Race-Day Playbook
Quick reference for aid station captains and volunteers on race day. Each situation below links to the full step-by-step guide — this page is just “what do I do.”
Starting your shift
- Check-in app open and paired to the race.
- Confirm you’re on the right aid station — the app lists every station on the course; pick yours before the first runner arrives.
- Phone charged, ideally with a backup battery. The app is built to work through bad signal, but not through a dead phone.
A runner arrives at your station
Check them in with their bib number. Do the same at check-out when they leave.
A runner got scanned twice, or the wrong bib was scanned
Don’t delete it and don’t try to “fix” it with another scan. Hide the bad entry instead — it stays on the timeline, marked hidden and easy to restore if you got it wrong, but drops out of results.
→ Hide an Errant Timeline Entry
The recorded time looks wrong
A scan should carry the real time the runner passed through, not when it happened to sync. If a device’s clock was off, or a check-in got logged after the fact, edit that event’s time directly rather than re-scanning.
A runner is dropping, or you’re pulling one
Mark them DNF with a reason (medical, cutoff, self-withdrew, etc.). This is what tells the live roster and results the runner is out — don’t just leave them unscanned.
You’re offline or have no signal
Keep scanning normally. The check-in app records the real time on the device and queues everything locally until it can sync — the recorded time won’t be wrong because of a delayed sync. See Device Time vs. Server Time for why this is safe.
Something’s actually broken
App won’t open, your station isn’t in the list, or check-ins aren’t going through at all — don’t guess or work around it. Contact your race director using whatever method your pre-race briefing set up (radio, phone, text).
Ending your shift
Before you hand off or head out, check the app’s status bar for a pending count. If scans are still queued, stay on signal until they clear, or flag it to your race director so nothing gets lost.