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Dan Brice has over 20 years of working experience in outdoor and adventurous activities, guiding mountain biking, kayaking, and canoeing. His mission is to showcase and share the beautiful landscapes of North Devon and Somerset with the world and do it in a sustainable, respectful and mutually beneficial way for the surrounding communities. The long-term and thoughtful approach to building relationships with stakeholders and ensuring that the entire community benefits from the events are key to longevity in the industry. There are a number of gems of insight and knowledge that every event organiser, large or small, can benefit from and apply immediately.

Alexander Tanti: I’d love to hear the background about how you started organizing races.

Dan Brice: I spent my whole professional life working in the outdoor and adventurous activities sector. I’ve worked in private, state and higher education, lecturing and teaching on outdoor education programmes. I have been involved with local canoe clubs, mountain bike clubs, and running clubs, and I have always been an active person but more of a mountain biker as well as a whitewater kayaker. At times I also dabbled in some walking and climbing. I’m really passionate about the Quantock Hills in Somerset, which is our local area of outstanding natural beauty and quite the mecca for mountain biking; spending most of my life mountain biking there.

In 2010 I decided I wanted to put on an event at the Quantock Hills because there were none! I did it voluntarily with a mate just to get an event on and, at the same time, give something back to the mountain biking community.

In 2013, we put on the first event. And this year will be the 10th edition of that event, having missed 2020 due to COVID-19, and that was the stepping stone, really. I ran that for three years before starting to work for the Channel Group, an outdoor activity provider, as their operations manager. I asked if I could bring this event with me and do it as part of my job, and they agreed. They had just taken on another event, a long-distance walking event called the Exmoor Perambulation. So as soon as I started, it was like, “Well, Dan, you’ve organised an event in the past, so you can deliver this one as well!”. And so I then had two events as part of my portfolio as an operations manager.

It just kind of exploded from there. Within three years, we had six events having taken on the Exmoor Explorer mountain bike event. Then we were asked to do the Mendip Murmuration mountain bike event as part of the National Trust Top of the Gorge Outdoor Festival. We were also given the Minehead triathlon by the Somerset County sports partnership. We’re based in Minehead in Somerset as a business, and we love the sea, so we took that from a pool swim to a sea swim and made the run a bit more entertaining. So here we are now in 2023, and I’ve got Channel UK Events CIC, which is a not-for-profit social enterprise incorporated in 2018.

We’ve got 15 events, although they’re all quite small. They’re all about exposing the amazing landscapes that we have in Somerset and North Devon. And that’s my passion, getting more people regularly outdoors and active in these beautiful places. Sorry for the long answer!

A vision for your events does not have to be overly complex nor grandiose. Dan’s passion is about exposing North Devon and Somerset’s beautiful landscapes to people in a sustainable and respectful way. This is his North Star and what drives every decision behind the organisation of events.

Alexander Tanti: I love it, don’t worry! So since 2010, when you had the initial idea about putting on that initial mountain biking event, it took three years until you actually put it on.

Dan Brice: Yeah. If I’m brutally honest, there are different event organizers who do things differently, but I’m passionate about putting events in the right places for the right reasons. There are amazing places where we runners and bikers would love to see events hosted, but this needs to be done in the right way. Landowners must know it’s going on. Authorities must know what’s going on. Natural England are involved to help us respect the landscape. So we utilize the trails that we are allowed and do it in a way that we’ve got conservation and sustainability in mind. Rightly or wrongly, there are some event organizers that will go, “ Right, I’m gonna hire an HQ venue, I’m gonna go markup this route, then start selling tickets “, and that’s as much as they do.

We go completely the other way, and actually, that costs us more because when you start asking for permissions from all these different stakeholders, everybody wants a slice of the pie. But we’re prepared to do that because we are a not-for-profit social enterprise, invested in getting more people outdoors and active, but at the same time, trying to educate those communities in responsible and sustainable use of the countryside.

I come from a background of playing cricket, rugby, and hockey. You have a groundsman that comes along and cuts the grass, sorts the ground and tidies up after you. Out on the trails, you don’t have that, you know. So our impact is massive, and if we use it badly, we’re a really bad advert for mountain biking and trail running. Because the local communities will go, “ You’ve just thrown 300 people down that trail, and now look at the state of it “.

