More than 75 Outdoor Retailer attendees spent the final morning of the 2026 show in Minneapolis racing through Theodore Wirth Park, hunting hidden checkpoints in the inaugural 57hours Adventure Race.

The 90-minute orienteering course was built with the Minnesota Orienteering Club and supported by The Loppet Foundation. Many participants had little or no orienteering experience. The grand prize: a 57hours trip to Greenland.

For brands, the setting did work a booth cannot. Charlie Hilligoss, founder of Gallant Tiger, handed out his signature product—peanut butter and jelly sandwiches—to racers and content creators as they prepared to explore what OR calls the "urban outdoors."

"We want to build Gallant Tiger by getting the sandwiches into people's hands in the places they naturally belong, and this was exactly that," Hilligoss says. "Seeing racers enjoy them was pretty special."

Winnebago, Red Wing Boots, Granite Gear and other brands offered support and prizes. Frost River gave out waxed canvas bags stuffed with local goodies.

The strategy behind the race is straightforward: OR is betting on a return to founder-led innovation, placing products, buyers and influencers in the environment where they belong—outdoors. Minneapolis, with its trails, mountain biking, paddling, lakes and forests, supplies the terrain.

"Outdoor Retailer brings together the people shaping the outdoor industry," said Viktor Marohnić, founder of 57hours. "This race gives them a way to experience Minneapolis through movement, navigation, and teamwork in a unique urban setting."

The race also served the show's Wild Reach initiative, with creator network Popfly connecting content creators who documented the experience across Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and blogs.

"These are dynamic, extraverted people, excited to try this new sport and recording content," says Stephen Regenold, a strategic advisor to 57hours and founder of GearJunkie. "I think it really brokered the energy of the event."

As a Minneapolis local, Regenold watched the content roll in after the race. "Watching the Instagram reels and YouTube content after, it was very rewarding to see people jumping into a stream, getting all messy to get to a checkpoint flag at 8.30 in the morning before they had to do the business event downtown. That was a definite moment for me."

Regenold is now pushing for more at OR 2027: a full day of outdoor activities adjacent to the trade show. "You want to test out the hiking boots or the backpack or the mountain bike. Engaging the brands in outdoor activations would be a big part of that," he says.

If that happens, expect more buyers testing boots in a stream rather than on carpet—and more brands following Gallant Tiger's logic that products sell best where they naturally belong.

Source: Chief Marketer (https://www.eventmarketer.com/article/outdoor-retailer-2026-show-outside/) / Source: chiefmarketer.com (https://www.chiefmarketer.com)