For organisersGuide
Live tracking for a marathon: a guide for organisers
The short answer
Put your marathon on livedot: create it in the free RunFast app, or ask livedot to set it up with you. Runners join it and go live from their phone or straight from their Garmin watch, and families follow every runner who chose to be seen on your race's page at livedot.me, with their pace, their finish time against their goal and the heat where they are. It's free for organisers, runners and followers, thanks to ProLend.
At a marathon, most of the people who care about a runner aren't on the course: they're at home, at work, or at the wrong kilometre marker. With RunFast and livedot, every runner who chooses to be seen is a live dot on your course, with their pace, their finish time and the heat where they are, and their family follows from anywhere in a browser. This guide is for organisers of marathons and half marathons, anywhere in the world.
How do I add live tracking to my marathon?
Three steps, free.
- Put your marathon on livedot. Create it in the free RunFast app with its course and start time, or tell livedot about it at livedot.me/organisers and a person sets it up with you.
- Runners join it. In RunFast, each one joins your race, chooses who sees them (the app asks whether to be Findable by anyone) and can set a goal time. Runners with a Garmin watch add the free livedot app and link it once.
- On race morning, they go live. They tap Go live on their phone, or press Start on their Garmin near the course at the start time. Everyone follows on your race's page at livedot.me.
Share that one link in your pre-race email, on your socials and on the start-line screen. How to show participants live.
What do families and fans see?
Each runner on the course, as a runner's family wants to see them.
- Pace and finish time, against their goal (as a ghost beside them) and against any cut-off.
- The heat where they are, and on the course ahead, at their own pace. At a marathon, the heat is what decides the second half.
- The whole field, with the furthest along at the top and a box to find a runner by name, if that runner allows it.
- Taps on the back, sent from home, that the runner sees arrive. What a tap on the back is.
- Finishers stay on the race map for a day.
What about the weather?
Every runner sees the heat on your course at their own pace, kilometre by kilometre, in RunFast before race day. Within 10 days of the race it's the real forecast; further out, it's 10 years of weather records for that date. For examples of what that looks like for a whole race, see the race-weather guides for the New York City Marathon, Valencia and the Comrades.
What should runners do on race morning?
Charge to full, allow location while using the app, and on Android set RunFast's battery use to Unrestricted. Then pocket the phone and run. The race-day phone checklist.
Does it cost anything?
No. It's free for organisers, runners and everyone following, thanks to ProLend. If you'd like your marathon's live page in your own styling, with your sponsors and the live map on your own website, a bespoke page is $200 per event.
Questions
How do I add live tracking to my marathon?
Create the race in the free RunFast app with its course and start time, or tell livedot about it at livedot.me/organisers and a person sets it up with you. Runners join it and go live on the day from their phone or their Garmin watch, and everyone follows on your race's page at livedot.me.
Do runners need to carry a phone?
They need a phone with them, in a pocket or a belt: either running RunFast, or running Garmin Connect for a Garmin watch with the free livedot app, which sends the watch's position through it.
Who shows up on the race map?
Runners who go live and chose Findable by anyone: the app asks when they join the race. Runners who share only with their own followers are seen by those people. Nobody shows unless they go live.
What do families see?
Each runner on the course, with their pace, their finish time against their goal and any cut-off, and the heat where they are. They can find a runner by name, if that runner allows it, and send a tap on the back.
How long do finishers stay on the map?
A day, so late followers still see them come home.
What does it cost?
Nothing. It's free for organisers, runners and everyone following, thanks to ProLend. The only paid option is a bespoke branded page in your own styling, with the live map on your own website: $200 per event, if you want one.
