Heats

Open the page

From your event's director dashboard, click Heats in the sidebar. You see every sub-event with a status pill: Heats off, Heats on · no heats yet, or the count of configured heats.

Turning heats on for a sub-event

1. Click 'Configure' on the sub-event

   Expands the editor inline.

2. Flip 'Enable heats for this sub-event' on

   Required before any heat data participates in registration. Heat data IS preserved when the toggle is off, so you can turn it off temporarily without losing setup.

3. Decide: registrant chooses, or you assign?

   With Registrants choose their heatON, athletes pick their start heat while they register and it's required to finish. With it OFF, every registration lands unassigned and you place people into heats yourself from the roster (see below). Track meets that seed heats from goal times usually leave it off; wave starts usually turn it on.

4. Add heats

   Click Add heat. Each heat gets a name (auto: “Heat 1”, “Heat 2”), with optional start time, capacity, notes, and a private code.

5. Drag to reorder

   The order matters for displays + for the Bib assignments “Stratified by heat” rule.

6. Save heats

   Click Save heats. Done.

What each heat field does

Heat name

Auto-named "Heat 1", "Heat 2", etc. Change to anything: "Elite", "Boys' 800 Heat 1", "6:00 pace".

Start time (optional)

Per-heat gun time. Leave blank to inherit the sub-event's start time, common for track meets where every heat starts at the same wall-clock minute on different tracks.

Capacity (optional)

Max athletes in this heat. Useful for a real wave-start where lane count or course density caps a heat. Blank = no limit. When registrants pick their own heat, a full one can't be chosen: it shows as Full and is greyed out, and the limit is re-checked at checkout so two people can't take the last spot at once.

Private code (optional)

Gates the heat behind a code. Athletes see the heat listed with a lock and a code box, so they know it exists and can ask you for the code, but they can't pick it until they type the right one. Meant for invite-only elite heats inside an otherwise-public sub-event. Codes ignore capitalization and spacing.

Notes for athletes (optional)

Free text saved with the heat for context like "Goal pace: 6:00–7:00 / mile" or "Open lanes 4–6".

The two real-world models

Track meet

Pace-grouped heats with a shared sub-event start time. Common for high-school invitationals, all-comers track meets, and masters meets.

• Sub-event start time = the wall-clock minute of the event
• Per-heat start time stays blank
• You might let registrants self-select pace (“I'm targeting 6:00”) OR have them answer a PR / goal question and seed heats yourself later
• Private codes on elite heats so only invited runners can self-select them

Staggered start waves

Per-heat start times. Common for big-field road races doing wave starts to manage chute density.

• Each heat has its own gun time (e.g. 7:00, 7:15, 7:30)
• Capacity per heat caps wave size
• Usually director assigns rather than registrant chooses. You batch athletes into waves the night before

Deleting a heat

Click the trash icon next to a heat. Deleting a heat does not move anyone, registrations assigned to it simply lose their heat and show as unassigned. If people are already placed in a heat, reassign them from the Registrations roster first, then delete.

What the athlete sees

When Registrants choose their heat is on, a Start heat section appears in the registration form for that distance, on the website and in the Run This app. Every heat is listed in the order you dragged them into, with its start time, how many spots are left, and your notes. Picking one is required to continue.

• A fullheat is shown greyed out and can't be picked, so athletes can see the wave exists and that it filled.
• A code-gated heat is shown with a lock and a code box rather than hidden, so athletes know to come ask you for the code.
• Registering a family? Each person picks their own heat, and the spots left count down as you fill the cart, so two family members can't both take the last spot.

Athletes can't change their own heat after registering. Move them yourself from the roster, which keeps you in control of wave sizes on race morning.

Assigning athletes to heats

Heat assignment happens from the Registrations roster: open a registration, click Manage registration, and use Change heat (the option only appears for sub-events that have heats configured). Assigned heats then show up on the start line, in race results, and in the roster.

Heats and bib assignments

On the Bib assignments page, the Stratified by heat rule groups by heat order (your drag-to-reorder above), then assigns bibs sequentially within. So Heat 1 athletes get the lowest bibs, Heat 2 next, etc. Useful when bib order signals start-line position.