Running an event
Entering race mode
When you open an event, you’ll see the list of races. Tap a race to enter the race mode view. If you’re assigned to multiple races, you can switch between them.
On a dedicated tablet, the race may be pre-selected — you’ll go straight to the race mode screen.
Tip
Being in race mode is important. It ensures your location is tracked (if enabled for your role), you receive real-time notifications, and you can react quickly to penalties and incidents.
The race mode screen
This is where you spend most of your time during a race. While a race is running, the screen header shows “Race Mode” with “Active” in red next to it, so it’s immediately clear that live monitoring is on.
The race mode screen gives you quick access to:
- Submit penalty — start the penalty submission flow.
- Submit incident — start the incident submission flow.
- Penalty list — view all penalties in the current race.
- Incident list — view all incidents in the current race.
- Chat — open team communication.
- Map — view the course map with official positions.
- Drafting view — the live drafting detection feed, when drafting devices are active in the event.
- Notifications — see alerts.
The exact options visible depend on your role and TO assignments.
Race overview on your lock screen
While race mode is active, RaceRanger keeps a live race overview on your phone’s lock screen — and, on iPhone, in the Dynamic Island. It shows the race name, a running clock since the race started, the penalty and incident counts, and how many penalties are waiting for approval (approvers only).
The overview also carries quick-action buttons — Penalty, Incident, Approve, and Voice — that take you straight into the matching flow without opening the app first. The buttons you see match your role, the same way they do on the race mode screen. When a new penalty or incident comes in mid-race, the overview lights up to alert you, so you don’t need a separate notification for it.
It also lists your most recent penalties and incidents, with a badge showing how many have come in since you last opened the app. Opening the app clears the badge.
Wide screen mode
On tablets, a wide-screen layout is available that shows more information at once — for example, the penalty list alongside the submission form. This is particularly useful for officials stationed at the penalty box or venue control centre.
Event home
Opening an event takes you to its race list — that’s the home for the event. From there you can navigate to the other event pages:
- Race mode (tap a race).
- Attached documents (rules, briefing notes, course maps).
- Weather data and forecast.
- Officials list and your assignment details.
What happens automatically
When you submit a penalty or incident, several things happen in the background:
- Athlete flags update — the athlete’s status flags (has penalty, has drafting penalty, DNF, DNS, DSQ, lapped) are recalculated automatically based on all their penalties and incidents. You don’t need to update these manually.
- Event log entry — every submission and status change is recorded in the event log with who did it, when, and what changed.
- Notifications — officials with the right notification settings receive push notifications.
- Race locking — the first penalty or incident in a race locks most race configuration options to protect data integrity.
Switching races
If you’re assigned to multiple races within an event, you can switch your active race from the race selection screen. Your active race determines which penalties, incidents, and chat channels you see.
If you are in a demo race while a real race in the same event is live, an amber warning banner appears at the top of the race mode screen. The banner reminds you to switch to the real race before logging penalties or incidents.
Stopping a race and moving everyone to the next one
When one race wraps up and another is about to start, technical officials with the right permission can de-activate the current race and (optionally) move the whole crew of officials over to a different race in one step. Open the drawer from race mode and expand Tools to find the controls:
Tap De-Activate Race Mode to open the Race Control dialog. The warning banner reminds you these controls affect race timing — only use them for real start/stop transitions.
If you tick Move users to a new race, a race picker appears so you choose which race officials should land in. Pressing DE-ACTIVATE RACE then stops the current race and (if checked) activates the chosen one, moving every signed-in official’s session to it automatically.
Leaving and rejoining
You can leave the race mode screen at any time — your data is saved automatically. When you return, you’ll pick up where you left off. If the app is closed or the device restarts, signing back in takes you to the event and race you were last viewing.
If you are removed from an event by an organisation admin, the app takes you to the events list automatically.