Below are applications from four events. It is of particular importance that your application clearly state the DATE, TIME, LOCATION, and DISTANCE(s) of your event. In addition, be sure to indicate the entry fee(s), deadlines, giveaways, awards (if any), and the cause/benefit of the event.

The application portion should collect the participant's name, age/birthday, sex, address, phone, email and anything else you need (such as shirt size, race entering, etc.) Be certain to ask for a signature at the bottom and have a waiver that identifies all parties involved with the event.

Perhaps the most often overlooked component of producing an event is ensuring accurate and consistent data collection. The job of the race timer is to provide the correct time for each bib number. Unless contracted externally, it is the job of the event to ensure the spelling and other accuracy of data collected and assigned to each bib. This includes verifying ages, gender, and other vital data. Most timers (and scoring software) will require the information to be saved in a spreadsheet.

For larger races, it is especially imperative that the registration staff ensure that the correct person receives their bib/chip. The most typical cause of an error here is when two or more entrants have the same first and last name. Be sure that your volunteers/staff check for this and also verify age/city, etc. This problem can be avoided by labeling each bib with the information for its respective person.

Out of nearly 18,000 registrations we processed in 2010 for races that EXCLUSIVELY offered unisex shirts in sizes S, M, L, XL, here is the breakdown:
S ---- 4,684 ---- 26.7%
M ---- 5,482 ---- 31.2%
L ----- 4,920 ----- 28.0%
XL --- 2,484 ----- 14.1%
You may want to use these percentages when ordering for your event.