Each race that we going to run needs a registration, and – normally – the organizers of the competitions use online platforms for the management of athletes registration. These platforms are different from each another, with different peculiarities. They obviously have a cost, which is shared in two parts. One by the athletes (the “order management costs ” which usually increase the cost of registration by a few euros) and the second by the organization, which will be a figure agreed between the platform and the race itself.
Let’s take a look to the different platforms that work in the Italian scenarios.. These websites are very often offering a timing services for the event, but this is another story taht we will face later.
- Athlinks: it is the (American) service used by the Spartan Race . This is very powerful, in the meaning that, in addition to allowing registration to the race, it allows you to: keep track of your Spartan Race sports results, keep track all the races you signed up for through the same platform, and of all your own personal tenders, since they can be entered manually. It is possible to register for a race by accessing as guest without login. However, to keep track of your results and have your own history, you need to create an account (self standing or associated with your profile fb or google).
- Avaibooks : it is the official service (Italian / Spanish) used in 2019 for registration to FIOCR championship competitions , and to many other FIOCR affiliated competitions. We had a chat with Mr. Giuseppe Rizzo , account manager, who replied: “ Our technology is designed to facilitate the registration process for the races. Unlike other platforms, access does not require registration or account. Simply register for each race, and that’s it. We have no user database and we will never send advertising to “sell you something!” We are a technology that is absolutely in motion and at the service of the organizer and the participants, being open to an analysis of the factors pro / contro of a database with the athletes need to login on our platform “
- ENDU.net : this platform is very popular among the different disciplines, and includes some OCR races among its choices. In fact, if you want to register for the Virgin Active Urban Obstacle Rac or Energy Run or Romagna Wild Race , the platform is Endu. To register, you will need an account. This will keep track of progress and uses – for example – the same medical certificate for registrations for following races. Normally a newsletter automatically occurs after registration. By this newsletter Endu will always propose a series of affiliated events, to which you can very easily subscribe using the data in the account without having to re-enter them each time.
- Icron : the platform chosen for registration by Original Gram and by Iron Cross series focuses more on the integration between registration and timekeeping during the race, compared to the simple registration. It is a broader integrated service than the others (which often rely on other companies’ timing chips). Even the dedicated account on the page reflects this mode.
- Active.com : this platform has a more international dimension than the others: this is why it is used by competitions that normally have a edition also out of Italy. The Tough Mudder for example relies on this service. In Italy only the Warrior Run Italia benefits from this platform, which requires a dedicated account to access it . This account also keeps track of all the athlete’s performances for its historian.
- Cronogare: a reality that was born in 2007 as official partner Championchip and that today is part of the international network ENDU. It works mainly for the Puglia region, but also for Basilicata, Calabria and Molise. Mr. Sergio Palumbo answered some of our questions: “Cronogare offers its service in about 150 events / year between circuits and disciplines of running, mountain biking, cycling, triathlon. Recently also for open water swimming and mudruns. About the latter, OCR, the major interest is moving on specialization in the professional timing service. We are following the trend: upcoming events are the Enjoy-Run Salento and RhinoRace in the province of Lecce, but we are in contact for more events in 2019 “
