Question for 70.3ers from an Event Organizer

My $0.02: I usually (...well, every one one of my one HIM's) bike the run course plus the first and last couple of miles of the bike course on Saturday , as a last mechanical checkout and to get familiar with course layout and to burn off nervous energy ... so a supported family ride might be popular. But I'm not gonna run on Saturday ... no way. And Saturday is usually a pretty busy day anyway .... so doing an organized run, even with spouse, would be tough.

I dig that you are seeking feedback from customers though...

I would not run.  My family might do a 5k though (with me as spectator).

I think a 5K or 10K would be fun, but if I were racing the 70.3, I wouldn't do the run. But my wife would do the running race.

This wasn’t one of the options you listed, but I’d add an event for kids/families. One of the events I did last year offered a scavenger hunt for kids/families the day before the event with medals and prizes. That was great. Race weekends always amount to a lot of standing around for the kids, so it was cool that they offered a fun event for them to get involved in.

We have a super sprint the day before the race, 380m swim, 18k bike, 4.2k run, (does the distances ring a bell?) people can either do it in teams or as individual triathlets. Companies enter or sponsor teams. The point is to get as many people as posible a taste of a triathlon. It has now become quite a huge event with maybe 1500 plus triathlets taking part. The race ends on the actual Ironman finish line so athlets have a chance to feel what its like to finish the biggie, the crowds are there, the clock is running, so you pretty much get the feeling

Goodie bags have a T-shirt, swimcap, waterbottle with the sponsor name on it(normally a big cell phone company) and few other odds and sods in.
I did it and since then then, (4 years ago) I have been hooked on triathlons

I would go with a 5k or something of that nature.  Boston offers one the day before the Boston Marathon, and I ran it with my wife on Sunday, before toeing the line on Monday for the marathon.  I'd say the 5k got rid of my jitters better than anything else I could've done, plus we ran it at her pace (and she PR'd!), saving myself from the pounding of speed work.  That, and I actually got to look around at the scenery I would miss seeing on Monday during the closing miles of the marathon.

Why not offer a kids fun mile, charity raising 5k etc.?  Make it a good cause!