Circles

What a circle is

A circle is a named group scoped to one edition of your event. Registrants create one by typing a name, or join an existing one from a public picker — no codes, no approval. A circle can mix distances freely: the 5K walkers and the half-marathoners of one running club all belong to the same circle. Each circle has a captain (the person who created it, unless you change it), and everyone else is an equal member. Membership follows the registration, so a circle always reflects who's actually signed up this edition.

Circles vs. Teams

• Circle — an event-wide social group. Public, open to anyone in the event, spans all distances. Think "Riverside Runners at this race."
• Team — the competitive unit of a single team sub-event (a relay, a corporate challenge). Joining requires the team's invite code, and teams can carry size and gender rules. A registration belongs to at most one team.

The two coexist — a relay runner can be on a team and in a circle. See teams for the competitive side.

Turning circles on

Circles are off by default. Flip the "Enable Circles for this event?" toggle at the top of your Circles page (director dashboard → Circles). Once enabled, registration gains a circle step, and a Circles button appears on your public event page as soon as the first circle exists — anyone can browse the list and expand a circle to see its members.

How athletes join

When circles are enabled, the registration wizard gets its own Circle step with three choices:

• No circle — race solo (they can always be added to one later).
• Create a new circle — they name it and become its captain. Anyone in the event can then find and join it.
• Join an existing circle — a dropdown of this edition's circles, biggest first, with member counts.

The circle is attached when the registration completes, and it's recorded on the registration itself — you'll see it in the roster and on the registration's detail view.

The director Circles page

Your Circles page shows this edition's circles as cards — name, member count, captain, and a members list with each person's name. An edition picker lets you look back at any past edition's circles read-only. From here you can:

• Create circles ahead of time — pre-seed the club names you know are coming so registrants can just pick them.
• Edit — rename a circle or promote a member to captain.
• Merge — combine two circles into one (the usual fix for "Riverside Runners" and "riverside runners" created separately); the empty one is deleted.
• Search — by circle name or by any member's name, so you can answer "which circle is Alex Rivera in?" instantly.
• Delete — removes the circle; members keep their registrations, they just stop being grouped.

To move one person between circles, go through the roster instead: open their registration → Manage registration → Change circle. Cancelling a registration removes them from their circle automatically — and if they were the captain, the crown passes to the next member.

Circle fundraising

If your event has a fundraiser, circles can carry donations: turn on "Circles can fundraise" on your Fundraiser page. Your event's donate page then accepts circle-tagged donate links — a donation made through one shows a "Supporting circle" banner naming the circle, and the money is credited to it. Each circle's raised total shows on its card on your Circles page, and the donation still counts toward the event's overall total. See setting up a fundraiser.

Circles across editions

Circles belong to an edition. When your event renews, the new edition starts with a clean slate — last year's circles stay viewable forever from the edition picker, and returning groups simply create their circle again when they register.