Marathon Kids
Healthier Children and Communities
Marathon Kids (MK), founded in 1995 by Kay Morris in response to rising childhood obesity, initially expected 200 participants but drew 1,600 kids on its first day. Over the past 25 years, it has engaged more than 2 million children across the US.
The organization promotes physical activity through sports, health education, and community-building, serving schools, camps, churches, and community organizations. With child wellness technology solutions that track activity and set goals. Today, MK combines health technology and education, with support from partners like Nike, aiming for widespread impact on children's well-being.
Marathon Kids serves two million users, including children, teachers, parents, and administrators, creating a design challenge for a kids sports technology tool that needed to balance engagement for young users with functionality for school district officials.
The organization sought a complete digital transformation to uphold its values of diversity, inclusion, fun, and community while enhancing technical infrastructure for activity tracking and progress measurement. Since safety and privacy were also crucial, the platform demanded specific design and technical considerations tailored for children.
Capicua revitalized Marathon Kids' digital identity and platform by developing a vibrant graphic language that embodies vitality, dynamism, and cultural diversity. We also created four user profiles—Kids, Teachers, Parents, and Organizations—each with tailored features. Kids receive a unique ID and QR code for tracking, while Teachers can set goals aligned with program milestones. Parents can monitor progress and discover shared activity ideas, and Organizations can register to support community health initiatives.
At a technical level, we worked with React, React Native, Node.js, AWS (Postgres RDS), a Headless WordPress CMS, Salesforce CRM integration, and Docker, resulting in a robust, scalable, and responsive platform focused on user experience. The platform also showcases organizational highlights, testimonials, the Nike alliance, and progress-tracking systems.
- Experience: A full visual rebrand that reflects vitality, diversity, and inclusion.
- Audiences: Four distinct profile types: Kids, Teachers, Parents, Organizations.
- Measurement: QR-based activity tracking and goal measurement system.
- Development: React + React Native + Node.js cross-platform development.
- Infrastructure: AWS infrastructure with Salesforce CRM and WordPress CMS integration.
The redesigned Marathon Kids platform enhanced the digital presence of a two-million-user organization, showcasing its mission with a new visual identity that emphasized energy and inclusivity.
The platform provided tailored experiences for all stakeholders: teachers received tools to track classroom goals, parents connected with their children's health journeys, organizations faced no barriers to participation, and kids enjoyed a motivating exercise-tracking system.
The partnership with Nike further established MK as a credible force in children's health, transforming it into a nationally scaled movement with the necessary technology infrastructure.
- Growth: Platform serving 2+ million kids with a fully redesigned experience.
- Architecture: Multi-profile architecture serving kids, teachers, parents, and organizations
- Tracking: QR-based activity tracking enabling precise, gamified progress measurement
- Scalability: Scalable cloud architecture supporting national-scale deployment.
- Partnership: Nike alliance prominently featured as a credibility signal.
Platforms that change lives need technology and design that can keep up with the mission. With Shaped Clarity™, Capicua builds products that scale from classrooms to national movements. Let's talk.
