Help center
Common questions for organizers and participants. Still stuck? Contact us and we'll help.
Why choose us
Built by a race director and runner, for race directors and runners.
Everything in one connected workflow
Registration, payments, communications, check-in, timing, and results are part of the same system, not separate products bolted together, so your data only has to be entered once.
Powerful, not overwhelming
A clean interface with sensible defaults that you can set up in minutes, without working through a 200-page manual.
Registration in under a minute
There is no account required and no upsell gauntlet to click through, just one clear price at checkout. A sign-up that does not make people work for it means fewer abandoned registrations for you.
Athlete privacy, by design
You choose whether a public registrant list appears at all, and whether names show in full, as a first name and last initial, or first name only. Participants can also choose to stay off the list entirely.
Fewer participant emails in your inbox
Participant self-service lets runners edit, transfer, or cancel their own registration within the limits and deadlines you set, so far fewer of those requests land in your inbox.
Real race-day tools
QR check-in for packet pickup, bib assignment, volunteer roles and shift signup, and live timing that keeps working even if you lose signal. It all runs on the registrations you already have, so nothing needs exporting or re-keying on race morning.
Fundraising built in
Add a fundraising campaign to your event, take donations straight from your public event page, and let participants raise money with their own peer-to-peer pages. PlayCompete charges no platform fee on donations.
Free to get started
Setting up a race is free, with no cost to directors and no monthly charge. You only pay a small per-registration fee on paid entries, and free registrations never incur a fee.
Get paid as the money comes in
Payouts go through your own connected Stripe account and post as transactions settle, so there is no waiting on a monthly or twice-monthly payout cycle to see your registration revenue.
Fast, real support
Real help right when it matters most, during registration and on race morning. You can also reach us any time through the Contact page.
Built by a race director and runner
Built by someone who has both organized the race and stood on the start line, which is why the defaults tend to match how races actually run, and why the participant experience gets as much care as the organizer tools.
Getting started
How do I create a race?
From your organizer dashboard choose Events → New Event, fill in the basics (name, date, location), then add one or more distances. Once your event is set up you can publish the public page and open registration.
Can I try it out first?
Yes, setting up a race is free and at no cost to directors.
Dashboard → Events → New Event → enter name, date, and location → Save. Then add distances under Registration.
Registration & pricing
How do I set distances, pricing, and capacity?
On the Registration section of your event you can add distances (including multisport legs), set date-based price tiers, custom questions, a waiver, and per-distance or event-wide capacity limits.
Can I customize my registration form?
You can fully customize all the questions that are asked on your form.
What is Race Personality?
You can set characteristics of your race that are searchable, such as family friendly, challenging, scenic, destination race, and more.
Can one person register their whole family?
Yes. A signed-in registrant is asked who each entry is for, and can enter a partner or a child without a separate account or a separate email address for each of them. Each entry is still its own participant, with its own age group, bib and result.
How do I tell whether a parent signed the waiver?
The registration records who agreed and in what capacity — the athlete themselves, or a parent or guardian, with the account named. Entries taken before this was recorded are left blank rather than assumed.
Event → Setup → Distances → Add Distance → set the base price → add date-based tiers (e.g. early-bird, regular).
Payments & payouts
How do I collect registration fees online?
Connect your payout account under Payments, then set your entry fees under each race distance. You choose whether to pass the processing fee to registrants or absorb it. Free registrations never incur a fee.
Payments → connect your payout account → set entry fees → choose whether to pass or absorb the processing fee.
Free events
Can I host a free event?
Yes. PlayCompete does allow free events. However, all events take up resources, so you may only host one free race for each paid race you have hosted on the platform in a given calendar year.
Is there a fee on a free event?
No. Free registrations never incur a processing fee, because no money changes hands. Setting up the event costs nothing either.
What counts as a paid race?
A race you have hosted on PlayCompete in the same calendar year that collected entry fees. Each one earns you one free race that year.
Race day: bibs & check-in
How do I assign bibs and check people in?
Use Registrations → Bib Assignment to auto-assign bib numbers, then the Check-In Dashboard or QR scanner on race day. Cancelled registrations are excluded automatically. You can also assign bibs manually.
Do I need an internet connection to use the race timing?
No, you do not! However, you do need to load the timing page before you go offline so if you plan on being offline in advance you can do this. It will also work if you are online with the page up and go offline during the race. Changes will be stored locally and will sync when you go back online.
Registrations → Bib Assignment → set a starting number → Auto Assign (or set per-distance starting bibs).
