Run Czech

The original idea of the RunCzech project was born while sitting in the Cibulka pub in Prague. Two Italian friends decided to organize a running "marathon like in New York". Carlo Capalbo and Olympic marathon winner Gelindo Bordin were inspired by running events abroad and Czech beer. "One beer later, they were calling the legendary Emil Zátopek," says the historical window of the Prague International Marathon (PIM, 1994) website.

With more than 20 years of experience, RunCzech is now synonymous with running events held in the Czech Republic. The company is not limited to marathons, it organizes, among others, running leagues, half marathons (#PragueHalf) and relay races. In addition to racing, it is also a platform that brings together and supports the running community in our country.

The biggest challenge of RunCzech was the implementation of Live Tracking and WebViews. The client requested to process selected screens not natively, but using WebView. The challenge was the variety of individual WebViews and the display of information about a particular user.

The Live Tracking of the RunCzech mobile app brought mainly technical challenges:

• Displaying and animating individual runners and points of interest on the course,
• The data acquisition itself, where it was necessary to communicate with the FG Forrest API (backend) and at the same time with the API of the Italian service providing the collection of information about the current race.

Testing the race was also difficult. The testability of the races, which only take place at the weekend, was limited. Before the start of the Prague Half Marathon, Qest had only two opportunities to test. Between PIM and the #PragueHalf, there was not even an opportunity.

Close collaboration with FG Forrest was necessary in the process of addressing the main challenges of the project. Joint debugging took place in the graphical design of the website and in sending information about the current user to each WebView query.

Qest solved the biggest problem of Live Tracking, i.e. testability, by wetting the Italian API in the first possible race. After that, the team was able to replicate the race at least partially with the participation of one runner. The real tests before the #PragueHalf were then conducted over two weekends in the morning. Qest staff were actively present throughout the entire test races.

The work with the client was quite agile, even though it was a fixed-price & time agreement. There were certainly advantages and disadvantages. Some parts of the AI were subject to repeated changes and forced deviation from the original design. On the other hand, the client took advice and agreed to the changes proposed by Qest. And this is where Qest developers could demonstrate their experience in mobile development, not just straightforwardly fulfilling the brief. The cooperation with the client and FG Forrest was very good and the result is not only an enrichment of the RunCzech project. It has also created a new friendly relationship essential to the company culture, in line with Qest's values.

Displays all information about the client's races. With RunCzech, you register, collect your bib and have the race programme and a package of benefits from the partners of each event at your fingertips. The RunCzech App has a Live Tracking feature. This is activated at the start of the race. Live Tracking allows the user to search and view data about a specific runner. Runners can also share their experience with family, fans or friends. Right in the app, users can find current results, RunCzech Running League points and other important information.

He is tasked with working with the community outside of the client's race series. The app offers the user support in training, provides tips, inspires, motivates. It displays various running training routes across the Czech Republic. It also makes available to users information about specific training organized by local running coaches.

The client Prague International Marathon s.r.o. can further develop the mobile application, bring new functionalities and work with an already large community of users - true running lovers.