Creating an event

1. Start a new event

   Click Create Your Race. The first thing Run This asks is where people will register for this race: on Run This, or on a different site. You answer before the form opens, and the answer decides what the Register button on your page does. See Where people register below before you pick.

2. Enter the basics

   Name, date, and location. If people register on a different site, you also paste your registration link here. Everything on this form can be edited later, except the URL and where people register.

3. Find your venue on the map

   Type your venue or street address into the location search and pick a suggestion, the address fields fill themselves and your event gets exact map coordinates, so it shows in the right spot on every map. Parks, trailheads and fields come up by name, and places near you are listed first. You can also paste GPS coordinates straight into the search, including the kind Google Maps shows when you drop a pin. Hosting a virtual event? Check the virtual box instead and skip the address entirely; your event page will say “Virtual event” in place of a location. If the map pin ever looks slightly off (a wrong entrance, a block over), drag it on the Edit event page, your typed address never changes. For trail races and other spots without a usable street address, click Use coordinates instead of an address on the Edit event page and type or paste the latitude and longitude. Decimals and the Google Maps format both work, and pasting both numbers into one box fills the two. You can give it a display name like “Bear Creek Trailhead” that shows in place of the street line.

4. Check your time zone

   Run This sets your event's time zone from the state you entered, and every time you set after that means a time on that clock: your start time, wave times, heat times, and your registration and volunteer windows. It is what athletes see on your event page and in every email, so it reads the same whether they are across town or across the country. You can change it on the Edit event page, under the date fields. Worth a look if your race sits in a state that covers two time zones (Tennessee, Florida, Texas, Kentucky, Michigan, Indiana, Kansas, Nebraska, the Dakotas, Idaho, Oregon and Alaska all do), or if you set your race up while travelling.

5. Map on the event page

   Every event automatically shows a simple location map on its public page so athletes can see where they're going and tap Get directions for Google Maps or Apple Maps. When you build a course in Course Studio, the map upgrades to show the route. You can hide the map entirely from the Edit event page if you don't want it shown.

6. Pick the URL carefully

   Your event's name auto-generates a URL like runthis.run/event/cherry-blossom-10-miler. Once you save the event, this URL is locked. A year-friendly URL (no year baked in) reuses cleanly when you renew next year.

7. Save as draft

   The event saves as a draft. It's not visible to anyone else yet, and athletes can't register. You're free to fill out the rest of the configuration before publishing.

Where people register

This is the most important choice you make about an event, and it is the first thing Run This asks. Read the two options as a question about real people: where will someone go to sign up?

• Registration on Run This. Run This becomes the official entry list for your race. You set a price (or turn on Free entry) on every distance, connect payouts, and every registrant gets a Run This confirmation and a race-day check-in pass. Choose this only if Run This will be the only place people sign up. Anyone who registers here is entered in your race.
• Registration on a different site. Run This lists your race so runners can find, save and follow it. The Register button on your page opens the registration link you paste. Nobody can register on Run This for this event, and there is nothing to price. You still own and manage the page, its photos, updates and insights.

If your race is already on Run This

As you type the event name, Run This checks whether a race that looks like yours is already listed: the same name, or a very similar one in the same state. If it finds one, a card appears under the name field.

• If the listing has no organizer yet, you can request to claim it right there. Pick your role, add anything that helps us verify, and send it. A person reviews every claim and emails you once it is decided. Claiming gives you the existing page instead of a second copy of your race.
• If the race is already managed on Run This, the card says so and links to it. Ask its director to add you as a co-director.
• If it really is a different race, tick "This is a different race" and carry on. When the match is only similar rather than the same, the card just informs you and nothing is held.

What to do before publishing

• Add a description on the Edit event page. This is what athletes read first.
• Add sub-events if your race has multiple distances or categories. Sub-events and pricing.
• Set your registration window. On the Edit event page, under Registration window, pick when registration opens and when it closes, in your event's time zone. Both are required before you can publish. The closes time is the final answer: athletes can register right up to that moment, even on race morning, no matter what your event date and time say. Want race-day registration? Set the closes time to the moment the race starts (or later). Need to extend it? Move the closes time and the Register button comes back within a minute.
• Add a contact phone number. Run This calls you if something race-day-urgent comes up. Only you, your co-directors and Run This staff can see it; it never appears on your event page or anywhere runners can see.
• Upload your icon and header images. See Page styles to pick the layout that fits.
• Round out the details from the Edit event page as they apply to your race: info sections, waivers, registration questions, coupons, giveaways, sponsors, and volunteer groups.
• (Optional) Configure a fundraiser if your event accepts donations.

When you're ready to publish

See Publishing your event for the go-live checklist. The Publish dialog will tell you what's missing if anything isn't ready.