A return to racing – some important points

We’re so glad to be back to real-life races. Our first two events – Ox Races and A Weekend At The Races – went really well. We’ve had some great feedback from our runners. We knew that these events would be a bit different; we have so much we have to do to be Covid secure and compliant.

We’ve learned a lot from these first two events back and know what changes we need to make, as a team, for the next batch of upcoming events. As government guidance changes, we can relax a few things, but we’re still reliant on you, our runners, to help us out and follow whatever rules we have to have in place at this time.  The vast majority of our runners followed the necessary rules, advice and guidance we had at our events. However, we do need to reiterate a few points before our next event.

We need everyone who attends our races to show full respect to the rules and the landowner’s rules at all times; these are there for your safety, the safety of our team and the long-term future of White Star Running.

So here are our top points for future events with White Star Running; please read and action as needed. We want you to have fun and a great run, but we also want you to be safe.

Know your Frolic

We know that a Frolic is a bit different to a normal race. We noticed that some of you might not be sure about how a Frolic works or forgotten as it’s been a while since we had one! So, we recognise that we need to do more to make sure everyone knows how they work. We’re working on some informative videos to help show you how it all works and to make sure your times are recorded accurately. 

Shop safe

Our shop is operating under Covid-secure guidance at this time. Please don’t touch anything in the shop. Our team will help you as much as they can and show you the stock, but we have to reduce touch points as much as possible to reduce the spread of any germs. It does really help us if you pre-order and click and collect if you know there is something you want specifically.

Oh, and don’t forget your mask! We ask you to wear these when entering a marquee. At our first two events, some runners came to get their race goodies from the marquee and didn’t have face masks on. While we adapted with pulling your t-shirt over your nose and mouth, it’s really not ideal. We ask you to carry a face mask at all times in case you need First Aid to ensure our crew and the medical team can treat you safely and efficiently.

Dogs and kids 

We love both dogs and kids. We love them at our races. But please know what you can and can’t do with your dogs and kids at our races. You can only run with a dog in our dog-friendly events, and you MUST enter as a dog entrant (Dog Friendly Races for 2021 – White Star Running). You can’t run with a dog otherwise and it’s just not allowed at some of our events. Please don’t come into the Admin area and ask if you can run with your dog only to get told you can’t – and then do it anyway. It jeopardises our insurance and the landowner could boot us off if they find out. It’s against our rules set out when you enter a race. Dogs are welcome on most of our campsites too, but you must follow the landowner rules – some ask that dogs are on leads at all times. And clean up after your dog at all times.

Kids can only run in our kids’ races or Chaos races. Children can’t accompany their adults around the Frolic courses – we’re simply not insured for this. Make sure that you comply with the age restrictions for the different races: WSR Age Restrictions – White Star Running

We have to get specific insurance to cover us when we have kids’ or dog races happening at an event. So please don’t let your kids or dogs run with you unless it’s at a specific race that allows this.

Run as yourself and no one else

At our first two events, we had several runners running in someone else’s number. We’ve worked really hard to put in place a policy that we think is fair for you the runners and on us, which you can view here: Race Transfers – White Star Running. This gives us enough time to do all the administration that comes with an event, order all the goodies and get everything ready.

Unfortunately, there will be some runners who get injured or something happens to mean they can’t make an event, but we have to set transfer deadlines otherwise we could end up with a race with only a few hundred in that makes us bankrupt! Please don’t give your race number to someone else. We will sadly be issuing warnings to those who have done this for the first two events, as it is not acceptable under our terms of entries, as agreed when signing up to a race.

DON’T RUN AS SOMEONE ELSE. This is really dangerous. We have all our runners’ details on file and if something happened to you during the race, we’d be ringing their emergency contact not yours.  We may be giving you treatment you’re allergic to because we think you’re someone else. Yes, you can write your details on the back of a number, but in emergency situations it’s not always possible to get these off and check they match what we have on file.

On top of all the usual risks, as a company we’re now dealing with Covid compliance. We need to know exactly who is on site in case there is a positive case at a race and we need to contact trace.

All this is clearly in our terms and conditions when entering a race.

If you’re running a landmark race, let us know – in advance!

Landmark medals are something we offer as an extra for our events, and we know you love them. If it’s your birthday and you’re running (as in actually on the day), or if you’re doing your first-ever marathon at one of our events, please let us know before race day! If you don’t tell us in advance, we won’t pack enough medals and you will be disappointed. We take it on honesty and trust that you’re choosing a WSR race to do your first marathon ever.

We’re sorry if this seems a bit of a rant. We know we can be a bit silly sometimes and like to have fun, but we’re actually pretty serious when it comes to putting on a safe, secure and organised event. We work really hard to give runners a good experience, while also meeting the terms of our insurance, keeping our landowners happy, running a safe race and so on. And with Covid, there is an awful lot of extra admin. So please come run with us, but just follow the rules that are in place – you can still have a happy, fun and exciting time. 

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