Discussion: How we attract lots of newbies to AR

I post this once a year in hopes others will try this (except in West Michigan!) to grow AR. In 2011 we decided to bring AR to the masses by keeping races close to our population center (Grand Rapids, MI, has a metro area of 1 million), shortening the length to 3-5 hours, and adding some short "sampler" skills segments such as kayak, paddleboard, fatbike and snowshoe legs and Amazing Race-like challenges, e.g., running a short trail, memorizing the order of photos on trees along the way, and putting them in order at end of trail. The race preserves the core structure of AR: navigation-based, pre-marked maps, time-limit, team-based, nearby natural areas. Our fall 2013 race through a major art festival called ArtPrize drew 502, our winter race at a local ski area in February in 5 degree weather and 2-3 feet snow drew 296 and our race on Saturday at Lake Michigan had 386. Our next race will be 8 hours and traditional so we'll see how many of our racers will make the jump. This should work near other large populations. I don't see why the Grand Rapids area would be unique. If interested, feel free to ask questions or check out http://www.miadventurerace.com.