If your Tuesday route exists only in one leader’s memory, it becomes difficult for anyone else to cover the session. A running club route library solves a modest but important problem: it gives volunteers a reliable place to find routes that have been checked, described and kept up to date. It need not be a specialist app. A shared folder containing a map and a one-page note for each route can be enough.
Start with the routes your club already uses. Make each entry useful to a leader who did not design it, then give somebody responsibility for reviewing it. A saved map alone is not a session plan: it cannot tell a stand-in leader which crossing needs care, whether a path is unlit or where the group normally regathers.
Choose a small set of routes worth keeping
Ask leaders which routes they would be comfortable handing to another volunteer. Aim for a practical mix rather than a huge collection: perhaps a shorter social-run route, a longer option, a suitable route for darker evenings and an alternative if a usual path is unavailable. Different groups may need different surfaces, distances, meeting points or regrouping arrangements.
For each proposed route, check who it is intended for and when it can sensibly be used. A route that works on a summer evening may be unsuitable after dark. An out-and-back can make it easier to adjust distance or keep a mixed-pace group together, but only if the turning point and regrouping plan are clear. RunTogether’s group-running risk-assessment template highlights crossings, changing ground conditions and the possibility of participants getting lost. Use your club’s own assessment process for its actual locations and sessions, rather than treating a template as approval of a particular route.
Give every route a usable one-page record
The record should help a volunteer make a decision quickly, not require them to read a long route history. A consistent format might contain:
- Route name and version: a distinctive name, the date it was last checked and who checked it.
- Map and written directions: a link or file plus the turns that are easy to miss. Make sure a volunteer can open the map before club night.
- Start, finish and approximate distance: include the precise meeting point if it differs from the club’s usual location.
- Intended session: the group or type of run it suits, with a plain description of terrain and likely effort rather than a promise that it suits everyone.
- Conditions and access: lighting, surface, gates or other features that may affect when or for whom the route works. Invite questions about access needs rather than assuming one description answers them all.
- Points needing attention: crossings, narrow shared paths, uneven sections and places where the group could take a wrong turn.
- Group plan: where to regroup, whether there is a tail runner, and any agreed shorter option or turnaround point.
- Review notes: changes reported by leaders and whether the route remains available for use.
Keep personal details out of the route record. A leader may need access to the club’s authorised attendance and emergency-contact arrangements, but those belong in the appropriate controlled records, not in a map file circulated to everyone.
Check a route before adding it to the library
A map can make a path look continuous when it is awkward for a group. Ask a leader to cover the proposed route, note the real crossing points and confirm that the planned distance, timing and regrouping places make sense. For an evening session, check it in conditions relevant to that session, including darkness where appropriate. RunTogether’s run leader toolkit recommends becoming familiar with local routes, checking them before taking a group out and planning shortcuts or extensions where useful.
Record the outcome, including anything that should be explained in a briefing. If an obstacle cannot be managed satisfactorily, revise the route or leave it out. Your existing health and safety policy should explain how routes and relevant risk assessments are reviewed and who can approve a significant change. A route library supports that process; it does not replace it.
Make the current version easy to find
Give one volunteer responsibility for the library and let leaders submit corrections. Use names that distinguish similar options, such as “Riverside short – clockwise”, rather than “Tuesday route final”. When a route changes, update its map and notes together, mark the review date and move the old version out of the folder leaders normally use. Otherwise a stand-in may open a different version from the one the regular leader intended.
Decide which information members need before a run. The library can hold leader-facing detail, while the club’s weekly session notice gives runners the confirmed meeting point, group description, approximate distance where known and the place to look for changes. Share a route map when useful, but do not rely on every participant studying it to compensate for an unclear group plan.
Use the library on club night, not just in planning meetings
Before departure, the leader should confirm that the route still fits the conditions and the people attending. Temporary works, a closed gate or an unexpectedly large group may call for the documented alternative—or for a fresh decision under the club’s usual safety process. Tell the check-in volunteer and other leaders which route each group will actually take. Then brief runners on the route, crossings, regrouping points and what to do if they need to leave early or become separated.
Afterwards, invite concise feedback: Was a turn confusing? Has the lighting changed? Did the shorter option work? Add a dated note and assign any follow-up rather than allowing useful observations to disappear into a group chat. A near miss or incident should also go through the club’s normal reporting process, with any route change recorded separately.
Keep routes and attendance connected without confusing the two
A route library tells leaders where a group intends to go. Check-in tells the club who actually went with it. If several groups depart at once, make sure runners are recorded against the right session and that leaders know who is in their group. Running Club Check-In’s features include attendance tracking and multi-session check-in; route maps and route-library management are separate tasks for the club to organise.
Begin with three routes your volunteers already know. Give each one a clear record, agree who maintains it and ask a stand-in leader whether they could use it without calling its creator. If you also want to organise check-in across your groups, you can create a free club site and see how the attendance workflow fits alongside your route library.