Results & Awards → Timing → press ▶ Start Race on each distance as it goes off. Tap ✓ Finish as each runner crosses the line, + Lap for lap-scored distances, or DNF for anyone who does not finish. Clear undoes a row, and you can double-click any time to correct it. When you are done, use Post as Draft Results.
Open the Timing page while you still have a connection, then keep the tab open. Keep timing as normal if the signal drops — the badge at the top shows how many records are waiting. Everything is saved on the device and uploads automatically when you reconnect, or press Sync now.
Race day with no signal
Check-in, volunteers and timing all keep working in a dead spot.
What happens if there is no signal at the start?
Keep going. Check-ins, volunteer check-ins and finish times are saved on the phone the moment you tap, before anything is sent. A bar at the bottom tells you how many are waiting. When signal comes back they send themselves, and the bar disappears.
Will the times be wrong if it syncs an hour later?
No. What is recorded is when you tapped, not when the phone found signal. That is the whole reason it is built this way.
What if I close the page, or my phone locks?
Nothing is lost. Anything queued is stored on the device, not in the page, and goes as soon as you open it again with a connection.
Can two people check in the same person?
Yes, and it is harmless. The first check-in stands; a second one is ignored rather than moving their time. The same is true if a queued check-in is delivered twice.
Does searching work offline?
Yes. Typing a name, bib or email filters the list already on the page, so it does not need the network.
Does the QR scanner work offline?
On Android, yes. On iPhone the scanner needs a connection the first time unless your organizer has installed the offline scanner file. Name search always works.
What do I have to do beforehand?
Open the page once while you still have signal — that is what lets it open again without. Do it before you leave, not in the car park.
Will my screen go to sleep while timing?
The timing page keeps it awake and says so in the header. If it says "Screen may sleep", your phone does not support that — set auto-lock to Never in your settings for the morning.
Open Check-In and Timing once with a connection so they are available offline.
Nothing to do — it sends on its own. Press Sync now if you want to force it.
Results & awards
How do I post results?
Use Results & Awards → Timing for live timing, or upload a results CSV. Recalculate places and age groups, generate the awards report, then publish results so participants can see them.
Can I import results from past races?
Yes, of course. We can also help you with this if needed.
What is the age grade column?
A percentage comparing each finisher with the best possible time for their age and sex at that distance, so a 58-year-old and a 24-year-old can be compared fairly. It needs the age, sex and a numeric distance on the result — anything missing shows a dash rather than a made-up figure.
My results show no age grades.
Almost always the distance. Age grading needs each distance to have a number and a unit set (5 K, 26.2 Miles) under Distances, not just a name.
What is the shirt icon next to a finisher's name?
Their finisher card — a shareable summary of their race with their time, placings, age grade and whether it was a personal best. They can download it as a picture to post, and the link previews as the card itself when shared.
Results & Awards → enter/upload results → Recalculate places → Publish so participants can view them.
Participant self-service
Can I allow participant self-service?
We have a specific section for that, and you can allow or disallow certain self-service features and set deadline dates for them.
What can participants do for themselves?
Depending on what you turn on: edit their own registration details, withdraw (with a refund per your policy), and transfer their entry to someone else. Each one has its own deadline, so you can close them off in the days before the race.
How do refunds work when someone withdraws?
The amount follows the refund policy you set under Setup → Payments, including any early-withdrawal tiers. The transaction fee is always non-refundable.
Event → Setup → Self-Service → tick Allow participants to edit → set an Edit Deadline → Save.
Event → Setup → Self-Service → tick Allow participants to cancel → set a Cancel Deadline. Then set your refund policy (and any early-withdrawal tiers) under Setup → Payments.
Event → Setup → Self-Service → enable transfers → set a Transfer Deadline. The new participant completes their own details and waiver from an emailed link.
Public event page
Every event gets a public page that participants use to learn about your race and sign up.
Where is my public event page?
Every event has one automatically at /events/your-event-name. You can open it any time from the event admin using the Public Event Page button.
How do I add my logo, banner, and race photos?
Go to Setup → Logos & Images. You can upload an event-specific logo (which overrides your organization logo on this event only), a wide banner image, and up to four race photos that appear below the banner.
What else appears on the page?
Your event description, date, location and map, distances with current pricing, and links to your website and social accounts. Registration, results, volunteer signup, and a contact form are all linked from the page as well. Other details include race elevation, historical result averages, fastest times, and race personality.
Can I show a list of who has registered?
Yes. Turn on the public registrant list under Setup, and choose how names appear: full name, first name and last initial, or first name only. Participants can also opt out of the list entirely.
How do people find my race?
