Bield indexes every half-marathon and above — and the people who keep long-distance runners moving: pacers, crewers, marshals, coaches, race organisers, and the runners who depend on them. One consistent home for every race, no matter who organised it. GPX-verified courses, Strava-linked trust, no payment middleman. One account, every role.
Strava is where you log the run and compare splits. findarace is where you find the race. Bield is what comes between signing up for a 100-miler and standing on the start line with a pacer who knows your race plan and a crew who knows your checkpoint schedule. Different problem. Different tool.
Six equal peers. One platform. Whether you're pinning a bib, guiding an athlete's season, holding a checkpoint, pacing the dark miles, driving to the next aid station, or putting the whole thing together — you belong here.
Find verified races, build your crew, follow your race live.
Claim posts, get briefed, check in on race day, build your marshall score.
Publish your race CV, get matched to runners, agree terms direct.
Coordinate per checkpoint — know exactly what to carry and when.
Draft a race in minutes. Smart checkpoint times. Printable briefings. Free.
Plan your athletes' season. Suggest races. See their training. Free.
Choose how you show up — one account, every role. Switch any time.
Pick from organiser-published events with verified GPX, cut-offs, and mandatory kit — or request one if it's missing.
Sort by distance band, terrain, time-of-day comfort. Discovery is gender-blind by default. No photos in browse.
Assign crewers per checkpoint. The share-pack staircase reveals exactly what each person needs — nothing more.
Race-day mode: mandatory kit final-check, live tracker, Strava-verified reviews unlock at the finish.
Find races with open checkpoint posts in your region. Filter by distance, date, and terrain type.
Tap to request a checkpoint slot. The race organiser confirms and you receive your digital briefing pack.
Check in digitally at your post. The organiser has a live view of every checkpoint across the race.
Each verified marshall engagement adds to your record. Consistent marshalls get priority on future events.
Strava connect + ID. First Aid and Mountain Qual unlock distance tiers up to 100mi+. Pick your specialisms.
Opt in to events you're already on. Get a race-fit boost when runners search for that specific race.
Runners approach you with a share-pack. Agree compensation directly — cash, Service Swap, or volunteer. Bield never sees it.
Two-way reviews unlock only when both Strava tracks overlap. Real proof — no fake five-stars from mates.
Runners invite you as crew via email. One-tap accept — no account required to view the basics.
You're assigned to specific CPs with access info, what3words locations, and expected arrival windows.
The share-pack tells you exactly what your runner needs at each checkpoint — food, kit, medical at the right level.
Live tracker, ETA updates, and crew chat. Know when they're 20 minutes out so you're ready.
Bio, certifications (UESCA, UKA CIRF, USATF, ITRA index, plus regional bodies worldwide), specialisms. Free for coaches.
Invite by handle. Two-way consent — they accept, they control what you see from their share-pack. Revoke any time, either side.
One dashboard for every athlete: upcoming races, recent Strava activity summary, share-pack up to the level they’ve granted you.
Propose events that fit their goals with a short rationale. They accept, decline, or leave pending. Nudge gently — no spam.
Apply with your race history. Verified organisers get a tick and the right to publish official race pages — free.
Drop a GPX file. Elevation is read automatically, the route renders on an interactive map, and grade-adjusted checkpoint times are calculated from the race cutoff — accounting for climb, not just flat distance.
Place CPs by distance or drop a pin. Configure your Timed Events — registration open/close, kit check, start, and cutoff. Required average pace is derived for you. Terrain stats (climb, descent, net) shown per leg.
Manage marshall posts and open slots, push briefings in one tap, print volunteer rosters. Live counts of confirmed runners, pacers and crew, plus unfilled marshall posts. Cancellation cascade if needed.
Every race lives on a different platform. Entries here, results there, photos scattered across a dozen organiser sites. Bield indexes them all into one consistent layer — whatever each race looks like on the outside, your race history, your crew, your kit and your results live here.
Every race uses a different platform, website, and layout — entries on one site, results on another, photos scattered across race photo sites and a dozen organiser portals. Bield indexes every race in one consistent place. Whatever platform each race runs on outside, your race history, photos, crew details, and results look exactly the same inside Bield.
Other sites list the race. We list your team.
Reviews unlock only when both runner and pacer GPS tracks overlap. No five-stars from your training partner. Real evidence or it doesn't count.
Level 0 hides everything; Level 4 shares medical and dietary at race week. Your personal details are automatically deleted 14 days after race day. You stay in control of who sees what, when.
Every race has a verified course polyline, elevation profile, and cut-offs the organiser published personally. No "I think it's about 100k somewhere".
Tick the list as you pack it. Crewers tick what they're carrying for you. Race-morning kit check is a green progress bar, not an argument at 03:30.
Discovery surfaces every verified pacer near you. Sort by the criteria you care about — including gender — but nobody gets excluded from the list.
Bield never holds your money. You and your pacer agree compensation directly — cash, Service Swap (pacer ↔ pacer trade), or volunteer. Zero platform fees.
Every crew access point and checkpoint has a precise what3words location baked in. No more "it's the lay-by after the farm, you'll know it when you see it".
Sunrise and sunset on race day at the start. Five years of historical weather — typical temp, rain probability, wind, snow. Forecast layers in once the race is within 16 days.
Every race links straight to its official photographer's gallery — find and download your race-day photos in a couple of taps.
Don't need support? Pick Running only and Bield becomes a pure race tracker — course map, checkpoints, ETA. Pacers and crew can still be added later if you change your mind.
Take photos directly in the Bield app or upload from your camera roll. Photos are compressed and stored against your race — no third-party photo site to log into, no link to lose.
