How raceIQ works
Tell us your pace
The pace you can race at each distance, your age and gender, and the places you'd travel to.
See where you'd finish
We compare your pace with every race near you: its past finishers in your age group and gender.
Pick races you'd place in
Races ranked by your likely finish, with how fast each field is and its usual race-morning weather.
Why we built it
Racing blind
We're running enthusiasts. Race calendars tell you when and where a race is, but not who shows up. You could run a 5K where your time wins your age group, or the same time at a race down the road and finish in the middle of the pack, and you only find out when the results come out.
Those results are public, so we built raceIQ to read them for you. Before you register, you can see where your pace would have finished at each race in past years, and choose the ones worth racing: a shot at an age-group podium, a personal best on a fast course, or a big day out with thousands of people.
Your placing
How we work out where you'd finish
Example
4of ~38 · Men 40–49
For each race, we take its three most recent editions with results. In each one, we count how many finishers in your age group and gender ran faster than your target pace: that's where you'd have finished that year. The newest year counts most (3, then 2, then 1), because fields change.
The range next to your placing is where you'd finish running 3% faster or slower than your target, since nobody runs exactly to plan.
When too few people in your age group ran a race, we compare you with all runners of your gender, and then with every finisher, and say so on the race. A placing out of eight runners tells you less than one out of eighty.
A race with no past results isn't ranked. Its page shows typical US finish times for your age group as a rough guide, and it gets a placing as soon as it has results of its own.
Field strength
How fast each field really is
Big doesn't mean fast. A 20,000-runner charity 5K can be easier to place in than a 150-runner club race. So we rate each race on its own finishers: the time it took to be in the top 5% (the front of the field) and the top 25% (its core), from its three newest editions, compared with every other race at the same distance. That gives a score from 0 to 100.
Fast at the front and through the core. Expect to work for an age-group place.
A quick front of the field and a solid core.
A typical community race.
A relaxed field: fun runs and charity races where many people run for the day out.
A race needs at least 30 finishers to be rated. Scores are relative to the races we hold, so they settle as more results come in.
Race morning
Weather that slows you down
Every race shows its typical race-morning conditions: the average temperature and dew point between 7 and 9am on that day of the year, over the last five years.
Heat and humidity slow everyone down. We use the runners' rule of thumb of adding the temperature and the dew point (°F): up to 100 there's no effect, and above it pace slows by up to about 8%. It's a guide for recreational runners, not physiology, and you can try your own numbers in the heat pace calculator.
The data
Where the results come from
Everything comes from actual race results: the official finish times of the people who ran each race. We add new races and results every day, usually within a couple of days of a race.
We use results mostly as numbers: times, age groups and genders, to describe a field. Public race pages and our AI tools show totals and finishing times, not runners' names; signed-in members can open a past race's full results, as the timing company published them. You can read more in our privacy policy.
Common questions
Is raceIQ free?
Yes. Creating an account, setting your paces and places, and seeing your placings at every race are free.
How accurate are the placings?
They're estimates from what happened at the same race in past years. Fields change from year to year, so treat a placing as your likely finish with a range around it, not a guarantee. The more past editions with results a race has, the steadier the estimate.
Why don't some races show a placing?
We only place you at a race once we have its own past results. Until then its page shows typical finish times across the US for your age group and gender, as a rough guide.
How soon do new results appear?
Usually within a couple of days of a race, once the timing company publishes them.
Do I need Strava?
No. Connecting Strava is optional: it matches the runs you've done to the races you ran, so you can see how you actually placed.
Which races are covered?
US road races at the main distances, from the mile to the marathon, including 5Ks, 10Ks and half marathons, with more results added every week.
My result is in your data and I'd like it removed.
Email us at the address in the footer and we'll remove it. Results come from public timing sites; our public race pages show them only as totals and times.