Today we’d like to introduce you to Matthew Stradley.
Matthew, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Our race directing team started out as runners – from high school and college sports to full and half marathons. We came together through family (Andrew & Matthew are brothers and Rush is married to a friend of Matthew’s wife). We all separately had a desire to create something awesome, and when we came together we decided we wanted to create a race.
After doing extensive research on the race market in Utah, we landed on the idea of a relay race – but not from Point A to Point B, but a race from Time A to Time B. We put together a focus group and had about 100 participants provide their feedback on the idea, and decided to run with it. The problem was we didn’t know where to host the race, and then started thinking about the Bonneville Salt Flats. That’s what made it! Our first race was rescheduled from June to August 2019 due to the Salt Flats being flooded that year in early summer, but we still held it. We only had 46 runners. But people LOVED it!
They said they would return, and bring their friends with them. So we started planning our 2020 race… and of course, COVID-19 hit us. We decided to cancel our 2020 race and start planning for 2021. People brought their friends and heard about us online, and we had more than triple our first year’s participants show up!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It hasn’t necessarily been a smooth road. We had to postpone our inaugural race due to the Bonneville Salt Flats being underwater in June 2019. We had almost 100 people signed up, but many couldn’t make it on our new date in August of the same year, so we only had 46 runners.
On our first race, we underestimated how long it would take to set up the course and base camp area. We used a small battery-powered light ball glued to golf tees to light the 2-mile course, sticking them into the ground every 20 feet or so. Well, the Salt Flats is like cement and we only had a hammer and screwdriver we used to put holes in the Salt Flats and place the light ball golf tees in them – it took forever! Plus the golf tees were white, so when we set it down on the white salt it completely disappeared haha. At times we walked around for up to 10 minutes trying to find a stupid golf tee to put into the salt.
On top of it all, the sun was blazing hot during the day and reflected off the salt, so we were burnt to a crisp by the time the sun went down. So our 2-mile loop ended up only being 1.77 miles because we were literally setting up the course until the race started… but our runners were super understanding and didn’t seem to mind, they were just glad to be at an awesome event and run on the salt. We owe our runners and supporters everything, they really make the race the awesome and unique event it is.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
The Dusk to Dawn Relay Race is held at the Bonneville Salt Flats from sunset to sunrise. Single runners (Ultra) or teams of 4, 6, or 8 run from dusk to dawn around a 2-mile loop to see how many miles they can get. This is THE flattest foot race on earth!! The Salt Flats offer a unique venue for our runners and participants to enjoy a night in one of Utah’s most spectacular and absurd locations.
We have a real-time leaderboard for our runners, 100s of glowsticks, music, giveaways galore, games, telescopes showing Jupiter or the rings of Saturn (shoutout to the U of U Astronomy Club), and more during the night. And to top it all off, we have a pancake breakfast in the morning for everyone – all proceeds going to charity (Run On has been our charity of choice for our first 2 years).
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
We had a string of bad luck in getting our race going – struggles with the government shut down in 2018/2019 so we couldn’t get a permit as early as we had hoped, the salt flats being underwater on our original inaugural race date, and COVID-19. We definitely wondered if it was worth it to keep the race going a second year.
But then we saw luck in the sponsors we had, the number of people who showed interest in the race, and the amount of support we received from family and friends. So good and bad luck has visited us, but we have relied on hard work and effort to level the playing field.
Pricing:
- 4-person team: $70 to $95 per person
- 6-person team: $65 to $90 per person
- 8-person team: $60 to $85 per person
- Ultra: $80 to $105 per person
Contact Info:
- Email: dusktodawnrelays@gmail.
com - Website: www.dusktodawnrelay.
com - Instagram: https://www.
instagram.com/dusktodawnrelay/ - Facebook: https://www.
facebook.com/ DusktoDawnRelayRace/
