Majorbound

Inspiration

I built Majorbound because I needed it myself. I’ve now completed 7 of the 8 World Marathon Majors, and the journey has been surprisingly fragmented: different ballots, qualifying standards, charity routes, tour operators, application windows and race dates spread across different sites and emails. I’ve applied to some races multiple times and still found myself asking a basic question: what should I do next?

What it does

Majorbound gives runners one place to manage their journey through the Majors.

It shows progress across the eight races, next running dates, entry routes, important deadlines, course and elevation information, and the next useful action for the runner. It also includes optional Strava context without trying to become another training app.

How we built it

Majorbound is a native iOS-first app built with React Native, Expo, TypeScript and Replit Agent.

Most runner profile and journey data stays locally on the device. A lightweight backend supports the optional Strava integration. I built it largely through natural-language prompting, testing constantly on a physical iPhone and iterating from there.

Challenges we ran into

The biggest challenge was the data. Each race publishes information differently, so dates, entry methods, qualification rules and course information had to be normalized without pretending Majorbound is an official race service.

The other challenge was scope. It would have been easy to add training plans, hotels, social features and race discovery. I kept the product focused on the problem I had actually experienced: getting in, knowing when to act and understanding what comes next.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We went from an idea to a working native iOS app in TestFlight and through App Store submission without a traditional mobile engineering team.

I’m especially proud that the product feels personal rather than like a static race calendar. Majorbound understands which races a runner has completed or is pursuing and organizes the information around that journey.

What we learned

The useful product is not simply better race information. It comes from combining runner state + race rules + timing.

That led to the principle behind Majorbound:

Don’t make me research the Majors. Tell me my next move.

I also learned how far AI-assisted development has come. A non-developer can now build a real native product, but good product judgment, testing and attention to privacy and edge cases still matter enormously.

What's next for Majorbound

The next step is to make the guidance more personalized: qualification logic, smarter entry-path recommendations, better race-week planning and travel context.

Longer term, the same model could extend beyond the Majors to other destination and bucket-list races, while keeping the core idea the same: help runners know what to do next.