RunSignup AI Chatbot Beta Now Live on Race Websites

RunSignup’s AI Chatbot is now live with our first group of beta races. These events are helping us test and improve the chatbot, while giving their participants a faster, easier way to find race information.

See the Chatbot in Action

The AI Chatbot is already answering participant questions on these race websites:

• Big Bad Wolfe Run, Columbus, OH
• ASICS Susquehanna River Running Festival
• Davidson Turkey Trot, Davidson, NC
• Suffolk County Marathon, Half Marathon, and 5K, Bay Shore, NY
• Charles St 12, Towson, MD
• DAV 5k Boston, MA

Visit any of these sites to see the chatbot in action and test them out.

Why It Matters

The AI Chatbot uses your race’s Website V2 content, including FAQ pages (via our new FAQ component), results, policies, and schedules, to provide instant answers to participant questions. For race directors, this means:

• Fewer Support Emails: Early users are seeing 70–80% fewer participant inquiries.
  
• Time Savings: Race teams are saving 5–10 hours per week.
  
• 24/7 Availability: Participants get accurate answers any time without waiting for a reply.
  

By streamlining routine questions, the chatbot allows race staff to focus on delivering a great event day experience.

What Works Well

The chatbot is most effective when it has clear, well-organized information to work from. Here are some best practices to help you get the most from the chatbot:

• Add a clear, detailed FAQ section to your race website. This improves chatbot performance by giving it structured answers to pull from, and it also benefits all participants by making important details easy to find.
  
• Keep your Website V2 content accurate and up-to-date with schedules, policies, parking details, and other essential race information. The chatbot is automatically updated and trained on any new or updated information.
  
• Leverage the chatbot’s fallback to human contact. When the bot cannot answer directly, it provides an alternative contact method so participants can still get help quickly. Making it easy for racers to reach a real person builds trust and strengthens your race community connection.

Lessons from the Beta

Building and testing the AI Chatbot with our first users has provided key insights:

1. Content Quality is Critical: The richer your Website V2 content, the better the chatbot performs.
   
2. Accurate Data Access: We have implemented structured, filtered data feeds for fast and reliable answers.
   
3. Smart Prompting: The bot’s conversation design ensures it only responds with information relevant to your event.

Read more here.

What’s Next

We will be expanding the beta program in the coming months, with several major enhancements already in development:

• Real-time results, photos, bib search, and corral information via our MCP servers, giving participants instant access to race day details.
• Chatbot integration with your Contact Us form, ensuring support inquiries are escalated to the correct team.
• An admin dashboard with chat logs, usage analytics, and the ability to correct or train an answer for improved accuracy.
• Customization options that allow you to style and name your bot to match your event’s branding.
• MCP integration is coming to production soon and will enable the bot to access and respond to even more complex data.

Join the AI Chatbot Waitlist

If your race is using Website V2, you can sign up for early access:

1. Ensure your site has robust event content and a FAQ page via the FAQ component.
   
2. Join the Waitlist to secure your spot in the rollout.