Often, when creating a website for a running event, or specifically a half marathon, race organizers forget key information on the home page of the event website or primary registration page. Half Marathon Calendar USA asked Half Marathon participants "What is the most frustrating missing piece of information occasionally missing from a home page of a half marathon." Below are some of the responses Half Marathon Calendar USA received from participants.
Some of the responses seem so very basic, but you'd be surprised how many half marathon websites are missing these items below. The BIGGEST item I see missing is THE YEAR included with a date, leaving people trying to figure out if the date is for the next event or from last year. The second biggest missing item I see is the state, leaving people trying to figure where in the world the town/city is that is listed on the page with no state or full address. Half marathon participants identify many more common missing pieces of information below:
Travis N Langemeier Date & location
Andrea Hudson Cost
Mitchell Rippy Date
Meagan Elizabeth The date and location!! Which in my opinion is the most important information!
Jeff Schmidt What the T-shirt looks like!!!
Lora J Andersen Date and location
Donna Maxwell Pacheco The giant hills always get left out 🤔
Jessica Swingle Location/address for GPS
Don Lahti Time limit
Lex Sandstrom Elevation map
Dez Dannielle Medal/shirt/after race things
Kim Duvall Number of Port A Potty locations/stops.
Half Marathon Calendar USA 😂 Porta potty stops on the home page? Haha, that will be a new one "Half Marathon on March 1st, 2019 with 5 porta potty stops!" haha 😁
Kathryn Wicks Date and location. Front and center.
Nicole Lea The YEAR included with the date! So frustrating for people to see a date and not know if it is for the last year's race or the upcoming race. 😂 ohhhh and even worse when they put TWO dates, and you have to DIG to try to figure WHICH of those TWO dates the half marathon is on. 😫
MorningSun Kelly Time limit
Jodi Doane City and state
Nicole Paquette Delaine GPS locations for parking and parking fees including if I need cash
Mary Ward Specific address of starting line, pace requirement of course.
Csilla Kittlinger Course and elevation map
Michelle Brack City, state, and date
Stephanie Burke Location! Street address is nice but is zero help without city and state.
Aileen Wright Bacon City, state, date, course limit
Julie Sims Date and location
Wendy Brown Course time limit (walker-friendly)
Jeff Stevens Location, location, location
Shannon Lundgren Start time.
Janise Gooden Not just halfs but a lot of races don’t list the swag... I need to know what I’m getting for my race fees...
Lily Szalay Date (complete), location (city, state, address), time limit (walker friendly). Parking info link.
Susan Kay Date, day of weekend Saturday or Sunday, and distance
Timothy Quintin City and state. Like every one just knows where the Dafodil running festival will be held.
Rondalyn Reynolds There are small town races that need to list lodging opportunities, since there are none in town.
Francoise Hurly Whether walker friendly
Mary Karen Elevation map
Tappi Haney Location
Karen Hoff City, State
Maureen WJ Most of it is there I just hate searching for it on some of the crappy webpages that exist
Mary Pugh Location is always hard to find!
Susan Werner Date and location
Shelby Hall Jones City, State, date and registration link right at the top.
Stasia Lehmann Location and date
Wanda Shoemake Location address
Debby Yoder Hershberger City and State
Roselyn Poton Time limits on completing race (min. Pace allowed)
Nicole Lea How about a marathon, that has a half marathon and/or other distances, but only puts marathon on the home page? Like people magically know then that they have a half marathon, right?
Dan Roehler You are cordially invited to our event. You figure out when and where we are. If we tell you the park, you have to guess the city and state.
Jill Startin City and state every friggin time.
In summary, from the above feedback, you can speculate many half marathon events forget to put the address, city and state on the home page. Half Marathon participants do not like to dig for this important information when planning their half marathon schedule. The other big one, identified above, is course time limit. Many races put this information in the FAQ section, but being that it is one of the most important pieces of information participants are looking for in choosing a race, it might be a good idea for events to start putting this information clearly visible on the home page. Lastly, all distances should be clearly listed by the title of the event on the home page. If the main event is a marathon, the half marathon distance should either be combined with the marathon title, or clearly listed right under the main title, not buried for participants to figure out if there is a half marathon distance available. Thank you to all the half marathon participants who participated in the Half Marathon Calendar feedback on this topic.