Since the idea of 247 came to be in the mid-run mind of Represent co-founder and Creative Director, George Heaton, in the lockdown days of 2020, launching a fitness event that brought the brand ethos ‘On A Mission’ into sweat-drenched life had been a long-standing goal.
At the end of July, on the 24th day of the seventh month, the brand took that long-awaited leap with 247: Mission Rivington, running at an aggressive pace into the arena of ultra-endurance events.
“We’ve hosted runs from our pop ups, around hybrid races and at our store openings for the past few years,” says George.
“We wanted evolution, and we wanted that evolution to be at the core of our DNA. From a personal standpoint, running, ergs and endurance events have been brought through the brand. It’s so intrinsic to myself. The athletes and sports we’ve associated ourselves with are all endurance based.”
The Mission Takes Shape
Planning began in February, with the fittest.pr team working side by side with 247 to shape the vision for the event, defining its format, identifying the target participants, and establishing how we could carve out a unique position within the current fitness competition landscape.
The concept was finalised in May – a backyard ultra with a devilish twist. Teams of five would head out on a 5.1km trail running loop at the top of the hour, every hour, from 7am until 7pm. When team members return, they could work on a SkiErg until the klaxon for the next hour sounds. They would accrue points for the runs and extra points for the ski. The team with the highest total at the end of the event wins.
With a tight timeline, we moved quickly to work with the 247 team on event logistics and the onboarding of brand partners, while simultaneously developing and executing a media rollout strategy to maximise coverage and impact around this landmark moment for the brand.
Partners fittest. organised included:
WHOOP, who powered the recovery area that was a crucial part of the athlete experience.
Hyperice provided Normatec boots with a team member on site to help with usage.
MONK brought two ice baths for participants to use
Bon Charge supplied a variety of their premium red light products including a sauna dome and blankets.
Concept2 sourced fifteen SkiErgs and arranged the scoring system so everything could be on displayed screen during the event.
Who Took Part In Mission Rivington?
We secured 16 participating athletes spanning press and influencers, all of whom attended a pre-event dinner the eve of the race with the 247 team and ambassadors, giving press valuable time with the brand to strengthen their future storytelling.
The 20-team field on the day included a Men’s Health team, a group from RoxFit and brand teams such as WHOOP and Marchon. A team from fittest. also took the field, led by our own Keith Barlow.
WHOOP set the pace early on in the race. “They had an insanely fast athlete, Sean Noble, that carried them into first place,” says George. “He had so much extra time on the ski ergs before other teams returned from each run.”
Unfortunately, that took a turn when he rolled his ankle and the fight for first became very close between three other teams as WHOOP started dropping down the leaderboard.
When the dust and sweat settled on hour 12, Team Elevate took the win, just four points ahead of Phases Seven 7. The RoxFit team filled out the podium, with Team WHOOP in fourth. Men’s Health cracked the top 10 with an eighth place, while fittest. finished in a respectable 16th.
Full Mission Reports
A phased approach by the fittest.pr team extended the pre-event reach to 15.1 million, with 104 pieces of total coverage logged after the event accessing an additional 6.7 million. Notable features included Women’s Health, Athletech News and ENDURANCE.BIZ, proving the value of the story to outlets ranging from lifestyle, generalist fitness and niche endurance titles.
The fittest.media team created a three-part series of editorial articles around Mission:Rivington, interviewing 247 athletes Alfie Manthorpe and Jake Dearden for their guidance before the event, then a post-event piece with George on his feedback on the race.
Running pro Alfie provided crucial advice for the trail loop:
“I would be as conservative as possible in the early stages. You can make up a lot of time after six hours compared to teams who were going too hard from the start. Most people will slow on their own as they get tired later on in the event. Stay conservative and you’ll maintain your pace throughout.
“Stay on top of your fuel and hydration in the early stages, too. Even if you feel you don’t need it. That’s the best way to get to the latter stages feeling much better than the teams around you.”
HYROX Elite 15 athlete Jake focused on the unique teamwork element:
“Communication is going to be the key to whoever wins this, in my opinion. You’ve got to keep everyone feeling fresh, so if people need breaks then you must see that and let them rest.
“12 hours is a hell of a long time to be running and skiing. As a team, make sure you’re talking and letting each other know, honestly, how you’re feeling. The worst thing you can do for the team is suffer in silence.”
Finally, George perfectly summed up how the event was truly authentic to to the brand:
“It really displays the grit, effort and endurance that we lay in the foundations of the brand. It’s in our DNA. You can’t fake this stuff.
“From our 6am gym sessions with our athlete Jake coaching for the whole business, to the team all doing the Manchester 10k and Hybrid racing, to having a WhatsApp group where we follow our team members on their own endurance missions.
“It’s built into us. It is us.”
