Running event insurance is essential for any event. Still, race directors may have many questions — What is insurance for running events? How much does it cost? What does it cover? How to choose the right kind of insurance to protect the event as much as possible?
In this article, we will answer the question, “is event insurance worth it?” and help you understand everything you need to know about getting insurance for events without headaches.
What is Race Event Insurance?
Insurance for events is your protection against participants (staff or runners) getting hurt or property getting lost or damaged. It also protects you against certain liabilities should your event be canceled or postponed due to uncontrollable circumstances. It is one of the first things you should secure when planning to hold an event.
Why Do You Need Race Insurance?
- You risk getting a compensation claim if a public attendee or participant gets hurt;
- You risk facing legal costs and compensation charges if a temporary staff member, employee, or volunteer/helper injures themself during your event;
- You risk becoming liable to cover irrecoverable venue hire charges and face loss of profits in case the event is canceled, abandoned, or postponed due to circumstances beyond your control;
- You risk getting charged for lost or damaged equipment or property under your responsibility during the event (the venue is also on this list).
Types of Running Event Insurance
Depending on the kind of protection, we can divide insurance into the following types:
Event Liability Insurance
It also may be called general liability insurance, public liability insurance, or liability insurance. It is the most purchased kind of sports event insurance if we are talking about running. By buying it, you protect yourself from claims by participants if they get injured or suffer property damage during your event.
Even if you are looking for fun run event insurance, this a must-have insurance policy, without liability insurance, you might not get permission to hold the event as many jurisdictions often require this document.
The main purpose of liability insurance is to protect the organizer against suits filed against them by third parties. It covers legal fees and damages the organizers might have to pay in the event of an injury.
Still, you should know that this policy doesn’t cover the expenses participants may incur if they injure themselves during the race. For example, they can trip and fall due to their own fault. In this situation, you will need to get a participant accident policy. We will talk about it in more detail below.
This distinction is essential – that is why most liability policies require the organizer to ask participants to sign a waiver/release of liability.
By signing it, each participant accepts the risk of participating in an inherently risky activity (like running).
Still, the participant may get injured in another way, for example, if they trip over a timing mat or have a race sign drop on their head – in this situation, the waiver will not cover it. And this is the most important reason for buying event liability insurance.
Event Cancellation Insurance
This policy protects you against financial loss if your event is canceled for reasons beyond your control.
This kind of insurance is less common than, for example, the previous one. Still, many race organizers who have experienced an event cancellation know the risks:
- weather conditions like storms or hurricanes;
- natural disasters like earthquakes or wildfires;
- acts of terrorism;
- communicable disease – all we know about COVID;
Thus, depending on your chosen policy, a cancellation policy will reimburse you for your gross revenue or expenses incurred.
To tell the truth, if your event is hosted in a low-risk area, you probably won’t need this kind of policy. For example, if you are planning to buy 5k event insurance, and your run is at the public park, the extra expense of cancellation insurance probably isn’t necessary.
Operations/Equipment Insurance
As the name suggests, this policy covers you in case of damage or loss of equipment or hardware (laptop, timing machines, fixed structures, etc.) during the event period.
This kind of day event insurance will get you the same protection as a business insurance policy. You may have experience with such a document if you have a business. Or, maybe your business policy has the option of adding equipment coverage.
Participant Accident Insurance
Runners insurance is a great addition to the main liability insurance as it helps cover medical expenses that may occur if one of your participants suffers an accident at your event. It covers all the participant’s medical costs, which, in turn, reduces your risk of getting a claim in case of injury.
Cyber Insurance
It has become common for organizers to collect entries and payments online and process their results electronically. This, in turn, increases the risk of cybercrime and GDPR breaches. Cyber insurance provides technical and legal protection in case of a data incident or hack. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Directors and Officers Insurance
Sometimes it is also called D&O Insurance. It is important if you have a non-profit organization or organizations with boards. It protects the officers and board members in case of harassment or employment claims.
Still, depending on the company that offers event insurance, the names of policies may differ from our list, or some may be divided into smaller policies. So, you need to read all the terms each document provides. That is why there is no concrete answer to the question, “how much is event insurance?”
Where Can I Buy Running Event Insurance?
Here we will mention the most reliable ways to get your insurance.
- USA Track & Field (USATF). It is the most common way to get insurance for your event if you are submitting an application through USATF. A USATF-sanctioned event is covered by $3,000,000 of general liability insurance. Requirements and fees may differ depending on the state and size of your event. To know more, examine their official site.
- RRCA (Road Runners Club of America). This organization also provides insurance for club members. To know more, read their site.
You also can buy your insurance from other companies, but be sure that their service is reliable. Pay attention to the reviews of real clients.
The Most Common Mistakes
We should also mention common mistakes that running event organizers make. These mistakes often lead to unpleasant consequences.
- You only cover the event itself. Some policies may cover only the actual race and don’t cover the time after it: for example, expo or post-race party. In some cases, officers opt against getting it to save money. By the way, governing bodies or local nonprofit organizations provide this type of policy.
- You don’t know the exclusions of your insurance policy. Sometimes, important exclusions are hidden, which may cause problems in the future. Among such exclusions may be food-borne bacteria, etc.
- You don’t buy insurance which is created especially for running events. For example, you need fun run insurance and buy general documents – for all events. This is a problem as you will face exclusions or complications.
- You don’t buy cancellation insurance. Unless you are totally sure that your event won’t be canceled, this insurance is a must-have, especially if you live in an area prone to unpredictable severe weather events.
- You don’t build the price of insurance into the registration price. Ok, insurance is complicated, and we all want to avoid insurance events; still, you should factor in insurance when planning your event budget. Then you won’t get into trouble with the registration price not raising the amount of money you need for the insurance coverage.
Wrap Up
Buying insurance should be at the top of your running event list to avoid lots of problems in the future. Be sure to protect yourself with the best insurance policy. If you’ve had any interesting insurance experiences, please tell us about them in the comments.
