Team fitness challenge
A team challenge where every sport counts.
Clubs, gyms, churches, departments and friend groups race as teams on a real American road. Walkers, runners, riders and swimmers all move the same map, and teams are ranked by miles per person.
Free for up to 15 people · Members always join free
What makes it fair
A fitness challenge built for mixed groups.
Most team fitness challenges reward the people who were already fit. Ironstride ranks teams by miles per person, so a team of 4 can beat a team of 12, and a walker who shows up every day helps as much as anyone.
Each sport turns into road miles at a fair rate, so the challenge works for a running club and a cycling club in the same group:
Week 2
Small teams win too
How each sport counts
- Walk, run, hike, ruck
- 1 mile = 1 road mile
- Row, SkiErg, elliptical, treadmill
- 1 mile = 1 road mile
- Bike ride
- 3 miles = 1 road mile
- Air bike
- 2 miles = 1 road mile
- Swim
- 400 meters = 1 road mile
- Stairs
- 100 floors = 1 road mile
- Adaptive cardio
- 10 minutes = 1 road mile
- Strength, yoga and other workouts
- Count toward your daily goal and Strides, not road miles
Why people keep going
Always a next town.
Town stamps
Collect a stamp in every real town your team reaches on the road.
Weekly winners
A fresh race every week, so a slow start never ends the challenge.
Your own place
Each person sees their rank, their climb this week and the next milestone.
Team challenge ideas
Teams people already belong to.
The best teams are groups people already care about. A running club can race its cycling friends. A gym can split members by class time, a church by small group, a school staff by grade level, and a neighborhood by street. Mixed teams work best of all: every team gets some walkers, some runners and a rider or two, and miles per person keeps it close.
Pick a road that means something to your group: Route 66 for a summer challenge, the road to a city you are visiting together, or the real road between your two gyms.
Sample · Route 66
Set it up
Ten minutes, start to finish.
Pick a road
Route 66, the Pacific Coast Highway, or between two places you pick.
Make teams
By class, shift, squad or neighborhood, or everyone together.
Share the code
A join code, a poster with a QR code and an announcement.
Race to the finish
Up to 8 weeks, with a live board for any screen.
Beyond the leaderboard
Move together, even miles apart.
Teammates can start a workout at the same time from different towns and see each other’s miles and pace live, never their location. Or race a ghost: a past workout, your own best or a friend’s, sharing the road second by second.
Workplaces get extra tools, like a Monday email and the office TV board. See the workplace wellness challenge. Smaller group of friends or family? A virtual road trip is free for up to 15 people.
Saturday morning
Three towns, one workout
Questions
Team fitness challenge questions.
How are teams ranked?
By miles per person: a team’s total road miles divided by its members. Team size does not decide the winner, and nobody has to be fast.
How do different sports count?
Walks, runs, hikes and rucks count mile for mile, as do rows, elliptical and treadmill miles. A bike ride counts one road mile for every three miles, and a swim counts one for every 400 meters.
Do strength workouts count?
Strength, yoga and other workouts count toward each person’s daily goal and Strides, the app’s points. They add no road miles.
How much does a team fitness challenge cost?
Free for up to 15 people. Bigger groups pay $5 a member for one road trip of up to 8 weeks ($99 minimum), or about $1 a member a month on the yearly plan. Members never pay.
Can we run a challenge all year?
Yes. The yearly plan lets you run as many road trips as you like, back to back or one per season, for about $1 a member a month.
Can teams be different sizes?
Yes. Because teams are ranked by miles per person, a small team and a big team race on equal terms.
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