Insurance

General Information

Submit a request to Star Insurance for an additional insured certificates.  This is now an online form designed to expedite the processing of additional insured certificate requests.

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Insurance coverage is one of the major benefits of RRCA membership. We believe that insurance is a top priority for clubs and events and should never be an afterthought in the planning process. If a claim arises from a club or event activity, defending the claim can generate extraordinary legal expense. Purchasing general liability insurance through the RRCA covers the cost of litigation as well as any payout of damages in a claim.

The RRCA offers two basic types of insurance policies for your club or event, General Liability Insurance, and Directors and Officers (D&O) Insurance. An additional rider can be purchased to insure against loss or damage to your club’s equipment. See information on equipment insurance below.

All RRCA member clubs and events MUST carry general liability. All RRCA nonprofit clubs and events must carry D&O insurance. Members who choose not to participate in the RRCA insurance program must furnish a copy of their insurance certificate showing similar coverage with another insurance provider. You must be an RRCA member club or event to access the insurance program, Learn about membership categories, dues structure and insurance fees.

Insurance is non-transferable. RRCA clubs that assist other organizations with putting on an event may NOT extend insurance coverage to these organizations.  If the club does not own the race or manage all aspects of the event, it is not an insured event of the club.  In this case, the organization receiving the assistance must join the RRCA as an event member to obtain insurance for their event.  Race Directing companies may insure an event through the RRCA if they OWN the race and direct all aspects of the race.  If the race directing company is assisting another organization with elements of an event such as timing or finish line services, this event is not owned by the race directing company and not insured.  Transferring of the RRCA insurance by race directing companies and clubs for non-owned events is fraud.  Race directing companies assisting other organizations with their events must instruct that organization to obtain and show proof of event insurance.  For more information please see below, under “Covered Activities”, or call (703) 525-3890.

General Liability Insurance

The RRCA comprehensive general liability policy also offers insurance for accidental medical, property damage, and sexual abuse and molestation. Covered parties include club volunteers, trainees, event participants and event spectators. As part of the application process, a club must submit a current list of all activities, including races it hosts, with the RRCA. This list can be updated throughout the year by adding new events to the find an event page.

Occasionally, a municipality or property owner requests to become an additional insured under an existing insurance policy. These “additional insured certificates” are provided free of charge by submitting a request to Star Insurance.  Submit a request to Star Insurance for an additional insured certificate. Star Insurance will contact you if the additional party cannot be covered. Some exclusion apply, however. Timing companies, police departments, and others cannot be named as additional insured parties, as they should have their own general business insurance.

Volunteer Medical Personnel Endorsement

RRCA members covered under the general liability insurance program can purchase additional insurance coverage for volunteer medical personnel.  The Volunteer Medical Personnel Endorsement covers emergency first aid and/or on-course medical treatment by properly licensed medical personnel working on a voluntary basis.  Paid medical staff are not covered under this endorsement.  Medical volunteers who provide service at running events typically have professional liability coverage already in place to protect themselves against malpractice claims. The RRCA Volunteer Medical Personnel Endorsement is considered insurance over and above any other insurance held by the medical professional.  It does, however, provide coverage when a professional liability policy does not extend coverage to emergency medical professionals volunteering at events held outside of a workplace facility.

Coverage limits for medical volunteers are the same as the RRCA’s General Liability policy.  The cost of the additional endorsement is either $250 or 2% of the club or event member’s General Liability premium for 2010, whichever is higher.

To add this endorsement to your organization’s insurance policy, please send an email to Eve Mills at membership@rrca.org with Medical Volunteer Insurance in the subject line, and include the name of your club or event, your name and phone number, and your request for the volunteer medical personnel endorsement.  Eve will respond with an invoice for the additional premium. Once the premium is paid, you will receive a revised certificate of insurance, via email, that includes the additional medical volunteer coverage.

Note: Triathlon and biathlon events are not covered by the RRCA general liability insurance policy. Each club should review and understand the details of the general liability policy prior to obtaining coverage.

Directors & Officers Insurance (Nonprofit Organizations Only)

D&O insurance coverage protects board members, officers and directors from claims arising from an error in judgment or challenged matter of policy. These claims may take the form of slander and/or discrimination arising from board decisions.

Nonprofit RRCA members are required to carry Directors and Officers Insurance. If a member club holds a D&O policy with another insurance provider, this fee can be waived by providing a copy of the insurance certificate to the RRCA.

