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FAQ

Everything you need to know

We think this covers the most commonly asked questions we get about our races and entry system. Please get in touch if you can’t find your answer.

Our races

Keep Running Rural organises trail races from 5km to ultramarathons and everything in between, including races for kids and dogs. Based in the beautiful county of Dorset, we aim to organise fun, sociable and inclusive races for runners of all abilities, with generous cut-offs. We work hard to create races that are set in the best scenery our beautiful county can offer, running in places no one else runs. Giants Head Marathon, Spring Larmer, Ox Races and Mapperton Muddle are among our most popular, but there’s something for everyone throughout the year. We offer camping in summer, and dark races in winter.

Yes! Keep Running Rural brings its special touch exclusively to trail races, as we love the countryside.

We try and be canicross friendly where we can and it’s safe to do so. A list of races that you can run with your dog are listed in the calendar on our homepage; the Spring Larmer races and Ox Races have a couple of dog options each.

We love to make our events family friendly, so you can all come along and camp for the weekend, with running for everyone. Young runners can join in with the Bell Race at Giants Head, and we also have kids’ races at the Ox and Cider weekends, among others.

We are a race company, affiliated to UK Athletics. We use TRA (part of UKA) licenses for our insurance and therefore all our races are governed by UKA rules. 

The minimum age for all our Frolic races (including our 24-hour race) for those running in teams is 18 years old; Solo runners must be 20 years old.

The maximum distances permitted for the following age groups are:

Under 12 years              3km

12-13 years                   5km

13-15 years                   6km

16 years                        10km

17 years                       25km  

18-19 years                  45km

20 years and over         No maximum distance

We know other organisations let different ages compete in their events, but these are the rules we are governed by.

Camping can be booked on the Clubtrac page for each event, in the same place you book your races. Our campsites are in the heart of the event villages, very close to start/finish areas. We think we charge a reasonable weekend pitch fee, and supply toilets and showers. It is very basic camping in a field, but it’s a lot of fun. One pitch per unit (tent, van etc) no matter how many people are in that one unit. If you need, eg a van and a tent, book two pitches. We don’t charge extra for dogs or kids, but we do ask you to be mindful of site rules around safety and use of leads (for the dogs that is!).

Race photos are expensive, so we have our own photographers and make photos available to you for free. We don’t have photographers at every race, but we try our best. All race photos from 2023 onwards are uploaded in albums in our Facebook Group. Photos from 2020-2022 can be found on this photo gallery. Older photos were taken by our friend Rob Hannam and can be seen in albums on his Facebook Page here. By entering the race, you are giving your permission to have your photo taken and we may use these to promote future races. If there is a pic you object to, please contact us and we will remove it. (Please note you must highlight the said photo; we won’t root through all the pics looking for it.)

At our races we realise that sometimes you need a bit of boost at the bit in the race where you're starting to flag, normally 20 miles in marathons, 7 or 8 in a half. So we have the Love Station™. When you rock up to the Love Station™ you can have a sit down and have a glass of something nice like flat cola or a cider, and chew on a cake or some sweets. And just get your s*** together before venturing on to finish the race! There may be a hug or two.

The serious side is we can also have a look at you and assess whether you are in a fit state to carry on. We realise that most of our races are not easy and present some challenges. Heat, cold, falling over, hills, exhaustion, etc, can all take a toll, and we are keen not to have any casualties. We take safety seriously and would only pull you out of the race if we felt you looked like death and for you to continue would put you at risk.

All our merchandise and accessories, plus some quirky running kit, can be purchased from White Star Clothing.

To get our newsletters and be first to hear KRR news, make sure you sign up using the box on the homepage.

These races began life under White Star Running in 2012. In 2023, White Star Running was closed due to the retirement of its owner, and the races are now operated under a new company called Keep Running Rural. However, the races, the race experience and the core team behind the scenes have stayed the same, so other than a rebrand, you, as a runner, will notice very little difference. You can find out more here.

Using Clubtrac

Clubtrac is our chosen event-management and race-entry system. This is where you can enter races and book camping. With your own account you can also manage your own entries, giving you control over what you do with them (with deadlines set for each race). Please note that this is different to Eventrac, so you won’t be able to access your bookings from there.

You can register for a Clubtrac account here. This needs to be specifically through our Clubtrac page.

If you find you can’t make a race you’ve already booked, at any point up to the deadline date. You can defer your entry to another race, or place it in the bank to use on a future race within 12 months if you can’t decide, by following the instructions on our Race Transfers page.

If you want to transfer your entry to another runner, at any point up to deferral/transfer deadline, you can transfer your entry by following the instructions on our Race Transfers page.

All deadlines are given in the information section of each event on our website in red writing, along with being included in your entry confirmation email. We will also send an email reminder two weeks before the deadline.

Log in to your account on Clubtrac. Click the arrow next to your name, then click My Profile. Your bookings will show up here. Or you can visit the event you think you are in here, open it up and click on Participants tab, then search for your name.

Any race that still has availability for entries, will show as open and available to enter. We usually close online entries a few days before the race start date.

If an event is full and has the waiting list enabled, you will be able to join the waiting list by going to the event page and clicking on 'Join Waiting List', then following the instructions.

If you’re on the waiting list and get a place triggered, you will receive an email with a link to purchase the place. You will have 48 hours to use the link, then it will expire and the next person on the waiting list will get triggered.

To take your entry off the waiting list, you will need to log into your account. Under ‘My Profile’, find our booking and click the red Cancel button.

If you have entered races that are not showing in your account (ie if you entered as a guest), then see this Clubtrac Assistance page. 

For any Clubtrac account issues, contact the Clubtrac team on [email protected].

Didn’t find the answer you were looking for? Then get in touch via our Contact page or ask in our Facebook group.