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Public & Private Divisions — Running Mixed Registration

Keep some divisions open to the public while restricting others to invited or qualified athletes — all within the same event.

Written by Michael
Updated today

Not every division at your event needs to follow the same registration rules. Competition Corner lets you control the public or private status of each division independently — so you can run open and restricted divisions side by side within the same event, without any workarounds.

Why This Matters

Many events have a mix of divisions that serve different purposes:

  • Open divisions — available to any athlete who wants to register, no prior qualification needed

  • Qualifying divisions — restricted to athletes who have earned their spot through a qualifier or selection process

  • Invite-only divisions — reserved for specific athletes such as elite competitors, sponsored athletes, or personally invited participants

Rather than managing this through separate events or manual workarounds, you can handle all of it within a single event by setting each division's visibility individually.

How It Works

Each division in your event has its own public or private setting. When a division is set to public, it is open to anyone — athletes can see it and register for it freely. When a division is set to private, it remains visible on your event page but is access-controlled — athletes can see it exists, but they need either a passcode or a Special Registration Link to register for it.

This means you can use private divisions to create a sense of exclusivity and prestige around certain categories, while still allowing athletes to discover that those divisions exist.

How to Set a Division as Public or Private

  1. From your event dashboard, navigate to Registration > Divisions

  2. Click to edit the division you want to configure

  3. Set the division visibility to Public or Private

  4. If setting to Private, you will be asked to create a passcode for that division — only athletes who have the passcode or have received a Special Registration Link will be able to register for it

  5. Save your changes

Repeat for each division as needed. You can have any combination of public and private divisions within the same event.

Accessing a Private Division

Athletes can gain access to a private division in two ways:

  • Passcode — share the division passcode directly with eligible athletes. When they reach the division selection step during registration, they'll be prompted to enter the code to unlock that division

  • Special Registration Link — generate a unique link tied to a specific athlete's email and the private division. The link bypasses the passcode requirement entirely, so the athlete can register directly without needing to know the code. See Special Registration Access for full instructions

Common Scenarios

Open event with an elite invitation division
Your Scaled, Intermediate, and Masters divisions are public and open to anyone. Your Elite or Rx division is private — visible on the event page, but athletes need a passcode or invitation link to register for it.

Individual public, Team private
Your Individual divisions are fully open to public registration, while your Team division is private and only accessible to teams you have pre-selected or sent invitation links to.

Qualifier and finals in the same event
Open qualifier divisions are public. The Finals division is private — visible to all athletes, but only accessible to those who have qualified and received a Special Registration Link.

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