What we collect

Short version: we collect an email address, and if you choose to add them your name, ZIP code, phone number and mailing address, only when you hand them to us. We log anonymous usage of the pace tool to see whether it's worth building, and we don't run analytics or trackers of any kind. Any advertising on the site is first-party and clearly labeled — a featured race is a labeled card, not an ad network, and it contains no tracking. We have never sold anyone's data and the site has no mechanism to do it.

What we don't do

• No analytics. No Google Analytics, no Plausible, no Meta pixel, nothing.
• No cookies. The site sets none.
• No advertising trackers and no third-party scripts following you around. Sponsors and featured races don't get a script on the page — what advertising here can and can't do.
• No location tracking. The "races near me" features — the map's locate button, and the "take me to my metro" button — ask your browser for your location only when you allow it. The answer is used right there in your browser, to center the map or to pick which metro rankings page to open, and then discarded: it isn't stored and isn't sent to us. Searching a ZIP code sends that ZIP — and nothing else — to the open zippopotam.us geocoder to find its point on the map.
• No selling or renting your personal information — under the CCPA/CPRA definitions, we neither "sell" nor "share" it.

Affiliate links

Some outbound links here earn us a referral fee — race registration links where the race uses RunSignup, and the lodging map on race pages. It never costs you anything extra, and it works without tracking you: the referral code is written into the address when the site is built, so there is no ad script, no pixel, and no cookie from us. We can't see who clicked. Once you land on the other company's site you're in their hands, and their privacy policy applies — including any cookie they set to credit the referral. Every way we make money is itemized here, along with why none of it can move a ranking.

What we do collect

Newsletter and beta signups

If you enter your email, we store the address, the date, and which part of the site it came from (for example a race page, or the Race Pace Analyzer beta). We use it to send the BestRaces email. Every message has a one-click unsubscribe, and unsubscribing removes you.

If you sign up on a race's page, or through a link its director shares, you follow that race: we email you the day its registration opens, a reminder before its entry fee goes up, and a heads-up in race week. The dates come from the race's public RunSignup listing. Nothing about you goes to the race.

After you sign up we ask for a little more, and you can skip it:

• Your name and ZIP code. The ZIP is how we send you races near you, and keep emails about a local race from going to people across the country. Your name lets us address you properly.
• Your mobile number, only if you tick the text-alerts box. We store the number with the exact consent wording you agreed to and the time you agreed. We'll text you only about races, at most four times a month, and replying STOP ends it. We don't send texts yet; before the first one we'll confirm your number by text.
• Your mailing address, only if you add one, for an occasional printed race guide.

None of this is shared with race directors, brands or anyone else, and it's never sold. Ask us and we'll correct or delete any of it.

The race director newsletter is a separate list. If you sign up on our page for race directors, we store your email, and your name and race if you give them, and send that newsletter every month or two. It doesn't add you to the runner newsletter. The same one-click unsubscribe removes you from everything.

Race Pace Analyzer

When you build a pacing plan we log the race, the distance, your goal time, and an optional recent result — with no name or email attached. That anonymous record exists for one reason: to tell us whether runners actually want this tool. The plan itself is calculated in your browser.

The plan is free and complete — there is nothing to sign up for. If you separately join the email list from that page, that address is stored as described above and attached to that one request, so we can tell which signups came from the tool.

Search

When you search, we log what you typed and how many races it matched — nothing else. No name, no email, no IP address, and nothing that ties one search to another or to you. We read it to find out what runners look for and, more usefully, what they look for and don't find, so we know what to add next.

Race votes

If you tap "Worth it" on a race page, we store the race and the time — and nothing else. No name, no email, no IP address, and nothing that links one vote to another or to you. Your browser keeps a flag in local storage so the button remembers you already voted; it holds no personal information, and clearing your browser data removes it. Because we deliberately store no voter identity, we can't undo an individual vote — there's nothing on our side to find it by.

Votes do not affect any ranking, score, or badge. They tell us whether runners want the feature at all. If that ever changes, we'll say so here and on the methodology page before it does.

Race ratings

If you rate a race, we store your ratings, the race and edition you rated, the time, and your email address. The email is there so each person counts once per race edition: we send one message with a link to confirm the rating, and it is only counted once you click it. Your address is never shown to anyone, never published with your rating, and never sold or shared. It joins the BestRaces email only if you tick that box; otherwise the confirmation is the only message you get from rating.

Race pages show ratings only as totals and averages, and only once at least five runners have confirmed theirs. Ratings never affect any ranking, score, or badge. To have a rating removed, email [email protected] from the address you rated with.

Giveaways

If you enter a giveaway, we store your email, the giveaway, and when you entered. We send one message with a link to confirm the entry; it counts only once you click it. Confirming also signs you up for the BestRaces email and race-week updates for that race, as the entry form says — and unsubscribing never affects your entry. If you win, we email you the free-entry code ourselves: your details are never given to the race or anyone else. As the official rules say, we'll share a winner's first name and state if someone asks who won.

Race suggestions

If you suggest a race, we store what you tell us about it, whether you're a runner or the organizer, and the search that led you there if you came from a search with no results. Your email is optional: if you give it, we use it only to tell you the race was added. It doesn't sign you up for anything and is never shared. Suggesting a race never affects where it ranks.

Race director claims

If you claim a race listing, we store your name, email, the race, and the edits you make, so we can verify you're connected to the event and keep the listing accurate. Verification uses a sign-in link sent to your email. If a race director uploads an event photo or flyer, we store the file, who uploaded it, and the permission they granted us to use it. Nothing is shown until we review it.

Ambassador applications

If you apply to be a BestRaces ambassador, we store what you tell us: your name, email, location, and anything you add about your running. We use it only to review your application and stay in touch with you as an ambassador. It doesn't sign you up for anything and is never shared. If you become an ambassador, we show your name, town, club, Instagram and a photo on our ambassadors page and on race pages near you, but only after you tell us that's OK. Your email and ZIP are never shown.

Who else touches it

We use a small number of service providers to run the site. They process data on our behalf and are not permitted to use it for their own purposes:

• Supabase — database and sign-in links (hosted in the United States).
• Cloudflare — website hosting and email routing.
• Resend — sending transactional email such as claim notifications.

We do not currently share any personal information with race directors or other third parties. If that ever changes, it will be opt-in, we will name who receives it at the moment we ask, and this page will say so before it happens.

Registration links

Some race registration links earn us a referral fee at no extra cost to you. Following one takes you to the registration provider's own site, where their privacy policy applies, not ours. We don't receive your registration details.

Your choices

Email [email protected] to see what we hold about you, correct it, or have it deleted, and we'll take care of it. You don't need to give a reason, and we won't treat you differently for asking. To stop the emails, use the unsubscribe link in any of them.

Children

BestRaces is meant for adults planning races and is not directed at children under 13. We don't knowingly collect their information; if you believe a child has sent us something, email us and we'll delete it.

Changes

If this policy changes we'll update the date at the top. Material changes to what we collect or who receives it will be described here before they take effect.

Questions: [email protected].