A course is only a race once someone takes responsibility for it. That person is the Race Marshal.
What registering a course does
Whoever registers a course sets the date and the location, and becomes the Race Marshal for that event. The race then gets its own registration link and QR code so riders can sign up for it.
What the site does for your race
Registering the course is only the start of it. From that point on Verdant Ride does the promotion for you. Your race gets its own page, its own link and its own QR code, and if you list it publicly it surfaces for every rider searching for a race near them. Send the link to the riders you already know, and let the listing bring you the ones you do not.
On race day the Race Marshal app keeps the ledger. Every racer who signed up is checked in, every run is timed at the gate, and the photo finish settles the close ones to a sixtieth of a second. Times post to the leaderboard as they happen, so riders can see exactly where they stand against the rest of the field and against every other course in the league.
When the last run is done the race page stays up. Everyone who raced can add their photos and video to it, so the day ends up as one shared record instead of scattered clips on ten different phones. Results, times, faces and wipeouts all in one place, still there next season when somebody wants to see how far they have come.
You decide who sees any of it. Private keeps the whole thing between you and the people you hand the link to, which is all you need for a few friends and a quiet stretch of water. Public puts the race in front of every rider in your region and lets search engines find it. Public is how you meet the riders you have not met yet, and how a friendly rivalry starts. Nothing sharpens high-speed technique faster than somebody sitting half a second ahead of you on the leaderboard.
You must be a registered Verdant Ride member
Course registration is tied to an account. That is deliberate. The Marshal sets the reference time, and the reference time shifts every rider at that race on the global leaderboard, so it has to be attached to a real, accountable person.
What the Marshal is responsible for
- Building the course to the league standard and confirming the distance.
- Running the reference time and submitting it honestly.
- Checking that every racer has registered and signed the release before their first run.
- Timing runs at the gate, or appointing someone who will.
- Keeping the course safe and stopping the race if conditions turn.
Setting the reference time
This is the number that gets scrutinized. Run the course all out, not as a demonstration lap. Run it more than once and submit the median rather than your single best. Run it in the conditions the field will actually race in, because a reference set on glass at 7 a.m. does not describe a 2 p.m. race in whitecaps.
A soft reference makes your entire local field look artificially fast against every other course in the world. Races with an unusual handicap get reviewed before results go global.
Register your course
Fill this in once your course is marked and measured. You will get a race link and QR code to hand to riders.
Members only
Log in to register your course
Registering a course makes you the Race Marshal for that event, and the reference time you set moves every rider at your race on the global leaderboard. That has to be attached to a real, accountable person, so the registration form opens once you are logged in.