Routes are the heart of an in-person race. ALLEYKAT validates each runner's GPS against the zones you define, in order.
The three kinds of zones
- Start corral — where runners begin. Everyone's clock starts here.
- Waypoints — ordered zones runners must pass through in sequence.
- Finish corral — entering it completes the race and locks the time.
Drawing the course
Draw the route on the map, then drop your zones along it. A common pattern is roughly one waypoint per mile, but you're free to place them wherever the course logic requires. If you import a route from a recorded run, the path is preserved verbatim (no map re-snapping).
How validation works
| State | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Not started | Runner has not entered the start corral yet. |
| Started | Start corral validated; clock running. |
| Waypoint N | Runner has hit waypoints 1…N in order. |
| Completed | Runner entered the finish corral; time locked. |
Zone size
Waypoint and corral zones validate within roughly 35 m for in-person races (25 m for async). Place zones with that tolerance in mind — a waypoint at a corner catches runners on either side of the street, so put it where only the intended path passes through.
Shared start/finish courses
On out-and-back courses where the start and finish overlap, a runner standing at the start line isn't accidentally finished: before a runner who skipped a waypoint can be completed at the finish, they must have covered at least ~85% of the race distance. That distance requirement is the single mechanism — the same rule applies whether or not the finish is a distinct location.