Every so often, we release new policies and processes that are based on your feedback and general efficiency (see updates for 2019, 2020, and 2022). We’ve got three great registration updates for 2023 that you will be interested in if you plan to race in Waterloo this upcoming year!
Online event registration is open right until race time
Imagine this: you wake up on race morning, and before you get out of bed, you roll over, check the weather, and you feel good. Next step, from your phone: register for the race. That is now available this year.
Until minutes before the race, as long as kit pickup is open, you can register online on Race Roster for the race, and your kit will be created in real time and added to the system in seconds. Keep in mind that this varies by race, and is affected by sellouts, but generally speaking, for most races and all of our large races, if the kit pickup is open (usually closes 15 minutes before the race), then online registration will be too. Note that this is the only way to register; there are no paper forms.
Registration policy now includes transfers and deferrals
All participants can either transfer their entry (to another person) or defer their entry (to the next year) for a $15 fee. Every race has a detailed policy (including how and when to do it – usually by the Tuesday at midnight before the race) that is agreed to in the participant waiver in Race Roster.
We spent an enormous amount of time in in 2020 and 2022 (and 2023…) processing deferrals, as we believe they were a critical part of public health. With this new experience and perspective, we have figured out how to do it and how to price the manual work it takes behind the scenes to make it work. And so now we have a more flexible policy for you, for all cases (except ENDURrun). Notes: we are applying this new policy to previously registered & deferred entries. In 2022, we waived deferral fees for sold out events, but that is not a guarantee going forward.
Updates coming to category eligibility
We are making some fundamental changes to some behind-the-scenes rules about category eligibility. The first one we have to anno9unce is that we are now including all weight category participants in the Overall Masters as well (with priority for the OM). (For clarity, until now, joining a weight category removed that participant from Overall Masters and age-based categories. Now under this update, weight category participants are included in Overall Masters but excluded from any other age-based categories).
Volunteers are now rewarded with race credits
Registered volunteers in most positions now earn 50% race entry credits through our VolRUNteer program. Full details in our program announcement. Thank you volunteers for making the events happen!