And then, although we know that over the years, there’s been cumulative damage by lots of people, we naturally become the easy target. So getting people on our side is what I’m passionate about. I’ve got good relationships with our national parks, with the AONB services, with the National Trust and Natural England. Those relationships mean building trust with those people, and then it’s actually much easier and quicker to put a new event on. In the past, I took three years to develop those contacts and develop those relationships, but this effort and dedication to building trust first is now paying massive dividends.

Getting all stakeholders on your side is key for longevity in this industry. Building relationships and showing respect and genuine understanding of the needs of landowners, councils, local government bodies, business owners etc pays huge dividends in the long run.

Alexander Tanti: That’s very interesting. So what you’re saying is that there are many different counterparts involved in putting on these events that, initially, it takes time to develop these relationships. Still, once trust is established, then you accelerate that process for future events. Have you ever thought about putting on events in a completely new area, or do you think that sticking to a particular area would be an advantage for new or even existing organizers looking to grow their events?

Dan Brice: Yes, that’s the reason I don’t look much further afield than Somerset and North Devon. Not only are we trying to educate people about better and safer use of the landscape and provide amazing experiences for our communities, but we’re also about investing in the local economy, and one of our big goals at the moment is to be as green as possible. So if I decide I’m going to go and put an event on in the late district or in the South Downs, how many times have I got to drive there to go meet people and meet the landowners?

The carbon footprint of just me driving backwards and forwards, as well as the expense of rising fuel costs, would just make that event a much bigger thing for me to put on. Plus, I think there are enough organizers in those other locations. So why do I need to go and put something on where there are already some amazing people doing amazing things? I can showcase what we have exactly where we are. I can do it with a much smaller carbon footprint. And one of the things we’re all about is using reusable signage and route marking, being single-use, plastic-free, and minimizing travel.

We get involved with the National Trust and Exmoor National Park to plant trees in the right places for the right reasons. We also use local suppliers; our medals are wooden and made locally, for example. Even all of the cakes for our tea stops are made by local suppliers. You know, so I’m not going to a major supermarket chain and buying a mass of flapjack for next to nothing or shipping my medals in from China. Not saying they’re not quality products. But again, the footprint of that coming halfway around the world is massive, you know? That’s what we’re about. We know that’s not for everybody, but hopefully, our clients buy into the fact that we’re about investing in our community in all aspects of our events.

Alexander Tanti: Yeah. It sounds like you have a passion for showcasing that beautiful area. Is that something you always dreamed about? Being active in those places and one day sharing those same trails with more people?

Dan Brice: Yeah, I think that passion probably comes from being an athlete first and not a race organizer, and I think now I want to give back to that extent. I’ve spent 20 years working in outdoor and adventurous activities, guiding mountain biking, kayaking, and canoeing in the area where I live, so you become hugely passionate about those places. People come to you, and they want to learn and explore; these events are just another medium to do that on a mass participation scale. It’s a community that can already run or ride, but they want to come along and do something in a more social capacity with a route that’s marked for them rather than eight people being on a guided day out; this is 250 people being guided by the route markers.

For smaller events of up to 300 people, it pays off to think of it as a guiding event, but rather than a physical guide, using route markers to guide the group. Thinking of it this way emphasizes the level of detail required in marking the route in a way that creates an intimate experience within a larger group.

Alexander Tanti: So, just taking it back from 2010 to 2013 when you were in the process of building these relationships and working towards that goal of putting up that first event. I’m guessing you had to sustain yourself somehow. What were you doing at that time?

Dan Brice: So, for that first event, I did that all voluntarily with a friend of mine, but I was working full-time. I’d just been back a year from travelling, and I was working for our local county sports partnership. I was working in schools, training and developing teachers to deliver outdoor education activities and then working with local canoe clubs, rowing clubs, and running clubs to help with their club development. So my bread and butter was still in the outdoor sector but more with schools and clubs. I was doing this as something to put back into the community.

And luckily for me, it’s now developed into a place now where we have a small social enterprise. I work three days a week for Channel UK Events CIC, and I’ve got Jan, who covers the admin and marketing for me for 10 hours a week. To put 15 events a year on with two part-time staff requires a massive amount of passion.

Alexander Tanti: That’s incredible. But I guess you must have come up with some sort of systemized process by which you approach these events.

Dan Brice: Yeah, it’s a lot of events to organize, and most of our events are small. The biggest event we do is probably 350 people. So, they’re all about being very intimate. It’s about me being on the finish line of every event; everybody knows who I am. I’m welcoming people from start to finish. That’s what I’m passionate about. But I do systemize the approach to a degree. We’ve recently moved to Eventrac as a booking system, which makes things a lot easier for us, as the booking system has built-in email marketing, charity giving and an online e-commerce system for selling merchandise. Working with Racecheck to allow our clients to review our events is also proving really useful and should further improve our efficiency.

