We need this. Please help us bring this to life. Maybe recruit the high schooler who created the shoe app to build this for us. Below is the huge problem this app solves and how it would work.
Problem: I only want to watch certain events at certain meets. Let’s take this weekend as an example. BU, Lilac, Dr. Sanders. My problem is I have a busy life, so I don’t have the time to click on the schedule, see what time the races I want to watch start, do the time zone conversion, set reminders in my phone to remind me right before the race to go watch, etc. So 95% I miss the race live and see the results on LetsRun and never watch the race. This is even with having paid for access to platforms where the race is showing (RunnerSpace, Peacock, etc). For Worlds/Olympics, I literally have to invest an hour to get the spreadsheet with events, set multiple reminders on my phone calendar, really try not to forget, etc.
The solution: “Race Event Reminder Notification App” sponsored by LetsRun.
Receive notifications on your phone 5 minutes before the event (s) you want to watch with description of race and link to watch. If you want notifications earlier or multiple times, set that in the app profile.
Example of how it works: Today is Saturday. There is a fictional meet tomorrow called “The LetsRun Classic” that starts at 3pm PST and I am on EST. The race is 3 hours long and has 12 events. I just want to watch 3 of them (1500m, 5k, 10k). I open my “Race Event Reminder Notification App” in my phone. I search Sunday (1/28) and it shows me all meets on that day (I may even discover some meets I didn’t know about which is a bonus!). In my settings profile of the APP, I have already put in my time zone so it shows me the meets in my time zone.
I scan the list and find “The LetsRun Classic” listed. I click on the link for the race and am brought to a screen that shows me a description of the race, the information on how to watch with a link, and a list of the events, their time and a blurb under each event with who is racing.
Next to each race there is an empty box. If I check off the box it goes on my “notification list”. 5 minutes before each of the races I selected starts, I receive a notification on my phone making me aware the race starts in 5 minutes with a description of the race, whose racing, and most importantly, a hyperlink I click on to take me to where the race is streaming. I click on the link and watch the race. Note: If I am worried I will need more time to follow the link and maybe signup/pay to watch, I can set the reminder earlier than 5 minutes.
To take the app goodness even further, there is a functionality to select for a “No Spoiler” notification list. This is where you can’t watch the race live, but don’t want to know the result so you can watch later. This puts a permanent notification bar across the top of your phone right after the event has ended saying, “No Spoilers: the 1500m at the Olympics has concluded. Click here to watch with No Spoiler”.
The permanent notification bar is critical as we forget we don’t want spoilers and the open LetsRun or YouTube and see the result on the site or recommend videos.
Is this really a problem that needs to be solved? Yes. This is a real problem. I signed up for RunningSpace to watch meets, but I rarely end up watching because I don’t have the time/ energy to navigate through the very convoluted websites and do all the work. Also, sometimes meets (college, diamond league, etc) are in the middle of the day during the work week which makes them more likely to miss. It would be great to be working in August and get a reminder on Friday 10:15am EST that the Monaco 1500m goes off in 5 min with the Peacock Link. I click and am so happy I got to watch it live.
Next Steps: Please help build this. I would pay a monthly fee for this app. I will donate to a kickstarter. Something…..Let’s do something! Please help!