The goal of package pickup is to get the right race package to the right person as quickly as possible. The larger the race, the larger this challenge becomes. Inefficient processes can lead to long delays and frustration for your participants, heightened stress, mistakes, and even delayed races. Careful planning and preparation should be taken to ensure your package pickup goes smoothly and utilizing several unique processes introduced by Zone4 can considerably improve your processes.
Bib Pre Assignment
The traditional method of bib assignment involved pre-assigning bib numbers to participants, and preparing race packages pre-assigned to each participant. This method is needed if you need to control small specific bib ranges for specific groups. An example of this would be a triathlon where the your transition area is laid out carefully by age-class, gender, and distance. In this situation, you have no choice but to pre-assign your numbers to ensure an organized transition area. Another example is a ski or cycling race where seeding requirements dictate that the highest ranked athletes get specific bibs and placements within the start field.
When bibs are pre-assigned, package hand-out can either be performed by finding people on a paper list (which is slow but manageable under about 200 entrants) or using the “Find a Racer” search tool which makes filtering on first or last name very fast.
Alternately, for events where a paper copy of CSV export is required grouping on a field such as club or team, the Racer Reports area should be used to design a report and group it as needed.
Real Time Bib Assignment
For large mass participation events such as running races, loppets, gran fondo cycling events though, you may only have a few different distances that you want to assign specific sequences to and don’t have specific seeding requirements. In this case, pre-bib assignment is often not the most efficient process. It’s actually far more efficient to assign bibs as participants show up at package pickup.