Then most of the routes for our running and triathlon events are already set. Once the route is set and you know who the landowners are, it’s quite straightforward to get the permissions in place for those. The longer these events happen, the easier it gets, so longevity helps us to further systemize the process for the following year.

Our mountain bike events, on the other hand, are very different because they’re not on the same route every year. They’re explorative like an off-road sportive, and the idea is every year is a slightly different route, so that means I’ve got to find out who the landowner is in the different sections. This part is hard to systemize.

Having the right partners in place and having built strong relationships with all local stakeholders allows you to systemise the process of putting on many events with only a handful of staff. While mass participation is traditionally considered a non-scalable business, this is one example where one unit of effort corresponds to a scalable outcome.

Alexander Tanti: How do you approach competition in your local area? Surely there are other events being put on apart from yours.

Dan Brice: One of the things I’m really passionate about is not seeing all of our other local event organizers as competition. I think if we can work together to make sure our dates don’t clash and do a bit of cross-promotion, then we’re growing the pond, so to speak. We’re providing more opportunities for our communities.

I work very closely with a few other local race organizers, and we bounce ideas off each other. For example, I’m meeting with Dave from Albion Running next week, who organizes many ultras in this area, which we don’t do. We’re meeting to bounce ideas off each other and discuss how we can cross-promote. I also meet regularly with Tom from Relish Running and Ceri from Wild Running.

Think of competitors as partners and an opportunity to cross-promote each other. Engage in frequent, thoughtful and constructive discussions to ensure everyone gains.

Alexander Tanti: Any learnings that quickly taught you to do things differently and experiences that are quite memorable?

Dan Brice: No out-and-out horror stories as such. The weather plays its part sometimes. But that’s something you struggle to plan for. The night before, you may have to send out emails to everybody saying, “ Please can you park somewhere different because the fields are underwater “, etc. But I’ve always tried to do things the right way and have the proper permissions and relationships with local authorities and landowners in place; it goes a long way to not having some of those horror stories. I’ve heard a few race directors that will use public rights of way without proper permission in place, which naturally creates a lot of friction with the landowners and, in turn, causes confrontations between entrants and clients; this is something I hope never happens at one of my events.

Telling the right people that we’re doing what we’re doing, why we’re doing it, and the passion for it and investing back in the communities is hugely important. The National Trust will charge a small license fee to use their land; Forestry England will do the same. While there are fees involved, we’re getting the backing of those people for future events and remain insured because they know it’s happening.

Alexander Tanti: From the sounds of it, a key part of your success is your willingness to invest as much time as required in building these relationships with the right people. In your experience, have you found what is the right messaging to use to these landowners to try and get them invested in the event?

Dan Brice: I think it’s just working with them and genuinely trying to understand their concerns; if, after proposing a route to them, they say no, they may have very justifiable reasons why they don’t want 300 runners or bikers coming through that area at that particular time of the year. And it shows understanding and willingness to work with them. It might be the end of June, and we’ve got bird ground nesting season, so that particular route would disturb the bird life. It’s about being flexible.

Some other race organizers out there might say, “ This is the route I want to use and that is what I’m going to do. it’s a public right of way, I can do what I like”. This is simply not conducive behaviour for staying in the area and running the events long term.

Alexander Tanti: You basically approach the local community as being part of your team.

Dan Brice: Yes, absolutely. For example, we have a series of 5k and 10k night trail running events through the winter, but we work alongside the National Trust to deliver those. So we run them out of National Trust properties where they’ve got a car park and a cafe. They’re accommodating because we bring a number of people to this venue in the middle of winter when you wouldn’t normally expect that many people. Suddenly your cafe has seen a big uplift in income because everyone’s coming and bought a coffee with a bit of cake, paid for parking etc. These things make a difference.

Another example is a special event we’ve got coming on next year, which is working with a steam railway. We’re going to charter the train, and the event starts and finishes at their stations where they’ve got cafes and car parks and toilets. We get to put on a really unique and amazing event while the business owners get to increase their income on that day. Having 400 runners coming through the cafes alongside that railway is fantastic.

Then, there’s a charity that has been set up to create a walking and cycling path between the stations. They’re currently bidding to buy land to create these paths. Through this event, we can actually promote and increase awareness about that charity and what they’re trying to achieve. So it’s all about trying to invest in the community and community projects and bringing them alongside our event.

