Running Event(s) Membership Defined

The Event(s) Management Organization Membership category is designed for both a once-per-year running event organized by a single organization, as well as event management organizations (companies) that host multiple events per year.   The following outlines different organizational types that are included in this membership category:

Once-Per-Year Event

Event Management Organization

Review the information on the Certified Race Director Insurance Program page for information about how to insure NON-OWNED events. 

For questions: Email [email protected] to schedule a time to review your event/organization.  Visit our Membership System “How to” page for detailed instructions on joining/renewing in the membership system.

Membership in the RRCA is required to access the insurance program.

Assign a primary contact: This person is the event’s point of contact in our database and responsible for paying dues and insurance fees.

Waivers: All event management companies are required to obtain waivers of liability from their event participants for all events. The waiver should be specific to your events.

Attest you’ve read:

Review the Working with Charities information.

RRCA members are encouraged to pay by check. Your check allows the RRCA to invest our resources into programs, not credit card processing fees.  Members with dues and insurance fees over $5,000 MUST PAY BY CHECK.  We can generate an email to your primary contact to resend your membership invoice, which will grant you access to the online system where payment can be made via a secure credit card transaction.

Share Your RRCA Affiliation: Post the RRCA member logo on your club’s website. Posting the RRCA logo lets your participants know that you have agreed to follow our guidelines to help ensure runner safety and inclusion. Download the RRCA Member Icon

Our membership system will calculate your dues and insurance fees based on information you provide and any additional optional policies/services you select.

Dues Nonprofit and For-Profit Events: Flat fee of $100 plus $0.05 per race participant, event volunteers, and race committee members. For each event added during the year, $0.05 per participant will be added for dues.

RRCA does not charge additional fees if your participation rate is slight higher than reported.  However, events that report the minimum number, but are significantly larger (i.e. 5000 vs 500), will be assessed additional dues & insurance fees.   We do not provide refunds if your event does not meet its participation numbers reported for dues & insurance purposes. 

If your events conduct an associated training program, you will need to contact [email protected] to review operations and assessment of training program dues and insurance. 

Membership Term

Annual membership in the RRCA, including insurance coverage, begins on December 31st at 12:00 AM and ends at 11:59 PM on December 30th of the following year. Clubs and events must renew their membership prior to December 31st.

icon link arrow left purpleMembership dues help cover costs for financial management, processing fees (we don’t pass this cost to members), staff support, program support, annual convention, and much, much more.

Directors & Officers Insurance: All nonprofit event members are required to purchase Directors & Officers Insurance at a flat fee of $220 or show proof of coverage before sending payment.

General Liability Insurance:

All event members pay on a scale based on the number of participants, volunteers and race committee members involved with the event.  The insurance program includes requesting additional insured (AI) certificates for sponsors, etc. (RRCA Certified Race Directors may qualify for a lower insurance rate for events.  Learn more about the insurance program for RRCA Certified Race Directors.

$1 million policy (2024 rates):

  • 200 or fewer participants is a flat fee of $107
  • 201- 499 pay a flat fee of $171
  • 500 – 999 pay $0.54 per total participants
  • 1000 -1999 pay $0.48 per total participants
  • 2000 – 3000 pay $0.40 per total participants
  • 3001 – 5,000 pay $0.37 per total participants
  • 5,001 – 8,000 pay $0.34 per total participants
  • 8,001 – 12,499 pay $0.28 per total participants
  • 12,500+ pay $0.25 per total participants

$2 million policy (2024

rates):

  • 200 or fewer participants is a flat fee of $217
  • 201 – 499 is a flat fee of $345
  • 500 – 999 pay $0.63 per total participants
  • 1000 – 1999 pay $0.54 per total participants
  • 2000 – 3000 pay $0.46 per total participants
  • 3001 – 5,000 pay $0.42 per total participants
  • 5,001 – 8,000 pay $0.37 per total participants
  • 8,001 – 12,499 pay $0.32 per total participants
  • 12,500+ pay $0.29 per total participants

If an event needs additional coverage per incident above $2 million, Insurance Management Group can provide coverage for $1,500 per additional million requested.  You must join RRCA then email Liz Painter at [email protected] to access the additional coverage.

Learn about adding a Music License to events you own.

Waiting until the last minute to insure events (less than 14 days before the event) is STRONGLY discouraged.  Events renewing with less than a 10-day notice before race day may be assessed a $100 rush fee by RRCA. 

You will receive a copy of the Certificate of Insurance (COI) by email from the Insurance Management Group (check your spam folder).  COIs are emailed to the primary contact email that your organization provides to the RRCA.  It may take up to 14-business days to process the Certificate of Insurance (CoI) from the time full payment is received by the RRCA. Replacement COI can be obtained by emailing Liz Painter at [email protected] Please, do not email IMG or RRCA to inquire about your certificate status if you are within the 14-day window. 

Additional Insured Certificates can be requested in the RRCA Insurance section AFTER joining the RRCA.

Only RRCA member Clubs and Running Event(s) Members can add events to our calendar.

During the process of joining/renewing outlined on the “How to” page, you will be prompted in the workflow to ADD your event(s).  Renewing members have the opportunity to select “renew” for existing events (allow time for the events to load and be viewed).  When renewing events, you MUST update the event date, any event info, and click save.  Select your insurance option of $1 or $2 million.  Then move to the next event to renew.  If you don’t renew all existing events at one time, you will not be able to renew them later, but you can add non-renewed events as a new event later in the year using the “Manage My Profile” link.

