In 2011, a few citizens of Pine Plains, NY, (population 5,000 humans, 3,000 cows) had a vision. They would organize and run a triathlon. Only one of them actually had any past experience in how to do it. But they all had enthusiasm to share and soon they had volunteers and participants.
They organized themselves based on distinctive competence. Soon they had more volunteers and participants and a very successful triathlon.
http://It Takes a Community to Run A Race
It was so successful, in fact, that it was taken over by a professional company. They did not need the citizen participation.
The race itself was only part of the story. In fact, the shortest part. There were months of planning, organizing, recruiting and training local residents to be part of something they had never even seen before. That took the longest. The race itself was over in a couple of hours, but there is no telling how long the memories will last. That’s the job of these videos — to keep them going! Enjoy!
And then it became a professional