Equipment Insurance

The RRCA offers affordable equipment insurance to all of our members through the Inland Marine Equipment Floater Policy and is available directly from Star Insurance. To obtain a piece of mind and coverage for your equipment all you need to do complete a simple application, include a narrative describing the facility where your equipment is housed, and provide a list of the equipment you wish to insure. The policy period runs from March 1st to March 31st of the next year, and the premium is $2.30 per $100.00 of the equipment’s replacement cost. Premiums for equipment insurance are sent directly to Star Insurance. Click here to access the equipment insurance application.

Download Equipment Insurance Application (Word doc)

Activities Covered by Insurance

Depending on their size, running clubs today organize and manage a myriad of activities and events. Club activities range from social activities; meetings, pot-luck meals, banquets and community volunteering, training programs; youth through adult, walkers to advanced runners, club runs for road, track, cross country, and trail, and running events; fun runs and low-key club races, all the way up to large road and trail races.

These events and activities will be covered by the RRCA general insurance policy as long as the club has jurisdiction over all aspects of the activity. This is usually straightforward, however, confusion may arise when a member club is hired, or supplies volunteers to assist another organization hold an event, usually a race.

While the RRCA does not want to discourage member clubs from assisting other organizations with race directing services, it is important that the club does not extend its insurance to races that it does not own and is not integrally and directly involved with.

Below are some guidelines to determine if a road or trail race is club managed. If it is determined that a race is not “owned” by the club, then the organization that does own the race should contact the RRCA to become an event member and thereby insured for the race.

A club managed race is one in which the club can answer “yes” to all the following questions:

• Does the club list the race on its calendar and discuss its status at board meetings?
• If the club is a nonprofit organization, is the race referred to in club minutes as a club owned race?
• Is the club involved at each planning stage of the race?
• Does the club train and supervise the volunteers on the course, at the aid stations, and at the start and finish of the race?
• Do the registration and sponsorship funds run through the club’s bank account?
• Is the club responsible for overseeing the safety and risk management of the race?
• Could the organization being assisted possibly be named in a lawsuit arising from an incident occurring at the race?
• Does the club name appear in the race name? For example, “Road Runners Club 5K Run for Heart Health”?

Risk Management Guidelines

The ability for the RRCA to obtain affordable insurance depends upon the collective risk management efforts of our members. While activities including animals, bicycles, skateboards, jogging strollers, and roller skates or blades are not excluded from the insurance policy, These types of events are strongly discouraged. The high risk of potential injury involved in these activities could cause an increase in RRCA insurance premiums, or worse, a refusal by the insurance company to renew the RRCA’s insurance policy.

Special note about the use of headphones

The RRCA has a written guideline against the use of personal music devices in running events and group training runs. We feel this is a safety precaution and a risk management responsibility for race directors and group run leaders. As such, race directors and group run leaders are encouraged to ban or strongly discourage the use of headphones in races and group runs.

The RRCA understands that enforcement of a headphone ban can be a challenge for race directors, especially for races that exceed several thousand runners. Because of this, the use of headphones in events and group runs is not excluded from the RRCA insurance policy. This means that if a race director bans the use of headphones during a race, and a participant uses headphones anyway, and is involved in an accident, the insurance policy will cover the cost of litigation and any potential payout.

While the insurance policy does not exclude headphones, and the RRCA does not have an outright ban on their use during races, RRCA members cannot actively encourage runners to run with their headphones. On January 17, 2009, the RRCA Board of Directors passed a policy stating that RRCA members taking advantage of the group general liability and Directors & Officers insurance benefit may not actively promote that headphones are welcome at RRCA insured events. RRCA club and event members, who engage in marketing campaigns that invite participants to participate in a race or group run while wearing will be removed from the RRCA group insurance coverage.

As part of the annual renewal process, RRCA members are asked to review RRCA’s Guidelines for Safe Event Management and Guidelines for Leading a Group Run and attest that this information has been reviewed and will be followed to the best ability of their ability.

FAQ's

Questions About Procedures

• Q. Is liability insurance optional?

  No. An RRCA member club or event must have liability insurance either through the RRCA or another carrier. Any insurance policy taking the place of that being provided to the RRCA should contain equivalent coverage including participant liability as well as the other standard liability policy items.

• Q. If a club opts for comparable insurance coverage, what information must it provide?

  The RRCA needs a copy of the certificate of insurance from the insurer. Proof of alternate insurance must be provided to the RRCA upon joining and renewing membership.