If adding a new one-day-event, simply use the “Add Event” option at joining/renewing, select $1 or $2 million insurance option, provide event details, save, and add more or proceed to checkout.

DO NOT add events for future years.  Only add events for the current calendar year.

How do I report a weekend series of events held at the same start/finish area on the same weekend?  If you host a weekend series of events, for example, a Saturday 5K/kids run along with a Sunday Marathon & Half Marathon, you will report the first date of the event weekend (Saturday date) on the calendar. You will then aggregate ALL participants and volunteers for all events held during the SAME weekend.  For example, you have 1000 in the 5K + 500 in the kids run on Saturday + 2000 in the Marathon + 5000 in the Half Marathon on Sunday = 8,500 participants + 500 volunteer over the weekend = 9,000 total.  A weekend series of events, does include insurance coverage for an expo if it is held a few days prior to the start of the event (for example, a Thursday/Friday expo).

If you have a promotional 5K or shake-out race one weekend and a half marathon (or other distance) on a different weekend, those are two separate events and must be reported separately on the calendar.

I host an ultra run that starts on a Saturday and concludes on a Sunday, is this one event?   Yes, this is one event if you host an ultra run that starts on one day and concludes the immediate next day. For example a 100 mile run that starts on Saturday and concludes on Sunday is one event, and you simply need to report the start date of the event.  If you host shorter distances (50K/50 Mi) on the same course over the same period of time, these are considered sub-distances and are included in the one event.  All participants and volunteers for all distances should be reported as part of the ultra event.

If you host a relay type of ultra on trails that exceeds a 36-hour window, contact RRCA to review your activities before joining/renewing.

A word about updating event info after submitting to RRCA:  Unlike your registration company, which allows for a lot of editing once you go live, the information you provide to RRCA is tied our legal reporting obligation to the insurance company. Therefore, to maintain the integrity of our reporting, only a very limited number fields are available for editing by members once you checkout. 

I’m ready to join/renew and add my events >>

Additional “Field” coverage can be added as supplemental coverage to an organization’s general liability coverage through RRCA, and is designed to cover for Track & Field meets where certain throwing and jumping events occur, including: hurdles, steeple chase, shot put, discuss, high jump, long jump, triple jump, and pentathlon. The following events are EXCLUDED from coverage: poll vault, javelin, hammer throw. 

Access the “Members Only” section to learn more and to purchase coverage for covered “Field” events.

REFUND POLICY:  There are NO REFUNDS if a member cancels or dissolves an organization or event during the year.  There are NO INSURANCE REFUNDS if any race activities including pre-race planning, pre-race marketing, and registration collection have occurred in the year, even if a race gets canceled or a club dissolves.

Term: Annual membership in the RRCA, including insurance coverage, begins on December 31st at 12:00 AM and ends at 11:59 PM on December 30th of the following year. Clubs and events must renew their membership prior to December 31st to ensure full coverage for the calendar year.  There is NO prorating of dues or insurance for late payments or for new members joining throughout the year. 

Notice regarding virtual events:

For RRCA purposes, we define a virtual event as a marketing effort that encourages registered participants to run a certain distance and provide for a system where the participant can self-report their participation (completion of a certain distance) to an organization for the purposes of receiving some type of participation premium (shirt, medal, etc.).  If an event organizer defines a specific course and provides timing services on said course, the event is no longer virtual and is considered a live event, and must be insured as such. 

A virtual event is covered by insurance as part of the activities of your live event.  Report the number of runners registered/projected for your live and virtual events combined for insurance fee calculation.  RRCA recommends updating your event waiver if you move  host both a live and virtual run and utilize an updated sign-up for capturing virtual run data/results. 

Event Member and Event Management Company Members – Event Members and Event Mgt. Companies that have paid the insurance fees for 2021 are covered for traditional live and any associate virtual event option, so long as virtual only events, or online only challenges, are not on a prescribed course over a period of days with timing services provided.

  • If holding a “virtual or challenge event” and you provide timing services on a prescribed course over a period of days (exceeding 24-hours), the events are considered a live events (not virtual), and insurance must be taken out for each day the event is held.  For example, you host a challenge and provide timing service on a specific route over a 7-day period, you must insure for 7 different events on 7 different days and submit additional insured requests for each day of the challenge for property owners and municipal entities (cities, parks & rec, etc.).  

RRCA is offering general liability along with participant accident coverage through for members hosting virtual-only events.   

  • Virtual only event under 200 participants, a fee of $107 will be charged for $1million insurance coverage and $217 will be charged for $2million insurance coverage.
  • Virtual only event with 201-500 participants, a fee of $171 will be charged for $1million insurance coverage and $345 will be charged for $2million insurance coverage.
  • Virtual only event with 501-5000 participants,fees will be assessed following normal insurance rates posted for Event and Event Mgt. Company members.
  • Virtual only event with over 5001 participants, please email [email protected] for fee assessment.

This fee includes adding sponsors and charity partners as additional insured at no additional cost.  Please review the information above for limitations for additional insureds for municipalities, parks & rec., physical facilities.  If you need assistance adding a virtual run to your membership, or if you are a new member planning a virtual event, email [email protected] for assistance.

Why the multiple requests for AI’s?  When requesting an additional insurance certificate for a live event, these are typically issued for a specific date, not a date range that exceeds a 24-hour period. The insurance company will not cover additional insured entities (cities, parks & recs, etc.) over a date range for live events, because your organization has no control over the overall activities that occur in the insured area during a date range.

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