How do you keep track of your running race results? Some people prefer pen/pencil and paper, others spreadsheets of some sort, others prefer online systems/websites. Five years ago, I wrote about Athlinks, one of the possible online depositories for race results. But things have changed a little with Athlinks expanding what it can do so I’m revisiting the Athlinks capacity anew.
Disclaimer: I am promoting Athlinks as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review, find and write race reviews!
One upgrade of Athlinks capacity is the ability to show your future races you are registered for. This makes it easy for friends (and rivals) to see where/when you are racing (maybe they want to race there too someday). To do this, you just search for the upcoming race by name and date and confirm you want to add it.
The Athlinks website looks more vibrant and alive than it did five years ago. Yes, the logo has changed too. It was red now it is blue. Also, the capacity to find old race results is much stronger now than it was 5 years ago. As you can see below, Athlinks says they have 366 race results that could be mine.
After you complete a race, I strongly recommend you confirm it to add it to your list, especially if it is a PR (personal record). With older races, it’s tougher to get confirmation. My oldest race I have confirmed is the 1989 Dallas Marathon. I’m trying to get my first one confirmed from 1988 within Athlinks and we are seeking the Dallas archived results with the help of the Dallas Marathon folks. Although I have confirmation of my time in writing from 1988, apparently I need a weblink of all the race participants so Athlinks can “scrape” the data into their system as they say. It’s great to have race results from 1989-present available at my convenience at my fingertips. (Hopefully we can extend that to 1988 very soon;)
Although I can look at PR’s on other sources (like Garmin Connect), it’s better for me to use Athlinks because I have some incorrect data due to watch irregularities (due to GPS/altitude hiccups) that has affected some of my Garmin PR results. So it’s more practical for me to just look at the Athlinks list to check for PR’s I might want to challenge in the future or ones I simply wish to remember.
If you race against other athletes, Athlinks denotes them as rivals. You can also follow them as friends if you wish. (Interestingly, one fellow BibRavePro is one of my rivals: Henry Howard. We raced against each other in Run Laughlin half-marathon a few years ago.) Either way, I welcome you as an Athlinks athlete, whether you are a friend, rival, or both. It’s also fun to see where your rivals may have raced where you haven’t for future reference. Or where your friends are racing next (future races). I like the future races part of this a lot. If you want to join me, please go here to visit my Athlinks athlete page: athlinks.com/athletes/159796935
Take a look, check it out. I think you’ll be impressed. I’ll leave you with a few screenshots to show you recent results, past results, and the PR page.
We can either track these races by hand, or by worksheets, or by Athlinks. I really prefer Athlinks over the other options. It works better for me. If you would like to visit Athlinks and try it out, here is their website: athlinks.com
Have a safe and happy Memorial Day Weekend!
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