The Virtual Race: How Carney Badley Spellman Supports Teamwork and Inclusive Employee Fitness

Annual virtual races have become a key piece of the employee ecosystem at the law firm Carney Badley Spellman.

Founded in 1972, Carney is focused on the Pacific Northwest and is recognized nationally for its appellate, construction, and M&A services. While the firm is headquartered in Seattle, its roughly 90 employees are equally divided among in-office, hybrid, and remote locations.

This year’s month-long virtual race through the Amazon in South America is the firm’s fourth. Three-quarters of the firm’s staff participate in the annual virtual races, a rate that’s significantly higher than most organizations’ staff fitness programs.

“Our folks get excited each fall when we break this out,” says Jamie Alu, Carney’s COO. Last September, Carney employees on fourteen teams with names like Moot Points and Legal Pad Posse logged 6,665 miles total, looping Racery’s Orient Express route five times.

“Like any business, we have happy hours, coffee chats, charity participation, etc.,” says Alu. “Racery is part of that ecosystem.” The virtual race format opens up significant new dimensions versus traditional in-person events, says Alu.

Inclusiveness: Participants can log more than 80 different activities that convert automatically into route miles. The event “shows, by giving credit for things like yoga, housework, etc… that you can still be physically active while not being a good football or basketball player.”

Teams: “The teaming aspect is also great… the team functionality gives another avenue to stay/be competitive with each other. We carry those teams into other things we do throughout the year so it really has a long-term impact on our ability to come together as a unit.” Racers keep up with their progress on both the race’s individual and team leaderboards.

Route theme: Beyond providing novel Google Street Views, each year’s new location — past virtual races were in France, Route 66, and the Orient Express – creates narrative opportunities for “theming” firm-wide emails and related activities.

In a time when remote and hybrid work can foster isolation and burnout, Carney’s annual races are a strong example of how virtual competition can support connections among staff, bridging gaps in geography and fitness levels.