Your event appears in Browse Races, where runners filter by date, location, and Race Personality tags such as scenic, family friendly, or destination race. Set those tags under Setup so the right people find you.
What is the Easy / Hard badge on my race card?
A comparison of your finish times against the same distance at other races. Each distance is judged on its own — your marathon against other marathons, your 10K against other 10Ks — and your own results are left out of the comparison so a race is never measured against itself. Within 3% of the field reads Average; slower than that reads Hard, and more than 8% slower reads Very Hard.
Why does my race not show one?
Three reasons. There have to be at least five other events with published results at that distance, or there is no field to compare against and the badge would be inventing a claim. Your distances have to agree — if your 10K is easy and your marathon is brutal there is no single honest word for the whole race, so nothing is shown. And timed or backyard races are never judged, because everybody stops at the same moment and a finish time says nothing about the course.
Can I set the difficulty myself?
No, and deliberately — it is measured from results, not claimed. If you want to describe your course, use the Race Personality tags, which are yours to set.
Event → Setup → Logos & Images → upload your logo, banner, and up to four race photos → Save.
Event → Setup → Public Registrant List → tick "Show public registrant list" → choose the name display format.
Virtual races
Run a race with no start line: participants take part wherever they are and send you their time.
How do I make an event virtual?
On the event setup page there is a Virtual event checkbox next to Location. Tick it and the location fields disappear — a virtual race has no address — and a Self-Reported Results section appears. Your public event page then shows "Virtual — take part anywhere" instead of a map.
If I untick it, do I lose the address I typed?
No. The fields are hidden, not cleared, so a mis-click costs you nothing.
How do participants send me their result?
They open the same link they use to manage their registration and fill in a short form: their finishing time, the date they did it, an optional note, and a link to proof if you ask for one. They can correct it and send it again while submissions are open.
Can I require proof?
Yes. Tick Require proof and nobody can submit without a link — a Strava or Garmin activity, a watch screenshot, a photo. Without it the field is still offered but optional. You see the link in the review queue and can open it before deciding.
Can I limit when results can be sent?
Set an opening and closing date. Leave either blank for no limit at that end. Outside the window participants see a message saying when it opens, or that it has closed, and no form.
Where do I review what comes in?
Results & Awards → Submitted Results. For a virtual event this replaces the Timing tab, since there is no timing tent. You get counts for waiting, approved and declined, plus how many registrants have not sent anything yet.
What happens when I approve one?
It becomes a draft race result with the right name, time, age and year, and behaves like any other result from then on — age-group placings, awards and achievements all work. It stays a draft until you publish results, so nothing appears publicly the instant you approve it.
What if someone sends a time I do not believe?
Decline it with a reason. They see your reason and can correct and resubmit while the window is open. If you had already approved it, declining also removes the published result rather than leaving it standing.
Can somebody change their time after I approve it?
No. The form is gone and they are told to contact you. These links get forwarded, and an approved result is already placed against everybody else.
Does my timing person need full admin access to review these?
No. Reviewing submissions uses the same permission as entering times, so anyone with the Timing role can do it.
Event → Setup → tick Virtual event → tick Let participants submit their own results → set your window and instructions → Save.
Results & Awards → Submitted Results → check the proof link → Approve, or Decline with a reason.
Approved results become drafts. Results & Awards → Recalculate places → Publish.
Race series
Rank people across several of your races. Standings come from your published results, so there is nothing extra to maintain.
What is a series?
A set of races you already run — a summer trail series, a three-race winter championship — with standings across all of them. Runners still register for each race individually; the series adds the scoring on top.
How do I create one?
Set the races up as normal first, then use the menu under your name → Race Series → New series. Add each race afterwards, usually scoped to one distance: most series are "the 10K at each of these five races", not the whole event.
How can it be scored?
Three ways. Points by finishing place, using a points list you set. Lowest combined time across the races. Or most races completed, which is pure participation.
What are finisher points for?
Everyone finishing outside your points list gets that amount. It is what keeps the series worth entering for somebody who cannot win it, which matters more than the numbers at the top.
Can I let people drop their worst race?
Yes. Set Count best N and only their best N count. The dropped ones are still shown, struck through, so the standings stay transparent about what was counted.
Can one race be worth more?
Give it a multiplier — 2 for a championship final, 0.5 for a fun run.
Why are my standings empty?
Standings only count published results, so nothing from a race still in draft appears. Check the minimum-races setting too: if it is 3, nobody shows until they have finished three.
The same runner appears twice. Why?
People are matched across races by their claimed participant record first, and by name only when there is not one. So "Bob Smith" and "Robert Smith" become two people, and two different John Smiths merge into one. Claiming results to a participant fixes both.
