How Kliva checks its race data

Race information reaches Kliva from several kinds of source:

• Timing and registration platforms.
• Federations and race series.
• Organiser websites.
• Direct submissions: races people send us through the Submit form.

One race is often listed by several of these. The details on a Kliva page can come from different places, so a race page is not a copy of the organiser's site.

The same race often turns up under slightly different names. To decide whether two entries are one race, we compare the name, the place and the distances, along with the date and the official website when we have them. The aim is that one race appears once.

When two entries are merged, the merge is recorded. The old name and old Kliva page address stay attached to the race that remains, and that address redirects to it. Matching can miss, so a duplicate can still appear. If you see one, tell us.

Checks run when a GPX file is imported or uploaded to a race. We make no claim about re-checking it later, and we don't compare every trace with the organiser's official course. At that moment:

• A file with no usable track, or a track with no length, is refused.
• The distance and climbing we work out are compared with the race's published figures. A large gap raises a warning. It does not correct anything by itself.
• Single altitude spikes are repaired.
• When a file's altitude data is missing or implausible, we ignore it and recompute the elevation from a terrain model. If that model can't be reached, the trace is kept without altitude.

This means the climbing worked out from a trace can differ from the figure the organiser publishes.

These figures are counted from the catalogue itself, not typed by hand, and this page refreshes them about once a day. Each one comes with its definition.

We check races' entry status in batches, and focus on the races where it matters most. In each batch, a race is looked at if enough time has passed since its last check: about a day around a known opening date, a few days to two weeks otherwise, and longer when its page can't be read or the race is more than six months away. Races that have taken place are not checked again. A check alone puts nothing on the race page: a status only shows there once we have set it by hand.

What these figures do not cover:

• There is no fixed re-check schedule. We don't promise that a race is looked at again every so many days, so a date or a link can be out of date until something or someone catches it.
• Some dates are projected from the previous edition. They carry a Dates to be confirmed label until a real date arrives.
• Some traces are copied from an earlier year. The race page doesn't say so today, so check the organiser's site if the exact route matters to you.
• Some traces reach us as route data from a source rather than a GPX file, so we cannot say every trace on file went through the checks above.
• Not every race has had its registration status checked, and a check can end without a result.
• Not every change is reviewed by a human. Some new races and some updates are applied automatically.

That is why we ask runners and organisers to report mistakes.

Tell us. Every race page has a Wrong info? link that opens a pre-filled email to races@kliva.run. Say what is wrong and, if you can, add a source.

Before you book travel or pay an entry fee, check the date and the route on the organiser's own site. The organiser has the last word on their race.

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