Paula Chasing

Paula Chasing used live race footage, real-time Flash updates and Nike+ to stage a transatlantic head-to-head race, connecting the Nike+ community to their running heroine. 

On 3 November 2008, Paula Radcliffe was pursuing her third New York Marathon title. Our brief was to use the excitement surrounding her challenge to inspire all Nike+ runners and connect them to Paula.

We used online advertising and email to recruit 27 Nike+ runners to come Paula Chasing – a chance to race a world-beating marathon runner. 

While Paula ran the whole 26.2 miles in New York, our relay team completed 26 consecutive 1-mile legs on treadmills at NikeTown London, with the last runner sprinting the final 385 yards. 

Cheering crowds in NikeTown supported the team as they chased Paula. Their performance was tracked alongside Paula’s live race data using Marathon RouteTracker – a bespoke Flash application we created for the event. 

Despite having 27 pairs of fresh legs, the Paula Chasing team finished seven minutes behind Paula, who claimed her third New York Marathon title. 

The day after Paula’s victory, we extended Paula Chasing to the online community. We posted her New York 5K split times on Nikeplus.com and challenged runners to match them. 

1,000's entered, but only a handful were fast enough for the ultimate prize: a race through Regent's Park against Paula in person.