How to Set Up Registration for an Adventure Race: Teams, Gear and Safety

Amit K · November 12, 2026

Registration for adventure races: a race director’s guide from endurace.pro

Four people stand at a river with a map, two bikes and one working compass. Whether that is a great story or a rescue call depends on what you asked them at registration.

Adventure races mix disciplines such as trekking, mountain biking, paddling and navigation, usually in teams of two to four, and they can run for a few hours or several days. They take place in remote country, so a team that is not ready is a serious problem. Registration is where you form teams properly, make sure everyone knows the gear rules, and record each member’s details. This guide shows how.

Decide your team formats

Most adventure races set a team size, commonly two to four people, and often offer categories such as open, mixed, women and veterans. Make each its own category with its own price and capacity.

Describe each course clearly: the disciplines, the expected duration and whether navigation is by map and compass.

Register the whole team, but record every person

A team captain should be able to book the whole team and pay once, then invite the others with a personal link so that every member fills in their own details. Set the largest team size per ticket to match your format, and ask for a team name as a text question.

You need each member’s own emergency contact and waiver, not only the captain’s, because the person in trouble is rarely the captain.

Be explicit about compulsory gear

Gear lists decide whether a team is safe, so put them where entrants cannot miss them. List the compulsory items for your course, and add a tick-box asking the captain to confirm the team has read them.

A tick-box does not replace a gear check at the start. It does give you a record that the rule was shown before payment.

Ask about experience and skills

A few simple questions help you judge risk: the longest adventure race the team has completed, whether someone on the team can navigate with a map and compass, and an estimated finish time as a time.

These answers show you which teams may need extra advice, and which course to suggest to a new team.

Waivers and medical information

Use a clear, versioned waiver, with the exact wording, the name typed and the time of acceptance kept with each entry. Collect an emergency contact and blood group for every member, and give your medical and safety team one list they can open on race morning.

Export it beforehand and keep a copy that works without signal, since remote venues often have none.

Refunds and cancellations

Publish a tiered refund policy before sales open. Teams invest heavily in travel and gear, and a member dropping out late affects the whole team, so decide how you will treat that and say it clearly. If weather forces you to cancel, decide how you will refund every team.

In practice: a made-up example

Example only, not a real event. Suppose a one-day race has an Open category and a Mixed category, both for teams of up to four. You set the largest group on each ticket to four, so a captain books once, pays once and sends a personal link to the other three. Each teammate then adds their own emergency contact, blood group and waiver.

Along the way, a text question asks for the team name, a tick-box confirms the team has read the compulsory gear list, and a time question asks for an estimated finish. Before race day you export the list for your safety team and keep a copy that works without signal.

Common mistakes

Registering teams under the captain only. Every member needs their own emergency contact and waiver.
Gear lists buried on a web page. Put them in the form so they are accepted before payment.
No question on navigation skills. You find out on the course instead.
Medical list only online. Remote venues often have no signal, so keep an exported copy.

Set it up on endurace.pro

Several categories per event, each with its own price, capacity and distance in km or miles.
Group booking with one payment, a personal invite link for every team member and a largest team size that you set per ticket.
Your own questions per category: text for team name, tick-boxes for gear and navigation, and a time question for estimated finish.
Waivers stored with each registration, plus blood group and emergency contact in a CSV you can export for your safety team.
A waitlist that is on by default for any category that sells out.
A tiered cancellation policy on the event page, and a one-step full refund for everyone if you cancel the event.

Quick answers

Can one person book and pay for the whole team? Yes. Group booking takes one payment, and you set the largest group per ticket.

Does every member fill in their own details? Yes. Each member gets a personal invite link for their own details and waiver.

Can I make teams confirm the gear list? Yes, with a tick-box question. It records that the rule was shown before payment, but it does not replace a gear check at the start.

What if a category sells out? The waitlist is on by default for sold-out tickets.

Summary graphic: seven things to settle before adventure race entries open: team size and categories, team registration, gear list and checks, experience and skills, every member’s details, waiver and medical info, and refund policy.

Ready to list your race? See how endurace.pro works for organizers. Want to see how adventure races look to athletes? Browse adventure races. Going live is free. You pay only when you sell.