The Active Joe - WHO WE ARE

There are several focal points of who The Active Joe is as an organization. These principles drive everything we do when we create, plan, and execute quality fitness events in our communities. See below how each principle is demonstrated in our work!

And when you have all these things at an event, the fun will truly flourish naturally!

8 Driving Principles of The Active Joe:

INCLUSIVITY

The following groups who have been previously underrepresented in the sport of running are not only included but are actively invited to participate in our events, both on our website and through social media reachouts:
- Female athletes
- LGBTQIA+ athletes
- BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) athletes
- Non-Binary athletes
Shirts have no gender. In increasing inclusivity for all shapes, sizes, and gender identities, for several years now, we offer shirts without gendered descriptions. With 11 sizes to choose from, our shirts range from a Fitted XS-2XL and a Relaxed Fit S-2XL.
We developed our Transgender Entrant Athlete Policy back in 2019 so transgender athletes feel included and know what to expect during registration and race timing.
We added our Non-Binary Entrant Athlete Policy specifically in 2022 to make sure non-binary athletes feel included and know how their data will be treated during registration and race timing too.
We include a Land Acknowledgment in our races which we continue to add to, as part of the Running on Native Lands initiative with Rising Hearts.

EQUITY

We have partnered with the Trail Mix Fund, an organization who fundraises to cover the entry fees for LGBTQ+ and BIPOC athletes who wouldn’t otherwise get to race. The 2023 event of Dinosaur Valley Endurance Run is a target race for these athletes to participate, and it was the first race offered by the Fund outside of the Pacific Northwest.
Since 2022, we give podium awards as deeply in the non-binary gender category as we do in male and female gender categories.
We allow pacers for athletes aged 60 and older from the start of the race for our longest ultramarathon races (100K and 100 Miles) at Dinosaur Valley Endurance Run.
We are a Trail Sisters Approved event which includes offering menstrual kits at the aid stations on the tables and also offering podium and age group awards as deeply in female award divisions as in male award divisions.
In 2023, we implemented a Uterine Change Refund Policy at the Dinosaur Valley Endurance Run. So while some races have started to offer a Pregnancy Deferral Policy, we take it one step further to create even more equity when training and racing can come with extra complications for those with female reproductive systems because those individuals can go through physical and emotional changes that make training or racing more difficult to plan for and more difficult to accomplish! Our Uterine Change Refund Policy says that if you have an expected or unexpected start or end to a pregnancy after registering for the race and you need to cancel your entry, we'll refund 100% of your entry fee, not subject to our usual admin fee listed in the Refunds section. Email us and cite the policy - no additional info has to be volunteered, we trust our runners this offer won't be abused - and we'll get that refund to you.
In 2022, at the Dinosaur Valley Endurance Run, a crucial turn on the race course was emphasized in the pre-race trail briefing in both English and Spanish. In 2023 and moving forward, our Runners’ Manual for the Dinosaur Valley Endurance Run will be offered in both English and Spanish, in order to help our athletes have the best chance of preparing and succeeding in their race. We would like to expand that to be the case for all of our races in the future!

SECURITY

In valuing our participants’ security and privacy, we do not ever publish the full entrant listing on our registration platform, on our pre-race bib listings, and anywhere else accessible before race morning. This is especially crucial for those who have been a victim of stalking and also for our athletes who are minors!
We assess weather conditions leading up to race day and during the event and will delay or cancel an event if conditions would make it unsafe for our participants.

QUALITY

Well-executed events – A quick and efficient packet pickup, great course markers, an emphasis on accurate timing, and attention to detail through every part of your race experience.
Great entrant and finisher items – whether it’s the race shirt, your finisher medal, or a podium or age group award, we work hard to make sure it's of good value that you will treasure!

ECO-FRIENDLY

Our trail races are all cupless racing where participants are expected to carry a hydration solution for both their water and for any supplemental liquids they plan to drink (sports drink, soda, pickle juice).
We follow Leave No Trace principles at all events. Littering warnings are included on all race websites, and anyone caught littering is disqualified.
We endeavor to use more eco-friendly serving in our aid stations year after year. We use compostable hot food containers and reusable Tupperware at aid stations. We do not ever use plastic jello shot cups which create a lot of non-biodegradable trash.

COMMUNICATION

There is detailed info on the website to help everyone decide if our events are right for them and to allow them to effectively prepare specifically for our events.
We send multiple pre-race emails to walk you through before, during, and after your race.
We provide a PDF version of the Runners’ Manual for our major ultramarathon event, the Dinosaur Valley Endurance Run. In 2023, this will also be available in Spanish as well as English.
We give final updates 5 minutes before our trail races as part of our trail race briefings.

CHARITABLE

In the last ten years, we have given almost $300,000 to a variety of charities.
We have been a sponsor of the Western States Endurance Run every year since 2014 and provide financial support to the nonprofit organization, the Western States Foundation, who manages the event, facilitates research in the medical side of ultrarunning, and provides trail stewardship to the Western States Trail in California.

"JOE" FOCUSED

We keep our entry fees incredibly AFFORDABLE to keep it more accessible to many recreational athletes.
The entry fee you pay is all you pay for access to running the race. This means there are no race day fees like park or location permit fees, and there is no parking fee. Those fees are already wrapped into your entry fee!
We offer partial refunds all the way up until 2 days before the race. We don't love deferrals because life happens and we would rather you have the money in your pocket for a rainy day rather than have entry fee funds tied up with us by you deferring with us. When the pandemic hit in 2020, it was hard to watch so many races defer entries when people also had major life changes where they might have needed that money for basic needs.
We celebrate all speeds and provide general cutoff times for our events. The trail races offer only incremental cutoffs with no final cutoff because if you complete the full distance, we want to consider you a finisher!
We do not believe in using entry fees to pay for offering prize money to a very limited number of fast athletes.
Our awards for podium and age group winners are nice but not super expensive - we would rather put more money into an item everyone will get to enjoy like the finisher medal or finisher belt buckle.
We do not offer comp (free) entries to elite athletes as they would typically be subsidized by other runners' entry fees.
For Dinosaur Valley Endurance Run, we actually cover half the cost of all digital downloads in a single payment to the race photographer so the cost to you stays incredibly reasonable at 50% off!