Virtual races and virtual 5Ks
A virtual race with a road to run.
Give your virtual 5K or hybrid race a shared road on a real map. People who join in the free Ironstride app move toward your start line together, from any town and in any sport. Web sign-up for your in-person race needs no app and no account.
Free for up to 15 people · People who join never pay
Sample road · Great River Road
Why virtual races stall
Sign up, then silence.
Most virtual races are a sign-up form, a race window and an honor-system time. People register with good intentions, nothing happens between sign-up and race day, and a good share of them never log a finish. The shirt still ships.
Ironstride fills the gap in the middle with a road to race day: a shared road trip on a real map that ends at your start line. People who join it in the free app see every workout, a walk at lunch or a Saturday ride, move the group a little closer, and the app shows how far everyone has come together.
Joining the road is something each person does in the app. Signing up for your in-person race happens on your race page in any web browser, with no app or account, and on race morning your volunteers time the finish on their phones.
Spring 5K · Week 2 of 4
45%
of the road to your start line
Three ways to run it
Virtual, hybrid or in person.
Virtual only
Everyone moves where they live. A virtual-only race gets a one-week countdown road before race day, and every workout people record in the app moves the group.
Hybrid
An in-person race plus friends and family joining the road from anywhere. Add even a small in-person location and the road runs up to four weeks before race day.
In person
Online sign-up with your waiver, offline check-in on volunteer phones, a finish-line clock and a public results page. See race day check-in and timing.
How it works
Live in four steps.
Plan your event
Pick the date and size. Up to 15 people is free.
Pick the road
Off, 2, 3 or 4 weeks of road, ending at your start line.
Share it
Post the race page for sign-up, and invite people to the road in the app.
Race day
Volunteers check people in and time the finish at your start line.
Fair for everyone
Walkers are not extras.
On the road to race day there are no teams or rankings: everyone moves as one group, so a first-timer walking two miles a day matters as much as the club runner. At an in-person race, walkers and runners cross the same finish line and land in the same posted results. If you add teams on race day, they show in A to Z order, never ranked.
Other sports count too. Walks, runs, hikes and rucks count mile for mile. A bike ride counts one road mile for every three miles ridden, and a swim counts one for every 400 meters, so a long ride doesn’t outweigh a week of walks.
Want local businesses involved? Add sponsors to the road, the race-day big screen and the finisher patch. You pay one flat price per sponsor, and everything your sponsors pay you is yours.
Spring 5K · posted
Same finish line
What it costs
One price for the whole race.
Free for up to 15 people. Then $49 up to 50, $79 up to 100, $149 up to 300, $249 up to 750 and $449 up to 2,000. Bigger races are quoted. People who sign up never pay Ironstride.
Questions
Virtual race questions.
What is a virtual race?
A race where people cover the distance on their own course, wherever they live, during a set time. In Ironstride, people who join the road record their workouts in the app, and each one moves the whole group toward race day.
Can people join from another state?
Yes. Anyone can join the road to race day in the app from wherever they live, and their workouts move the shared road like everyone else’s. Times at your finish line come from the volunteers timing your in-person race.
Do participants need the app?
Only to join the road to race day. Signing up for your in-person race happens on your race page in any web browser, with no app and no account, and volunteers check people in and time the finish on their own phones.
How long is the road before race day?
A virtual-only race gets a one-week countdown road. A race with an in-person location gets up to four weeks: the organizer picks Off, 2, 3 or 4 weeks, and the road ends at your start line on race morning.
Can we use it for a charity virtual run?
Yes. Ironstride does not collect donations, so keep your donation page and link to it. You keep everything your sponsors pay you, and Ironstride never takes a percentage.
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