At every step of the way, think about how the local community and businesses can benefit from your event. This is key to building trust and goodwill and ensuring longevity for your business.

Alexander Tanti: Overall, what would you say is your percentage of repeat participants?

Dan Brice: I’d say that repeat business is high, probably 40 to 50%.

Alexander Tanti: And why do you think that is? Why do people keep coming back?

Dan Brice: If I’m honest with you, just listening to feedback and learning from the reviews. I think having a very welcoming approach is key, but it’s much easier to do for events of our scale versus, say, a road marathon for two and a half thousand people. I just wouldn’t be able to have that same approach. We have people turning up and asking where Jan and I are. We might not know who those people are, but they know who we are because we’re the ones on the start line, in the registration tent, on the finish line, signing off every email and posting on social media; I think that’s a big part of it. I think people also know that we’re not so much about racing at Channel Events; we’re about inclusion and getting people out there. Of course, we know people are going to come along and race and try to go as fast as they can. But actually, for me, the person who comes across the line last has achieved the most because, for them, it’s probably been the hardest challenge. We’re right there till the end, and they get the biggest cheer.

So, just little things like that bring people back. We’re not a running company or a biking company, or a triathlon company. We do a bit of everything, which makes my life harder if I’m honest, but what we are seeing is people that used to come mountain biking with us are now coming to have a go at trail running or having a go at a triathlon because they know us, they trust us and believe in what we do and know that we’re a safe place for them to come and experience new and/or different activities.

It’s great to see some of those same faces turning up every year and then turning up to a different event.

Alexander Tanti: How do you find volunteers?

Dan Brice: I’ve probably got about a hundred and fifty people on my database. We decided to call our volunteers the ‘ tribe ‘, creating their own community. We issue them bright, orange T-shirts that say ‘tribe member’ on the back of them that double as high vis. We’re not expecting people to wear a high-vis vest that nobody really likes wearing, but when they’ve got these technical bright orange T-shirts, they can use them outside of our event to share their love of the ‘tribe’. We also ensure that if it’s a long day, they get breakfast and a brew to set them up for the day. If it’s an evening event, they get a brew and a bit of cake. We do offer free entries to volunteers, but it’s interesting that not every volunteer is in it because they want a free race. They’re in it because it’s actually a good excuse for them to come and get some fresh air, socially interact with other people, and cheer people on. Having a team of volunteers that engage with your clients is really important for me.

Volunteers do not always sign up because of perks. Many times people just want to spend time outdoors and break their routine. Rather than making perks the central value proposition to volunteers, make sure also to highlight all the other subjective benefits that they would get by spending 6 hours helping out.

Alexander Tanti: It’s really interesting that even volunteers have a specific skill set to help elevate participants’ experience on event day.

One question I have is, if there was one piece of advice that you would give to an organizer who’s just starting out, what would that be? What do you think makes for a successful race organizer? And somebody who can achieve longevity in this industry.

Dan Brice: My advice would be don’t rush into your first event. Give it time, even if it means taking you two or three years to do it. Getting in touch with landowners, booking venues, and getting the route right pays dividends down the road.

It’s more important to wait until all stakeholders are on your side and the right relationships are in place before putting on your first event. Even if that means postponing for 2–3 years. Give it time, this is key for success.

Alexander Tanti: So don’t compromise on your vision for the sake of speed.

Dan Brice: Yeah, I think if you rush into something and the route is not great, or you upset one of the landowners, then you’ve got to change the route for that event next year. Take the time to think about what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. If you’re doing it for a quick buck, then go nuts, but if you’re doing it for longevity, then you need to invest in your community. Not just your participant community but your local community as well.

Of course, there is the element of growth; we need to grow and need financially sustainable events. Given the tough market for events post-covid, combined with the current cost of living crisis, the next five to ten years will be all about sustaining the organization. Numbers to a lot of our events are capped. For example, our mountain bike events are capped at 250 or 300 by the local authorities to minimize erosion. As such, we need to make sure that we sell out our events to those capped numbers. That will ensure that Channel Events are still here in five years’ time, and Jan and I still have our part-time employment. And that we still have the opportunity to offer great experiences to our community.

There’s always a temptation to add more events and try different concepts, but doing it in a sustainable fashion, leading with your head and not your heart, is important for longevity.

Alexander Tanti: Thank you so much for your time. This has been incredibly insightful!