For organisersGuide
Fill your January intake: how new runners find clubs now
The short answer
Get your club's page live now, fill in Get found so livedot lists your club when someone near you asks ChatGPT or Claude for one, post a regular beginner-friendly run with its route and pace, and invite your interest list from a spreadsheet. In January, share one link: livedot.me/your-club.
Every January, a wave of people decide to start running, and most of them don't know a single club. Some ask a friend. More and more ask an AI assistant: "running club for beginners near me". The clubs that fill up are the ones that are easy to find, easy to understand and easy to turn up to. This guide is a plan for October to January, for running clubs on RunFast. It's one of livedot's guides for organisers.
How do new runners find a club now?
Mostly by asking. A friend, a colleague, a search engine, a social feed, and increasingly an assistant such as ChatGPT or Claude. Whoever they ask, the answer is only as good as what your club has published.
That's the part you control. A club page with real runs on it gives every one of those channels something accurate to point at. livedot, the app people add in ChatGPT and Claude (setup at livedot.me/mcp), answers from those same pages.
What should we do in October and November?
Get the page live and the beginner run on it.
- Add your club on RunFast at runfast.tech/app/#/clubs/add, if it isn't there yet. A person sets up its page with you, at livedot.me/your-club too.
- Fill in Get found on the club's page in the RunFast app: your home area, Beginners welcome, pace groups, who it's for and your weekly sessions.
- Post your weekly runs with their routes, start times and meeting points.
- Add a beginner-friendly run. The same day and time every week, so it's easy to remember.
- Write one line about the club that says who it's for.
- Ask a second member to manage the page, so January doesn't depend on one person.
Posting runs is quick from the chat: see running a club with AI.
What makes a run beginner-friendly?
Saying so, and meaning it. A newcomer reads the run's description before they decide.
| Put this in the description | Why it helps |
|---|---|
| The distance and the pace: "5 km (3.1 mi), 7:00 per km (11:16 per mile) or slower" | They can see they'll keep up |
| No one is left behind: "We regroup every kilometre" | The biggest fear is being last and alone |
| Walk breaks are fine | Run-walk is how many people start |
| Where to meet, and who to look for | "Look for the orange flag at the car park" |
| What happens after: "Coffee at the café" | It's a club, not just a route |
On RunFast, each run on the club's page shows its weather at the club's pace from 10 days out, so a newcomer can see if it'll be hot or cold before they come. January is midsummer heat in Johannesburg or Sydney and dark mornings in London or Toronto, so say what to bring: a cap and water, or a light and a bright top.
How do people find us by place?
They ask in the chat. Someone asking "beginner running club near Fourways" or "running clubs near Clapham" gets a list of clubs near that place from livedot, nearest first, with each club's weekly runs, Beginners welcome and pace groups if the club sets them, its next run with the forecast, and a Join button.
It all comes from Get found on your club's page: your home area, your sessions, Beginners welcome, pace groups and who the club is for. Fill it in before the New Year rush. A club without a home area isn't listed by place. It lists clubs only, never members.
How do we invite our interest list?
From a spreadsheet, with livedot in ChatGPT or Claude. If people gave you their email at a stand, a fun run or on your website to hear from the club, you can invite them all at once.
- Sign in to livedot with the RunFast account that manages the club.
- Attach the spreadsheet or CSV, with a name and an email for each person, and say "Invite these to our club."
- livedot shows who it will invite and who it will skip. Nothing is sent yet.
- Say yes. Each person gets one email from livedot with Confirm.
Nobody joins until they confirm, each address is invited once, and anyone who unsubscribed from livedot invites is skipped. A club's managers can send up to 500 invites a day. Only invite people who'd expect to hear from you. Step by step: invite club members from a CSV with ChatGPT, and RunFast's help on inviting members from a spreadsheet.
What should we do in January?
Make the first run easy to say yes to.
- Share one link everywhere: livedot.me/your-club, in your bio, on posters and in the local community groups.
- Keep the beginner run on the same day and time all month.
- Welcome people by name. Members tap I'm in on RunFast; anyone else sees only how many are coming.
- Add a goal for later, such as a club 10 km race in March, so newcomers have something to train for. Supporters can follow it live on the day: see live tracking for clubs.
How do we check what a newcomer sees?
Look at the club the way a stranger does, a week before New Year. Open livedot.me/your-club in a browser where you're signed out, and read it as someone who has never run 5 km (3.1 mi). Is the beginner run there, with its day, time, meeting point and pace? Does the line about the club say who it's for? Then ask livedot in ChatGPT or Claude about your club's next race by name. Anything missing is fixed on the page.
Does it cost anything?
No. The club page, the runs, invites, live tracking and livedot in ChatGPT and Claude are free for the club and every runner, thanks to ProLend. For riders and cycling clubs, the same plan works on Windline: see how to get your cycling club found.
Questions
When should a running club prepare for January?
In October and November. A club page takes a person to set up, and your beginner run should be on it, with its route and pace, before people start looking at New Year.
How do new runners find a club now?
Through friends and colleagues, search engines, social media and, more and more, AI assistants. livedot lists running clubs near a place in ChatGPT and Claude, from their club pages, for clubs that have filled in Get found.
Can I invite people who signed up at our stand?
Yes, if they gave you their email to hear from the club. Attach the list in ChatGPT or Claude with livedot, check the preview and say yes. Each person gets one email to confirm; nobody joins until they do.
What makes a club beginner-friendly?
A regular run that says who it's for, a pace nobody gets dropped at, a clear meeting point and time, and someone who says hello. Say it in the run's description so newcomers know before they come.