How do people find a series?
Every race in a published series shows a banner linking to the standings, the results page does the same, and there is a Series filter on the Find a Race page. A draft series is invisible everywhere until you publish it.
Your name menu → Race Series → New series → name, year, scoring → Save.
Open the series → choose each race and its distance → set a multiplier if you want one.
Edit the series → status Published. The public link stays fixed even if you rename it later.
Series passes
Sell entry to every race in a series in one payment.
How does a pass work?
Somebody pays once for the whole series and gets a code by email. They still register for each race normally, and enter that code in the promo code box — it covers their entry, once per race.
Why the promo code box rather than a separate field?
So there is only one place to type a code, and nothing new to explain to a runner who has never heard of a pass. Pass codes start with SP- so they cannot be confused with a discount code.
How do I turn it on?
Edit the series → tick Sell a series pass → set a price, and a limit if you want to cap how many sell. Add your races first: payment is taken through the Stripe account attached to those races, so with none added there is nothing to charge against.
What does it cost the buyer?
Your price plus the usual processing fee, the same as entering each race separately.
Can a pass be used twice for the same race?
No. One entry per race, enforced by the database rather than merely checked — so even two registrations submitted at the same moment cannot both get through.
What if somebody tries to use it for a race that is not in the series?
They are told which series the pass is for, and that this race is not part of it.
Can I see how many have sold?
Yes, on the series edit screen.
Race Series → open the series → Edit → tick Sell a series pass → set price and limit → Save. Make sure the series is Published.
Email & contacts
One contact list across every race you run, and bulk email built on top of it.
Where is it?
The menu under your name → CRM. Three tabs: Overview, Contacts, and Email Campaigns.
What is the contact directory?
Everyone who has ever registered for any of your races, rolled up into one person per email address — with how many of your events they have entered, what they have spent, and when they last raced. Choose Rebuild directory to build or refresh it.
Why rebuild rather than keep it updated automatically?
Registrations get cancelled, refunded, transferred and edited. Recomputing from your registrations is the only way the totals stay honest. Rebuilding never overwrites tags, notes or unsubscribes you have set by hand.
How do I email some of them?
Email Campaigns → New campaign. Write your message with formatting, then pick the audience: lifecycle, tag, state, minimum events or spend, and — the useful one — registered for one race but NOT another. That is how you reach last year's field about this year's race.
Why can I not send?
US law requires a postal address in the footer of marketing email, so a campaign cannot be sent until your organization has a mailing address on file. Add it under Organizations → Edit.
Do I have to keep the page open while it sends?
Yes — and you can close it safely. Messages go out in small batches from that page. If you close the tab or lose your connection, reopen the campaign and it picks up exactly where it stopped. Nobody is emailed twice.
What happens to people who unsubscribe?
They are excluded when the audience is built, and checked again as each message goes out — so somebody who unsubscribes halfway through a send is skipped, not emailed.
Is there a sending limit?
Nothing in PlayCompete limits it. Your email provider will have its own monthly allowance, so keep an eye on the sent counts on large sends.
What are unfinished registrations?
People who started registering and never paid. Each event has a recovery page at Registrations → Abandoned where you can email them a link to finish paying without logging in. The CRM overview shows the total value sitting there across all your races. See Unfinished registrations for the detail.
Your name menu → CRM → Contacts → Rebuild directory.
CRM → Email Campaigns → New campaign → write it → choose the audience → Save draft → review the count → Send now.
Event → Registrations → Abandoned → send a reminder.
Unfinished registrations
People who started signing up and never paid — and how to get them back.
What counts as an unfinished registration?
An entry that was started but never paid for. The details are saved the moment someone reaches checkout, so if they close the tab, lose signal, or get interrupted at the card screen, their entry is sitting there waiting — you just have not been paid for it.
Where do I find them?
Open the event and go to Registrations → Abandoned. You get the count, the money at risk, how many have been recovered, and a list with each person's name, email, distance, amount and where they came from.
Why is someone who just started missing from the list?
Anything begun in the last 30 minutes is left out on purpose — those people may still be at the checkout screen, and an email asking why they did not finish would arrive while they are finishing. Entries older than 60 days drop off too, since chasing them rarely works.
Do these people count as registered?
No. They are not in your registrant list, not in your numbers, and they hold no spot. If your race has a cap, an unfinished entry does not use one up.
What does the reminder email do?
It sends a link that opens their part-finished entry and lets them pay, with no password and no account needed. Everything they already typed is still there, so finishing takes one click and a card.