• Q. How is the insurance premium determined?

  For RRCA clubs, fees are based on the number of household members in the club. For event clubs, fees are based on the number of participants in the event.

• Q. When is the insurance premium due?

  Membership fees and insurance premiums are paid in full by December 31st for the upcoming year, and cannot be paid in installments. After January 1st, insurance coverage begins on the day fees are received. Clubs should make sure fees are paid prior to the first club activity in order to assure RRCA insurance coverage is in place.

• Q. Do I get proof of insurance coverage?

  Yes, your club or event primary contact person will receive a copy of the certificate of insurance by email. This email will come from Star Insurance. It may take up to ten business days to process the certificate after joining or renewing membership. Replacement copies can be obtained by emailing Janice Routt at Janice.routt@starfinancial.com.

• Q. If club membership fluctuates during the year are there any additional charges?

  No. The annual fee is fixed for the year. Any changes in club membership numbers, either up or down, will be reflected in the following year’s renewal.

• Q. Must a club report its races to the RRCA?

  Yes. Insurance coverage is provided only for races listed on the RRCA online calendar. The calendar can be accessed from the RRCA homepage under “Find and Event”, and a user ID and password are required for entering race details.

• Q. Can additional insured certificates be added?

  Yes. The Additional Insured form can be found on the RRCA website here. The completed form should be sent directly to the RRCA insurance broker at least 15 days prior to the date it is needed. A handling fee may be charged for last minute requests.

Questions About Coverage

• Q. What is the limit of coverage?

  The RRCA policy comes standard with a $1,000,000 per occurrence and unlimited aggregate insurance, including hired and non-owned auto liability.

• Q. Is it possible to obtain higher limits of liability for a specific event?

  Yes. You will need to contact Star Financial to find out the specific rates for additional coverage.

• Q. Is the club protected if a spectator should bring suit?

  Yes, the policy does protect the RRCA and its member clubs against spectator claims as long as the claim does not involve an excluded condition.

• Q. Are volunteers covered?

  Yes, as long as the volunteer is working on behalf of the RRCA club. For example, if a volunteer is named in a liability suit while working a club race, the club’s insurance would protect the volunteer. This would apply to non-member volunteers as well.

• Q. Are headphones excluded?

  The insurance policy does not exclude headphone use, and the RRCA does not have an outright ban on their use during events or group runs. However, RRCA members cannot actively encourage runners to run with headphones, as this could jeopardize the integrity of the insurance program.

• Q. What are excluded conditions?

  Amusement devices such as moonbounces, dunk tanks, and pools are excluded from the policy, as well as multi- sport training programs and events (triathlons, etc.). Also excluded are extreme weather condition, fireworks, terrorism, fungi or bacteria, pollution and asbestos.

• Q. Is an event covered if alcohol is served?

  Yes, as long as the club is not “in the business of selling, serving, manufacturing, distributing, or distilling alcoholic beverages.” If alcohol is served, there should be no charge. Someone should ensure that no minors are served alcohol. Check your local rules and regulations for more information about alcoholic beverage service. If other vendors sell alcohol at your event, incidents arising from the sale of alcohol are not covered by RRCA insurance.

• Q. Are races for charity covered?

  Yes, as long as the club is directly responsible for the administration of the race and takes full responsibility for the race. If the club does not take full responsibility for the event then the charity partner can join the RRCA as an event member to have the event covered under the RRCA insurance policy.

• Q. Are club autos to and from races covered?

  No. Auto insurance on the vehicle would be used for the coverage.

• Q. If a club member is driving a vehicle not owned by the club, or is on club business and is involved?

  His or her own insurance should cover personal injury or damage to the vehicle. If the club were named in a liability suit in these circumstances, it would be covered. Note: Coverage is included for the official business of the club but does not include transportation of athletes to or from events, without an additional underwriting and premium. 15-passenger vans are entirely excluded from any coverage.

• Q. How can a club insure its equipment?

  There is a separate equipment insurance policy available to clubs participating in the RRCA liability insurance program. Forms are available from the RRCA insurance agent who directly administers the program, and the cost is based on the replacement cost of the equipment. Find contact info.

• Q. How can a club handle minor medical expenses when an official or participant is injured at a race?

  The RRCA general liability policy also includes a medical component. The policy will cover up to $5,000 of medical expenses, subject to a $250 deductible, over and above other health insurance the injured party owns.