Competing on a Club Team

This being the Club Championships, most athletes will be competing as a member of a club team.

There are two paths to becoming part of a club team.  One is to join an existing USATF-affiliated club. Click here to find your particular USATF Association. A list of clubs within the Association is available on the Association’s website, as well as contact information for the club. If you choose this path, you will, of course, have to join the club and to make sure that you appear on the club’s USATF roster. You may do this by selecting the club’s name when you apply for USATF membership or by later editing your USATF membership information to reflect your new club membership. It is possible, by the way, to belong to more than one USATF club. However, the club for which you plan to compete should be the one listed on your USATF member information page.

A second path is to form and register your own club and team.  This is the path that you would typically take, for example, if you and a group of your friends would like to run as a team.  To do this, you will first have to register as a USATF club.  This is a relatively painless process, and can be done by clicking here. The fee for forming a club is $50. You will have to designate a point of contact for the club, normally your team captain. It normally takes some time to completely process new club applications, so you should complete your application at least a month prior to the race date and preferably sooner.

In either case, team registration is handled through the USATF website for the race.

As usual, all runners must wear clearly visible race numbers. In addition, Masters runners must wear a back number that indicates the five-year age group within which they are competing. For timing purposes, all runners will also be required to wear hip numbers.

Finally, there are a series of eligibility requirements and other requirements as well. All athletes and clubs are strongly urged to review the official eligibility and entry information on the USATF website.