Guide · 5 min read

Following a marathon from home, how to be there anyway

Not everyone can stand at the roadside. With a link, the official results and a recorded cheer you can be close from the sofa. Here's how to go about it.

Photo: Brooke Balentine / Unsplash

Grandpa in another city, a friend who has to work, or you with a child still in pyjamas at eight in the morning. Not everyone can stand at the roadside. Still, you don’t have to wait until afterwards to hear how a marathon went. With a few things ready, you can really be there from the sofa.

What you need

A phone, tablet or laptop, and a link from your runner. Ask for it the evening before, not on the morning itself: by then your runner is in the start pen with other things on their mind. With Racespot you simply open the link in your browser, no app and no account.

Two sources side by side

Get two things ready:

  1. The official results or race app. That’s where you see the times from the timing mats. Those are the official numbers.
  2. A live track. That’s where you see where your runner is right now, also between the mats, and how the pace is going.

Big marathons are sometimes broadcast live, but then you mostly see the fastest runners. Your own runner rarely makes it on screen.

The results tell you how it went. A live track tells you how it's going.

The moments to watch

You don’t have to stare at a dot for three or four hours. Four moments that tell you the most:

  • The start. Once the dot moves, your runner is really on their way. With a big field that can be a while after the starting gun.
  • Halfway. The half marathon time says a lot about how the rest will go. About half the finish time is great; a bit slower is very normal.
  • The last ten kilometres. This is where a marathon is decided, and where your runner needs support most.
  • The finish. Set an alarm for the expected finish time, and look fifteen minutes earlier.

Cheering from a distance

Watching is lovely, but your runner doesn’t notice. With Racespot you record a cheer your runner hears in their earbuds along the way, at the kilometre you choose. So your runner hears your voice at kilometre 32 while you’re on the sofa. Tips on what to say are in What to say in a cheer.

Watching together

Share the link in the family or friends group chat, so everyone follows the same race. Agree who records a cheer for which kilometre, so your runner doesn’t hear five at once, but a familiar voice every now and then throughout the race.

After the finish

Don’t call straight away. Your runner still has to get through the finish area, collect a medal, drink some water and pick up their things. A short message is enough: “Saw it! So proud.” The phone call can come later, and by then your runner will have a story to tell.

In the start pen at the Amsterdam Marathon the signal was so poor that phones barely got a connection. So ask for your link the evening before, and open it once in advance.

Follow your runner live

With Racespot you see your runner on the course, and they hear your cheer at the kilometre you pick. Supporters need no app.

How following works

Also read

Guide · 6 min readCheering at a race, how to find your runner and be seenWhere to stand, how to stand out among thousands of people and what to shout when your runner finally comes past. A guide for supporters, from the first spot to the finish.Guide · 5 min readChip time or GPS, why they almost never agreeYour watch says 21.6 km, the results say 21.1. What a chip measures, what GPS measures, why the distance nearly always comes out longer and which time counts.Comparison · 7 min readFollowing a runner live, every option honestly comparedThe official race app, Strava Beacon, Garmin LiveTrack, sharing your location or Racespot: what supporters see, what the runner needs and when to pick which.