? In the case of Flying Pig Marathon, it's instant success.
The inaugural Flying Pig, which will be run Sunday, will be the second-largest first marathon in history, after San Die go's in 1998, and immediately among the top 10 in the country.
“We got incredibly lucky with the name,” said race director Mike Boylan. “Those little squeezy pink pigs were the hook.”
“Pigs are in,” said race founder Bob Coughlin.
The catchy name, some of Mr. Coughlin's vision and a lot of Mr. Coughlin's company money took the Flying Pig from an idea to a hit among runners in 18 months. About 6,100 runners are expected.
Mr. Coughlin is a marathoner who wanted a hometown marathon, but not one that appealed only to local runners.
“We wanted a first-class event,” Mr. Coughlin said, “a top-flight second-tier marathon. We're never going to be as big as New York. We wanted to be like the Twin Cities Marathon, a tremendous event, a good operation and a lot of fun.”
When the marathon idea was still young, Mr. Coughlin stopped in to talk to Bob Roncker at his store, Roncker's Running Spot, which is the hub of local running. Mr. Coughlin said he hoped to draw 6,000 or 7,000 runners.
“My initial thought was the Columbus Marathon has been around a while,” Mr. Roncker said. “It's a well-run event on a fast course and it gets 2,000 to 2,500.”
So Mr. Roncker asked Mr. Coughlin how he was going to draw three times that many for a first-time marathon.
“He said, "We're going to market it better,'” Mr. Roncker said.
By the time Mr. Coughlin finished explaining his plan, Mr. Roncker was convinced.
Mr. Roncker agreed to be on the board of the race, giving it an in with the local running community.
Mr. Coughlin went to a convention of race directors in Portland, Ore., 11/2 years ago and found out what it would take to sell the event. His company, the Paycor payroll service, put up the seed money and a business plan was developed. One key to the plan was budgeting $100,000 for marketing; typically, first marathons set aside $10,000.
But the most fortuitous decision came in a brainstorming session about a year ago. A group in a Paycor meeting room was tossing out race names. Mr. Coughlin thinks he was the one who came up with Flying Pig.
“We took a chance with it,” he said. “If we were the Cincinnati Marathon, we would be just like the Columbus Marathon. The name helped set us apart.
“We took a little criticism from hardcore runners. But nine out 10 people like it. You can't please everyone.”
But Mr. Coughlin and company weren't trying to; they were hoping to appeal to “midpack” marathoners, not the elite running community.
“A lot of people come up to me at out-of-town races and ask me about the name,” said John Sence, the top local marathoner. “I think it got people's attention.”
Powerful people in the national running community were curious, too.
“We loved the name,” said Amby Burfoot, editor of Runner's World. “It works. More people are running marathons who aren't grit-your-teeth serious runners. The want to have fun. The name says fun.”
Runner's World became a sponsor. That meant three free, full-page ads for the race in the magazine.
“Runner's World signed on, and it took off from there,” said Mr. Boylan.
The national exposure helped attract runners from 47 states and 10 countries.
Mr. Coughlin, meanwhile, was selling the marathon to the local corporate community. In a sense, it wasn't a tough sell — a non-profit marathon is a good thing to get behind — but the event didn't have a track record.
“Not many people are comfortable with getting behind a first-time event,” Mr. Coughlin said. “They want to know what you did last year. We said, "Trust us.'”
It helped that WCPO-TV (Channel 9) agreed to televise the marathon. “That gave us credibility,” Mr. Coughlin said.
The corporate sponsors did sign on, giving money and “in-kind” donations of goods and services. The in-kind donations come from 40 or 50 companies, from big items to nice little touches.
“Cincinnati Bell put in hard phone lines and backed our Web site,” Mr. Boylan said. “P&G gave us Charmin for every Port-o-let. We're the only race that can offer that. We got all kinds of things.”
Mr. Coughlin sees this as a people's marathon. The winning time will likely be over two hours and 20 minutes — which would put the winner well back in the pack at Boston or New York, or even Columbus.
The race offers $1,500 to the top male and female finisher, but that's not big money by today's standards.
“When we talked to race directors of other races, they said the people in their town couldn't care less who wins,” Mr. Coughlin said. “They want a fun event.”
He pointed to the CVS Marathon, formerly the Revco Marathon, in Cleveland. It offers $150,000 in prize money, but draws only 1,500 runners.
“We thought we could do better by putting that money into marketing,” he said.
Now that the race is established, they will consider bringing in top runners in the future. “We'd like to have a better field,” Mr. Coughlin said. “But that's not our first concern.”
So where does the Flying Pig go from here? Mr. Coughlin has gone from thinking big to bigger.
“Next year, we'd like to get 7,000,” he said. “Then 8,000 the next year. We want to become a high-demand race. One that has to close runners out by a certain date.”
Flying Pig Marathon Guide
