Virtual Races info for organisers

Virtual Races – everything organisers need to know

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Plymouth running festival
Le Cure

In these times, a virtual event is a great alternative to cancelling the race and still allows the distance to be safely completed by the entrants.

Below is our guide on how to set up your own virtual event and transfer entrants into the new event.

Event

Setting up a virtual event has never been easier! You can either change your event into a virtual one or create a brand-new virtual event on the platform. You can turn transfers on within your organisation if you are creating a new virtual event so entrants can take part. This will allow all your entrants to transfer into the virtual event within their MyRaceNation accounts. For instructions to give your entrants on how to transfer their entry please click here.

Communication

You can easily inform your entrants about the new virtual event within your organisation by selecting ‘Communications’. This allows you to send a mass email or SMS messages to all entrants on how they can enter the virtual event. It may also be important to state within the communications all the different options for the entrants if they do not wish to take part virtually and any refund policies you have in place.

Entrant Results and Evidence

We have had an overhaul of our current results system, and have now launched our results timing, with free Strava integration and enhanced leaderboard functionality. Entrants have 3 modes of submission available to them – RaceNation Timing, Strava and Manual. You have the option to decide which of these modes you wish to accept when setting up the leaderboard. For instructions please click here.

Timing: The new RaceNation timing system means entrants can now time and track their runs/walks using the Event Day App. If the entrant has enabled tracking via the RaceNation App, a map will also be submitted as proof for you to view.

STRAVA: With Strava integration built into the platform, entrants can link their Strava account to MyRaceNation and submit their activity. The platform goes one stage further by allowing multiple Strava activities to be submitted and the distances/times then combined to submit a cumulative result.

Manual Submission: Manual submission allows entrants to enter a time and distance that is recorded through methods other than Strava and RaceNation tracking. Entrants will be required to enter an image or URL as proof for you to review.

The new ‘Results’ tab on your event dashboard is where you’ll see entrant submissions organised into 3 classes: Pending, Approved and Rejected. You can set the system to auto approve submissions (great for big events), but you can also manage pending results by approving or rejecting them manually.

Further information on result approval can be found here.

Enabling leaderboards

The enhanced leaderboard feature incites competition between entrants, ordering it by time, distance or alphabetically. You can also divide the initial leaderboard by certain criteria, creating multiple leaderboards based on your groupings (such as male/female leaderboards, or by tickets for different distances).

Further information on enabling leaderboards can be found here.

Event day App

Our event day app will provide a few tools to make your virtual race stand out from the rest.

Live entrant tracking

Entrants can be tracked via the RaceNation app, meaning that self-isolating friends, family and colleagues can still track the entrant’s virtual race progress!

Event branded photos

Uploading your branding to the app will mean entrants can take pictures and upload straight to social media with your logo.

We hope the above provides some useful guidance as an alternative to cancelling your event. If you require any help whatsoever in regards to setting up your virtual race, or have any ideas or concerns you wish to speak about, please contact us at vipsupport@race-nation.com. We’d be very happy to offer any guidance we can during these tough times.

Get Started

Switching from another platform?

Our VIP Support Team will help manage the entire process from creating your account to the secure and successful transfer of your existing event data.