Best Practices for Race Directors

NEBRA suggests that all events in the New England Region and especially events taking part in the NEBRA Race Director Support Programs follow these best practices guidelines:

Promoting Clubs or Race Directors should be current members, in good standing, of both USA Cycling and NEBRA. Promoting Clubs or Race Directors are encouraged to attend the annual NEBRA Promoters Summit.

Official Race Announcements must be approved by the regional USA Cycling coordinator (not NEBRA), prior to event registration opening. They must include the USA Cycling logo and the NEBRA logo. They also must include all pertinent information for the race, as set out in the USA Cycling Policy VI. More information on Race Announcements, Flyers and Event Technical Guides can be found here.

Bib numbers used in competitive events must meet USA Cycling minimum specifications. For road events, two body numbers should be used, one for the side and one on the rear pockets to aid in ID from the follow cars. The pocket bib may be smaller than the side bib. Multi day events are strongly encouraged to use cloth numbers to ensure legibility throughout the event.

Events are encouraged to offer pre-registration through BikeReg.com, the official registration partner of NEBRA. It is recommended that Online Registration remain open until at least 24 hours before the event. To encourage pre-registration NEBRA suggests promoters offer an early entry discount price for those registering at least 3 weeks before the event. For Day of Event entries NEBRA recommends a minimum surcharge of $10. For events closing registration 24 hours prior to the start or less, a surcharge of $15 or higher may be applied at the promoter’s discretion.

NEBRA encourages events to have a stated refund policy and to post that in the official race announcement and on the registration page.

When planning the event schedule NEBRA encourages events to have distances or time durations that meet minimum USA Cycling Upgrade Distances as listed in USA Cycling Policy 8.

NEBRA strongly encourages events to offer prize list parity between equivalent Men and Women’s categories. Additionally NEBRA encourages events to offer standalone fields for Category 5, 4 and 3 Men and Women whenever possible. Events without an equitable prize list are viewed unfavorably by >36% of riders according to the 2016 rider survey.

NEBRA recommends that at least two distinct women’s categories be run at competitive events. For road races that offer a Women’s 1/2/3, NEBRA suggests scoring Category 3’s separately or in addition to overall results. For events that only run one women’s field, NEBRA suggests consulting with NEBRA’s board and NEBRA’s Women’s Coordinator and choosing either a 1/2/3 or a 3/4/5 — not a women’s open.

Event finish line areas must include a tent or covering for race officials as well as a table and at least 3 chairs. These should be provided by the organization. NEBRA recommends that events have a covered raised platform at the finish line for event officials, and a porta-potty or restroom facility at or within walking distance of the finish area. A pdf document showing a suggested finish line layout is here: NEBRA Finish Diagram.

NEBRA encourages events to strive for a professional appearance and high quality production levels. These include announcers, finish line fencing, expo areas/club row areas, food trucks etc. Restroom facilities should be plentiful and well stocked including backup toilet paper. NEBRA also encourages events to have an awards ceremony with a 3 place podium and podium backdrop or visually appealing presentation.

NEBRA strongly encourages the use of professional event services such as radio communication services, finish line camera systems, neutral support services and highly qualified medical support.   

NEBRA asks that complete race results be uploaded to USA Cycling and Road-Results.com / CrossResults.com within 48 hours of the end of the race.