Creating an event is free, and you can build and preview it fully before anyone joins. This is the big-picture walkthrough; each part links to a detailed guide.
Before the form: you need a host
If you don't already own or admin an organiser account or a club, you land on a "You need a host" screen with two doors: Event organiser (see Become an organiser) or host as a club (create one first). Pick whichever fits, then come back to create the event.
What you fill in
The create form is a single page, organised into four numbered sections. It leads with the format, because that choice shapes everything else.
- What are you scheduling? Pick Ride or Run, then the format: every format is shown as a card and none is preselected, you must pick one before you can save. The order you'll see them in: meet-up, sportive / gran fondo, race, time trial, point-to-point. See Event formats. Picking Race opens a confirmation step first (with an open-roads disclaimer) because "race" means something specific here; it offers an escape hatch to sportive / gran fondo if your athletes actually set off in their own time. Choose privacy here too: public, unlisted or private, defaulting to unlisted so a route-less, just-created event isn't pushed into discovery before it's ready. See Public, unlisted and private events. The format is set now and can't be changed later — it decides whether there's a clock at all, so pick carefully.
- What's it called? Give the event a name and an optional one-line description (shown on event cards), pick which organiser account or team hosts it (this is fixed once created, so pick the right one, see Become an organiser), and optionally mark it as part of a festival (a day or weekend with several events) or leave it as a one-off. Attach it to an existing festival or name a new one inline. See Festivals and series. A longer "About" description goes here too.
- When is it? Set the date, start time and the event's local time zone — the app auto-detects your zone and shows it as a one-line summary ("detected"); tap Change to pick a different one. If detection fails, it assumes a default zone and flags it as "(assumed)" rather than guessing silently — check it.
- Route and distance. For point-to-point, checkpoints define the course (added on the next screen); a GPX route line here is optional decoration, collapsed behind an "Add a route line anyway" toggle. For every other format, add a route now or skip it: a saved route from your library (if you have one), upload a GPX, or build one in the app — see Routes, start and finish lines. None of this blocks saving; you can add or change the route from the next screen. Also here: an optional advertised distance (the headline number you promote; the real measured distance comes from your route or checkpoints), a laps toggle for circuit events (hidden for point-to-point and meet-up), and a tracking cutoff toggle (hidden for meet-up only — a wall-clock deadline; anyone still tracking after it closes them out automatically, marked DNF or finished depending on how you set it later from the manage screen).
If you navigate away with unsaved changes, a "Discard this event?" prompt protects you from losing them.
Save, and — for most formats — you land straight on the event's management screen to fill in the rest (route, categories, images). If the format needs a start/finish line and you haven't set one yet, a warning appears first: "This event needs a start/finish line… it will NOT start without one" — accepting takes you straight to the Course tab to set it. If you chose "build a route", you go to the in-app route builder instead, and land on the management screen once you save there.
Then: finish the setup
The event's management screen is where the rest lives, split across tabs:
- Course — the route (upload, build, or reuse a saved one), the start and finish line, laps, and (for point-to-point) checkpoints and feed stations.
- Registration — categories, capacity, the registration form, and bib assignment.
- Event Day (Meet-up Day for a meet-up) — schedule, cut-off, and the manual Start Race Now override.
- Summary — name, description and images.
See Routes, start and finish lines and Registration and categories.
Going live
There's no manual "publish" or "Go Live" button any more. An event goes live on its own — a race or time trial at its scheduled start, any format on the first athlete's ping after that, and a meet-up from its own schedule — so there's nothing to remember to switch on.
- Timed formats need their timing point first. Race, time trial and sportive / gran fondo won't go live automatically until you've set the start/finish line — athletes are timed from line to line, so without it no one can be timed. Meet-ups are exempt (they're untimed). Point-to-point events need at least one checkpoint. If something's missing, the event's Event Day tab shows it won't go live automatically until you fix it, with a link straight to the Course tab.
- The one manual override is the race gun. On a race, you can tap Start Race Now on the Event Day tab to fire the gun yourself instead of waiting for the scheduled time.
- There's no fee to take an event live. What decides how many athletes can register, and whether the event shows in public discovery, is your subscription. Without an active Event Organiser subscription an event can't take any registrations at all; subscribing lifts that to the tier you choose (100, 500 or 1,000 registrations, or a larger enterprise cap). See Registration and categories.
Important
- Always set the correct time zone. Leaving it wrong makes the start clock and reminders fire at the wrong moment.
- The format locks the moment you create the event, and the host locks too — decide both before you save.
- Laps can only be set at creation. Unlike the cutoff (editable later from Event Day), there's no way to turn laps on, off, or change the count once the event exists — get the lap count right up front.
After creating
You can edit most settings up to the start. Some lock at creation (format, host); others lock once athletes have registered (for example how people join). The event then moves through its lifecycle, see Event lifecycle and rider statuses.