GPS coordinates from the photo (or a manual pin) place it at the precise mile marker on your route map. Scroll the route and every photo appears where it happened — the checkpoint grab, the summit, the 3am section nobody saw.
Your pacers and crew can upload photos to your race too — the finish-line grab, the checkpoint handoff, the descent nobody on the outside ever sees. All consolidated in one place. Premium on the runner only; free for everyone supporting them.
After the race, download a single ZIP: all your photos, the offline route map gallery with photos pinned to it, and a machine-readable race spec sheet. Works without internet. Keep it, share it, archive it.
Drop your race GPX, see your splits + where your pacers should swap. Built for long-distance running — multi-leg handoffs, crew-reachable checkpoints, elevation-adjusted ETAs. Nothing uploaded. Works entirely in your browser.
Upload a GPX and Bield does the heavy lifting: elevation read automatically, checkpoints placed with a tap, grade-adjusted times calculated from the race cutoff, and printable briefings ready before the start-line crowd arrives.
Drop a GPX file and your route appears on an interactive map. Elevation is read automatically, including backfill if needed. The full polyline, total distance, and climb profile are there from the start.
Type a distance and the checkpoint snaps to the right point on the route line. Or drop a pin directly on the map. Either way, you see the leg's climb, descent, and net elevation the moment it's placed.
Set the race cutoff and Bield works backwards through every checkpoint using a grade-adjusted pace (GAP) model. A hilly leg is correctly slower than a flat one — cut-off times reflect the actual terrain, not just average minutes-per-km.
Set registration open and close, kit check, race start, and race cutoff. Total run time and required average pace are derived automatically — no spreadsheet, no recalculation every time the cutoff shifts.
Build your mandatory kit list from a curated catalogue or add custom items. Write race rules. Publish open marshall posts per checkpoint — claim applications come in, you confirm, briefings go out in one tap. Crew and pacer access rules per checkpoint too.
One tap to go live. Track confirmed runners, pacers and crew — and which marshall posts are still unfilled — in real time. If plans change, a cancellation cascade notifies every affected runner, pacer, and crew member automatically.
Printable PDF per checkpoint: post location (what3words), arrival windows, duties, emergency protocol, and organiser contacts. Hand it out, or push it digitally before race day.
A single-page roster of confirmed marshalls and crew per checkpoint with check-in status. Print for race HQ or share with co-organisers digitally.
At-a-glance counts — confirmed runners, marshall posts, unfilled posts and volunteers pending — updating live, no refresh.
Bield is permanently free for race organisers. Publish unlimited races, manage unlimited checkpoint posts, send unlimited briefings. Runners pay £4/mo for Premium — that's what covers the infrastructure. You put the race on; we keep the lights on.
A 5K is not a 100-miler. Bield's verification tiers match. The longer the race, the more proof we ask for.
Coaches, marshalls, pacers, crew, and race organisers use Bield free — permanently. Runners on long stuff pay £4/mo (or £30 for the year, save £18) for the deep features. Or marshal 6 events and earn it free. That's the whole deal.
Free for coaches, marshalls, pacers, crew & organisers — permanently
For first-timers, single-event runners, and anyone trying us out
per month · or £30 per year — save £18
Cancel anytime · or marshal 6 events to earn it free
Whether you're toeing the line, holding a checkpoint, running the dark miles with someone, crewing the aid stations, or building the race — Bield is where you belong.
No. Bield never sees your money. You and your pacer agree compensation directly — cash, bank transfer, a Service Swap (pacer ↔ pacer trade), or volunteer. We don't take a fee, set a price, or hold funds.
This is intentional: we're modelled after Checkatrade, not Airbnb. Trust and introductions only.
Because the network needs them more than it needs revenue from them. Coaches guide athletes toward the right races; marshalls make races safe; pacers are why runners make it to the finish; crewers keep people going between checkpoints; race organisers are why there's a catalogue at all.
Runners pay £4/mo (or £30 for the year, save £18) for Premium — that covers Strava and ID verification and infrastructure. Or earn Premium free by marshalling 6 events. Coaches, marshalls, pacers, crew, and organisers don't pay, and our intent is to keep core access free permanently. If the maths ever changes we'll be plain about it, with notice, and the bar is high.
After a race, we check that the runner's and pacer's Strava activities overlap in time and space. If they do, both parties can leave a review and it appears on the platform with a "verified" mark. If they don't, the review is held — same race, different runs aren't proof you paced together.
This eliminates the "five stars from my mate" problem that other platforms can't solve.
Level 0 hides everything. Level 1 reveals your handle, race, and role slot. Level 2 adds your contact and pace plan. Level 3 unlocks at commit and shares emergency contact and dietary info. Level 4 (race week) shares medical info and bib.
Your personal info is automatically deleted 14 days after race day. The engagement record stays anonymised for your race CV.
Yes. Bield is built for runners wherever they race — from the Lakes to the Alps to the Rockies. Discovery will be densest where the network is deepest, and the network grows as runners, pacers, and organisers join from each region. If your race is on the platform, you're in.
An index, more than either. We index over 1,900 races globally — half-marathon distance and above — and add the layer no race platform or directory offers: a 3D course view, a verified pacer / crew / marshal marketplace, share-packs for crew logistics, and race-day photo capture with per-runner tagging.
We don't replace whichever platform your race already runs on — RunSignup, RaceTime, ITRA, the organiser's own site. Those stay where they are. Bield is the consistent layer that sits on top.
Because pacing is a skill, not a face. Photos in browse bias discovery in ways we can't audit. Bield browse is credentials-first: handle, badges, race CV. Photos are visible only after both parties opt in at Level 3.
Bield is built by Olive Wood IT — by people who spend their own weekends out on long, hard trails, which is why we picked this problem.
