Offering participants the opportunity to defer their place to a later race allows you to retain their loyalty even when they can't make an event, rather than losing them altogether. In eventrac, a deferral is simply a race move: the participant's entry is moved from this year's race to a future one.
This guide covers moving an entry to a future race. If a participant wants to give their place to someone else, see Transferring an Entry to Another Person
Choosing how to handle deferrals
There are three ways to manage deferrals. Which one is suitable will depend on whether you have already created next year's races, and/or whether you want to allow participants to complete the move themselves.
Next year's races are already set up: participants move themselves straight into next year's race.
Next year's races aren't set up yet: participants move themselves into a "holding" ticket, and you move them into the real race later.
You'd rather handle it yourself: you move each participant using Move Immediate.
Option 1: Next year's races are already set up
If you've already created next year's event and races, participants can defer themselves using Race Move Settings.
From this year's event, click Setup > Basic Info, then open the Race Move Settings section.
Tick Allow participants to change race.
Untick All events, current and future, then tick next year's event from the list. This stops participants moving to other events you run.
Click Submit.
Next year's event doesn't need to be open for entries to the public. Participants will see its races in the Change Race list on their booking.
For a full guide on these settings, including admin fees and carrying over discounts, see Race Move Settings.
Option 2: Using a holding ticket
If next year's races aren't set up yet, you can create a holding ticket for participants to move into. Once next year's races are ready, you move everyone across.
Setting up the holding ticket
From this year's event, click Setup > Races and add a new race, for example "2027 Deferral".
Set the price to £0
Under Ordering Options, tick Hide this ticket from the entry form so members of the public can't book it.
Click Save.
Then switch on Allow participants to change race in Race Move Settings, as in Option 1. Participants can now move themselves into the holding ticket.
Tip: If you only want participants to move into the holding ticket, tick Do not allow participants to move to this race on each of this year's other races. This stops participants using the deferral option to swap between this year's races.
Moving participants into next year's race
Once next year's races are set up, move each participant from the holding ticket into their new race using Move Immediate (see Option 3). There is nothing for the new participant to pay.
If you wish to charge an admin fee, instead use the "Move with balance pay" and set a admin fee. See Race Move Settings.
Option 3: Moving participants yourself
If you don't want participants to defer themselves, you can move them using Move Immediate. This works whether or not you've switched on Allow participants to change race.
Find the participant's entry by navigating to the Event > Signup Ups
Click Move Immediate and choose the race to move them to.
Add a note such as "Deferred".
Confirm the move.
For a full guide on moving a participant, click here.
Best practice
Add a "Deferred" note whenever you move someone. The note appears in your participant exports, so you can easily see who has deferred.
Set a deadline. On each race, under User Management Configuration, use the Change race deadline to set the last date participants can defer themselves. If you leave it blank, they can move until entries close.
Tell participants your policy. Include any deadline, fee or conditions in your FAQs and confirmation emails, so they know deferring is an option before they contact you.