Everyone loves a good origin story, and we'd like to think ours is especially remarkable.

RipRoar started in 2015 and, from the beginning, we've been in the business of giving people opportunities to suffer. Our passion project was, and still is, the RipRoar Youth Triathlon Series. It carries our name for a reason.

In our first full year, RipRoar consisted of a yoga event, five youth triathlons and the first iteration of the Des Moines Turkey Trot. It wasn't a huge portfolio, but the idea behind it was already there: create opportunities for people to show up, do something hard and experience something together.

Since then, the events have grown and our portfolio has grown along with them. We brought the Des Moines Women's Race to life in 2017. Later that year, after months of applications, approvals and consideration, the Des Moines City Council accepted RipRoar's proposal to continue the 39-year tradition of the Dam to Dam running event. In June 2019, we produced the first EMC DAM to DSM.

Then came 2020.

When the pandemic made mass gatherings impossible, we leaned into some of the other things we'd always loved: design, products and creating experiences in unexpected places. What started out of necessity became an entirely new part of RipRoar.

It also helped us put words around something we'd been doing all along. Build an experience meaningful enough that people want to remember it, then create something that helps them hold onto that memory.

Today, RipRoar produces endurance events, experiential marketing campaigns and strategic product design. Those worlds feed each other. What we learn building an experience for a brand finds its way into our races. What we've learned from more than a decade of watching people experience our events makes us better designers. And because we're constantly working across all three, we're always bringing ideas from one world into another.

The work looks a lot different than it did in 2015.

The reason we do it really doesn't.

In one of our favorite books, Shoe Dog, Phil Knight writes about the first time he saw someone out in the world wearing a pair of Nikes. In our own small way, we've grown to love that same feeling at RipRoar.

We see reminders of the events we've built all over the community we love. A Turkey Trot hat at the grocery store. A kid proudly wearing their triathlete T-shirt on the first day of school. A family that has made SnowGlobe part of their annual Christmas tradition. After more than a decade, the things we've created have become little pieces of this community. We don't take that for granted.

And as our events have grown, we've been fortunate enough to invest back into the community that has invested so much in us.

Each year, RipRoar donates tens of thousands of dollars to local organizations and projects that align with what we care about. We've helped build infrastructure at Saylorville Dam that gives people more opportunities to get outside and be active, put athletic equipment into the hands of kids who need it, and built annual campaigns that use the reach of our events to help feed families throughout the Northside neighborhoods.

But money isn't the only resource we have to give. Over the last decade, we've donated our time, equipment and expertise to help organizations including the Animal Rescue League of Iowa, Above + Beyond Cancer, the Good Vibes Movement and Girls on the Run of Central Iowa create events and experiences that move their own missions forward.

Des Moines is where we build our events, where we raise our families and where we get to see the impact of this work long after an event is over.

We want to help build the kind of community we want our kids to grow up in. One with more reasons to get outside, more opportunities to do hard things and more moments that bring us together.

At RipRoar, our values guide every decision. From the details no one sees to the moments everyone remembers. They reflect our belief that excellence is intentional, experience should mean something, and people always come first.

• Intention: noting is accidental. From branding pieces and course layout to athlete swag items, we design every element with purpose. We believe thoughtful design elevates experiences and create moments that connect people.

• Meaningful Connection: our goal isn’t just attendance, it’s impact. We strive to create experiences that bring people together, spark emotion and create memories that last long after the event is over.

• Our Community: rooted in the midwest and proudly based in Des Moines, we value relationships, local impact and creating spaces that build our local community.