Does the reminder send by itself?
No. Nothing on PlayCompete sends on a schedule. You choose Send reminder next to one person, or use the batch box to send to a set number of people at once.
What does the batch send actually do?
It emails people who have never been reminded before, up to the number you type in (100 at most in one go). Anyone already reminded is skipped, so pressing it twice does not mail the same person twice. To chase someone a second time use the Send again button on their row.
Will it email someone who unsubscribed?
No. A recovery nudge is promotional, so unsubscribes are honoured and those people are silently skipped. Receipts and confirmations for things already paid for are different and always go out.
How do I know whether it worked?
The Recovered and Recovered value figures at the top count people who were emailed a reminder and then paid. That is measured, not estimated — only entries you actually chased are credited.
How long is the link good for?
Fourteen days. That is deliberately much longer than the 30-minute link in a normal confirmation email, because a recovery email often gets opened the next day.
Someone paid — will they still get chased?
No. The list is worked out fresh each time you open it, so as soon as payment lands they are gone from it.
Can I work the list somewhere else?
Yes. Export CSV gives you names, emails, phone numbers, amounts, how many reminders each has had and where they came from — useful if you would rather phone them or use your own mail tool.
Why are so many not finishing?
Registrations → Traffic Sources breaks unfinished entries down by where people came from. A channel sending plenty of starts but few payments usually means the ad or post is promising something the entry price does not match.
Can I see this across all my races at once?
Yes. The CRM overview shows the combined value of unfinished registrations across every event you run. Chasing them is still done per event.
Event → Registrations → Abandoned.
Find their row → Send reminder. Use Send again to nudge someone a second time.
Set how many in the batch box → Send reminders. Only people never emailed before are included.
Same page → the Recovered and Recovered value figures at the top.
Using roles
Give your staff and volunteers exactly the access they need, and nothing more.
How do I add someone to my team?
Open the event and choose Team & Roles, then add the person by email and pick their role. They sign in with their own PlayCompete account to get the access, and we email them an invite. If they do not have an account yet they create one with that same email.
What roles are available for an event?
Full Admin (everything), Comms (communications), Volunteer Manager (volunteers), Timing (timing and results entry), and Fundraising Manager (campaign and donations). Owner is the account that created the organization.
What can each role actually see?
People only see the tabs their role allows. A Timing person can enter times and results but cannot change your event settings or publish results; a Comms person can send emails but cannot manage registrations. Anything outside their role is hidden.
Can someone help with one race but not the others?
Yes. Roles assigned on a specific event apply only to that event. Organization-wide roles apply everywhere, so use per-event roles for volunteers and race-day helpers.
How do I change or remove someone's access?
On the same Team & Roles page you can change a person's role from the dropdown, or remove them from the event entirely. Changes take effect immediately.
Event → Team & Roles → enter their email and name → choose a role → Add. They receive an email invite.
Event → Team & Roles → change the role dropdown next to their name, or choose Remove.
Communications
Confirmation emails, race-week updates, and messages to any group of registrants.
Do reminder emails send automatically?
No. Nothing on PlayCompete sends on a schedule — reminders go out when you press Send. The Reminders card shows how many people are due each one, when you last sent it, and a Preview button so you can read the actual email first.
How do I email my registrants?
Use Communications → Email Registrants. You can pick recipients by distance and by status, so you might email only the half marathon, or only people who have not checked in yet. The recipient count updates as you choose.
Can I customize the confirmation email?
Yes. Under Communications → Confirmation Email you can set your own subject and message. It goes out automatically when someone registers, alongside their QR code for check-in.
What are email templates for?
Email Templates hold your reusable messages, such as a pre-race information email and a results-published announcement, so you are not rewriting them every year.
Can I export my registrant email list?
Yes. Communications → Export Email List downloads a CSV you can use in your own mail tool or newsletter platform.
Who on my team can send emails?
Full Admins and anyone with the Comms role. See Using roles for how to grant that.
Do these emails honour unsubscribes?
Yes. Email Registrants carries an unsubscribe link, and anyone who has opted out of this race or of your organization entirely is skipped. The result tells you how many were skipped, so a lower number than you expected is explained rather than mysterious.
Does unsubscribing stop their confirmation and reminders?
Confirmations, receipts and refund notices always go out — they are a record of something the person did, not marketing. Reminders you send by hand also still go, for the same reason. It is the broadcasts and campaigns that stop.
Event → Communications → Email Registrants → select the distance and status → write your message → Send.
Event → Communications → Confirmation Email → set the subject and message → Save. Preview it before your first registration.