Running your event

On race day the app does the timing; your job is to start the race at the right moment and keep an eye on the field. Everything on this page happens in the mobile app — the web dashboard can edit a race and its results, but it cannot start one.

Before the start

1. 01
   Get everyone registered and in the corral

   Runners must be physically inside the start corral when the race begins for their start to validate. Registration stays open until the race starts.
2. 02
   Check the roster

   Open the race in the app and review the runner list. For a relay, check team rosters — a team under its minimum size will show a warning.
3. 03
   Send any last instructions

   Use Send Announcement on the race detail screen (or the Dashboard's Comms tab on web) to email registrants, or send a short race text to those who opted in.

Starting the race

Tap Begin Countdown on the race detail screen. That opens a 5-minute countdown — the duration is fixed by the server, not a field you set — and the race goes live when it hits zero. Beginning the countdown notifies every registered runner by push (and by text, if they opted in), and starts the lock-screen Live Activity even for runners whose phones are already locked.

A race can only be started once, and only while it is still pending. If you started the countdown by mistake, you cannot un-start it — let it run and use the result-editing tools afterward.

While the race runs

• Watch the field: open the spectate view to see every runner on a live map with a leaderboard beside it. Positions push in near-real-time.
• Runners self-serve: waypoints and finishes validate by GPS. You do not confirm anyone manually while the race is running.
• Loop and backyard races: runners end their own race in the app when they are done — nothing auto-finishes a loop runner from GPS. Backyard bells ring automatically on the interval you set, starting when the countdown ends.

Ending a race early

Loop, backyard and registration-only races have an End Race Early control. For loop and backyard it completes every runner still active, crediting each with the progress they had at their last validated lap or yard; for a registration-only race it simply closes the race, since the app judged nobody. Point-to-point, alleycat and scavenger races end on their own as runners reach the finish. A relay team finishes when the runner holding the baton reaches the finish zone. You can mark a team DNF or finished, put a team that ended by mistake back in the race, or end the race, from Teams on your race dashboard; teams still on course at the end time are marked DNF. If the app shows a team's baton on the wrong runner (a dead phone, or a swap the app missed), use Move baton on that team's row to give it to the teammate who has it.

After the finish

Results are final as soon as runners finish, but you can correct them. Edit a runner's status or official finish time from the Dashboard on web, or from the race director menu in the app. Results a runner recovered themselves that land in the top 25% of the field are flagged for your review — see Fix a missing or wrong result for how runners submit those.