Crowd Energy Was Fading
Stirnu Buks, Latvia’s beloved "Roebuck" trail-running series, draws thousands of runners every season. But by early 2025, sign-ups were flatlining. Loyal athletes stopped returning, and revenue hovered around $60,000 a month.

To get back on track, the team partnered with Sharpen-AI to bring in smart automation and hyper-personalisation—and the results were felt almost instantly.

What Was Going Wrong

• Email campaigns felt too generic and failed to spark excitement

• Core participants weren't re-registering

• Community energy that once felt electric had dulled

With 3,000 runners already signed up for 2024 but fewer new faces joining, the team needed a faster, smarter way to re-engage their base and scale growth—without overwhelming staff.

One Week. One WhatsApp Makeover.
Sharpen-AI launched a no-code, AI-powered WhatsApp chatbot in just seven days. It:

• Collected each runner’s pace and preferred distance to personalise communication

• Sent short, motivational training tips, trail previews, and friendly nudges

• Enabled one-tap sign-ups directly within WhatsApp

The Numbers Tell the Story

• Registrations rose 17%, from 3,000 to 3,500

• Monthly revenue jumped from $60K to $75K

• Lapsed athletes returned, and first-timers joined in thanks to targeted messaging

As the Stirnu Buks team put it, “Old and new runners loved seeing tips matched to their own pace and distance. It felt like having a coach in their pocket—and registrations followed.”

The AI Advantage

• 17% growth in sign-ups in just 30 days

• $15,000 increase in revenue

• No manual segmentation, all personalised at scale

• Fully deployed in one week, no coding required

What’s Next
Up next, Stirnu Buks plans to roll out live race-day updates for spectators, add support for Baltic and Nordic languages, and begin using predictive analytics to open new race tiers early. With AI now quietly running in the background, Latvia’s top trail series is ready to grow faster and run smoother.