Keep runners and supporters connected through event day

Choose viewing points from organiser information

Check the current course information, spectator access and travel restrictions before choosing a viewing point. A place shown on a map may not be open to supporters. Confirm whether the support crew can move between the chosen points; leave out a viewing stop if the travel is uncertain. Share the official information with the group and check it again before event day.

A support crew outline to adapt

1. Runner departure: follow the official participant schedule and agree any shared travel beforehand.
2. Supporter travel: each travel group heads to its chosen permitted viewing point.
3. Viewing windows:use the runner's estimate as an estimate, and allow for changes. Do not promise to meet at every viewing point.
4. Finish reunion: follow the agreed meeting instructions outside any participant-only area.
5. Home: confirm who travels together and whether anyone is joining a meal first.

Adapt this outline to the official event information and your group's own arrangements. It is not a race schedule.

Make the finish reunion and fallback explicit

Write down a specific landmark in a permitted meeting area, which side to wait on and who will be there. Check that runners and supporters can both reach it. Keep reunion instructions separate from the finish line, which may have restricted access.

Before separating, agree what to do if a phone has no signal or someone cannot make contact: the fallback meeting point, an agreed waiting window and the next step if someone does not arrive. Save these instructions somewhere each person can check without a connection. Do not rely on the runner reading messages during the event.

Share costs with the people who join

Supporter travel, runner travel and the meal afterwards may have different participants. Agree who shares each ride or meal before anyone pays. If four of six people take a taxi, record that ride for those four; do not automatically include the whole crew. Treat individual entry fees separately from shared group costs.

Keep official event guidance as the reference

Viewing locations, access, participant instructions and changes must come from current organiser information. This guide covers general group coordination; it does not provide an event-specific course, live runner tracking or guaranteed access to the finish area.

Keep one plan the group can check

Cairn's manual friends' weekend demo shows an itinerary, dinner attendance and an illustrative expense split among the six dinner attendees. It is a fictional demonstration, not a running-event plan or a created trip.