Piedmont Wildlife Center is a magical place for people in the Triangle, a place to connect with and honor our natural resources, wildlife friends, and local community. Many enter PWC as shy children with a passion for the outdoors—and emerge as confident leaders who inspire society to care about nature and conservation.
Part of our educational mission is to teach children and adults alike how ecosystems operate, plus the many clever ways organisms adapt to changing environments. Today we are experiencing this lesson firsthand, as we face a global pandemic with its genesis in the delicate human-wildlife relationship we strive to teach everyone about.
Just as organisms adapt, PWC must now adapt.
Due to COVID-19, many camps and programs had to be cancelled. To ensure safety, all PWC camps and programs for the foreseeable future will be at roughly 50% capacity. We’re sad not to be out and about in the woods in our usual ways, learning and having fun in nature.
The COVID-19 pandemic has also put PWC at a huge financial disadvantage. With dramatically reduced revenue from camps and in-person programs, and being unable to host our annual gala and auction, we had to get creative on how to stay in operation. Our community and natural world need us!
Enter Running Wild
We created our Running Wild virtual race as a safe, fun way to involve everyone: to engage folks all over the world who like to run, race, be outside, support nature and wildlife, or dabble with data analytics.
What makes Running Wild special and unique?
First, it supports our vital work. Funds raised from the Running Wild registrations will be used immediately for providing care for our Ambassador Animals and other overhead expenses to sustain PWC.
Second, we’ll provide interactive data to all the participants. Our event isn’t simply “register and get a T-shirt”—although you do get a cool T-shirt!
Instead, participants will be placed on one of four teams representing an Ambassador Animal: Team Apollo, Team Olive, Team Edgar, or Team Shelly. What team will you be on? Register now to find out.
How It Works: A Truly Cool Virtual Race
We designed Running Wild as a totally inclusive event and experience! This is what makes Running Wild stand out from other virtual races.
Racers will submit self-recorded race times with smartphones, smart watches, or fitness apps. PWC will then use programming and analytics to normalize times for speed and elevation.
The best part is: Data analytics will show everyone in near-real-time which Ambassador Animal team is winning! And you’re allowed to submit multiple race times—so go for that PR and we’ll count your best time!
Healthy competition is greatly encouraged. Will Team Edgar outsmart the others to claim first place, or will Team Apollo swoop in for the win? We’re so excited to find out!
Yet no matter which team ends up on the podium, everybody wins. Because Running Wild supports PWC’s mission to connect people with nature.
Connecting to Nature, and Each Other
Running Wild is helping PWC learn more about how marketing, data science, and technology can help us connect more people to nature—and teach the importance of conservation—in our new COVID-19 world.
Many PWC staff and board members have worked hard to make Running Wild a success, as we’re all finding new ways to use and connect with technology—and, most importantly, with each other.
Moving forward, we may not be able to return fully to our traditional in-person camps and programs. Yet we are determined to continue to offer cutting-edge education and lead the way in local conservation. We are determined to foster a love of nature in all persons, and to protect our natural world, and all the beauty within in, now more than ever.
Sharpening our skills in statistics, algorithms, and the power of open source will make PWC an even stronger advocate for our natural resources and wildlife friends.
Creating Running Wild has already been a transformational learning experience for us! We promise to share how we built our virtual race system and analyzed race data with everyone after the event.
Get Ready to Run Wild for PWC
Running Wild will be held October 11th to 18th. We invite everyone to participate and tell all your friends! Get the details, and register here.
Thank you for all your support. To become a PWC supporter or contribute to PWC as a volunteer, please visit www.piedmontwildlifecenter.org/our-community.
