After many virtual races in the last couple years, one of our favorite race, the Blue Ridge Marathon, is back. “America’s toughest road race” is back to its full glory of a weekend of festivities and fantastic running in the town of Roanoke, Virginia. This years medal stand out greatly with their vibrant colors and the main attraction on the medal this year is a GOAT!
The Design
Our client came with the GOAT idea with a twist – geometric style! It is modern, fresh and a bit unconventional. We took this challenge and started brainstorming some ideas for the main theme of the medal. Since this is a marathon race series with multiple distances, the main design elements will be carried over to the different medal variations. We also combined the topographical map of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the background in clean simplistic lines.
This year’s race medals are electroplated in specific Pantone colors (PMS) for the various race distances. Blue for full marathon, deep navy for double marathon, green for relay, red for half marathon and orange for 10K. Similarly, the neckbands are color-matched to the same color theme.
Another design decision that was made is that the medal would not have any other color fills except for the electroplated color it comes in. The GOAT is molded in 3D so that the whole race medal has a modern, futuristic and clean look throughout.
The Production
Once the virtual mockups are approved, we proceed with a 3D rendering process to produce a more realistic virtual proof. The 3D renderings are especially helpful in designs containing 3D race medals. Clients will be able to get different angle looks on the designs. They will be able to see how high the raised areas are, and similarly how deep the recessed areas are. Once that process is completed we moved onto the created the mold for the medals. The mold will follow the 3D renderings closely so there will be no surprises when the clients see the sample medal.
Once the mold is complete, we stamped a few sample medals for each design and make any tweaks and adjustments as needed. The last steps are electroplating and polishing. The finished samples were then shown to the clients for approval.
The Race
Close to 3,000 participants took part in the weekend races, and all the festivities brought in close to 1 million dollars of business to this Virginia region. It just shows that marathons and running races are so much more than athletics and sports, they bring communities together and keep small businesses thriving.
