MapRun provides a way of using GPS to track your run and automatically register your controls with a beep, saving the manual writing of answers.  This works fine almost all the time, but can struggle with tall trees, high buildings, bad weather, low batteries, difficulties getting satellites, etc … so we use SportIdent timing for exact starts and finishes, and you always have the option of writing an answer if you don’t get the expected beep.

(Note: you can download these instructions as a PDF)

For many people, using MapRun on a phone is fine, but others find it more convenient to run with a watch. It used to be thought that watches gave better responses than phones, but really what matters is more recent tehnology, so an old watch is probably not as good as a new phone.

First you need to get MapRun set up on your phone – do this at home or somewhere with reliable internet:

• Download the MapRun app
• Add the requested personal details (please use a name we can match with your RaceSignUp entry!)
• Select ‘Options and Settings’ and then ‘Hide pts accrcy worse than (m)’. Set this to its lowest value, ie 20.  (don’t ask – it helps get sensible results)
• If you are going to use your phone for navigation, there are a number of phone-wide settings which are important. These are to ensure that your GPS works properly and that your app doesn’t shut down in the middle of your run.  For details, refer to https://maprunners.weebly.com/phone-settings.html

And now if you intend to use your watch:

• to check if it will work, go to the Garmin Connect website apps.garmin.com and search for MapRunG, where it has a list of compatible devices. You may need to download the Connect IQ app on to your phone from the App Store/Play Store in order to download the Garmin app to your watch.

• Download MapRunG onto your Garmin watch
• For details of how to set up MapRunG, see https://maprunners.weebly.com/maprung.html
• Remember that you will still need MapRun on your phone to download the events, and upload the results.
• Note that the event will NOT work on earlier versions of the App (MapRun6/MapRunF) which are now obsolete, and if you don’t set the Apps up correctly, your run may fail to record.

And now you are ready to download events and run them. Note that NSL events are set up with a 10m tolerance, so you should get your beep as soon as your device thinks you are within 10m of the centre of the control circle.

We usually make events available for download a couple of days in advance, and it is strongly advised that you get everything set up at home (and no, you can’t see anything you shouldn’t).  If you leave it to the venue, you must have mobile data on your phone, or rely on the pub’s Wifi (free?) or a mobile hotspot using somebody’s else’s phone (who has mobile data).

There are two ways to reach the event for download to your phone:

• For NSL events, we usually provide QR codes in the Final Details email, which can be scanned with a QR code reader (on your phone). This leads to a link which automatically opens MapRun6 and downloads your chosen event.
• In MapRun choose ‘Select Event’ then scroll down to UK/Manchester/NSL/ and select the appropriate event for the time (eg. Marple40 /60 /75 min) you want to be running.

It helps if you select the right QR code/duration, but it isn’t completely disastrous if you don’t!

And now, if you are using your watch, you simply Select “Send Event to my Garmin Watch”.

On the night, you should:

• Before you run, make sure you have collected satellites and your GPS is showing green (sometimes this takes a while!), and then Select “Go To Start” when you are at the pre-start. You’ll be allowed to dib the Start box and pick up your map when you have your Start beep.
• After you’ve dibbed the Finish box, and got your Finish beep, you need to ensure that your run has been picked up by the MapRun results web site.  For phones, this should be automatic if you have an internet connection. For watches, you need to go to Results on MapRun and select ‘Get Track from Garmin’. 
• And then, please browse to https://results.maprun.net/, select the event you’ve run and check you are included in the list. If not, you may need to do a ‘Manual Upload’ from Results.

and finally, remember …….

you DO NOT have to use MapRun on a phone or watch at our NSL events – you can write down your answers on the clue sheet in just the same old-fashioned way we have been doing from the beginning.

See other entries Categorised under: Leagues • Resources