Affordable Race Timing & Event Management in Lancashire & the North West
From Fun Run's, 5Ks to full-scale half marathons and marathons — with hundreds of runners or multi race events — Shoestring delivers proven timing, full results live online within 10 minutes, and complete category breakdowns. You pay per runner, not a flat corporate minimum fee*.
Tired of High Minimum Fees for Small Races?
Most mainstream timing providers can charge a minimum fee just to turn up — regardless of your turnout. Whether you're running a 50-runner charity 5K, a school or academy race, or a 500-runner half marathon, that flat fee eats into your budget the same either way.
The Shoestring System works differently: you pay per runner, not per booking. Your costs scale with your event, so you're never paying for capacity you don't need — and never priced out of hosting a race at all.
Shoestring Race System
Shoestring is a modern race management system built to handle everything from pre-event bookings through to on-the-day entries, race timing, and results — all feeding straight into your event's page on ukroadraces.co.uk. It's the same system already running UK Road Races' own calendar of events, so it's proven, reliable, and ready to run yours too.
Shoestring has been designed and built with race results in mind. Using over 30 years of knowledge and experience to be dependable, practical and ready for the realities of grassroots racing, week in, week out across Lancashire and the North West.
Entries & Registration
Entries from your booking platform of choice, all imported and managed in one system.
- Works with Let's Do This, BookItZone & others
- Entries imported ahead of race day
- On-the-day registration
- Multi-distance events supported
Timing System
A flexible timing app for race day — manual entry now, with chip timing capability built in for when you need it.
- Fast manual time entry
- Chip-timing capable
- Automatic position & category calculation
- Instant result adjustments
- Proven at events of 500+ runners
Website & Results
Your event gets its own page on a live, searchable results platform. Increasing exposure to your event
- Full race calendar listing
- Sortable, searchable results tables
- Dedicated event page with your branding
- Runner result history & PB tracking
- Increased event visibility with UKRoadraces
Personalised Certificates
A keepsake finishers actually want — themed to your event, with their own stats.
- Themed to match your race branding
- Finish time, pace, speed & position
- Category & overall placing badges
- Instant download, print-ready PDF
Race Email Updates
Keep runners engaged before and after your event.
- Upcoming race announcements
- Recent results can be shared automatically
- Fortnightly subscriber newsletter
- No extra work for organisers
Event Administration
A complete admin dashboard for managing every part of your event.
- Add and edit races in minutes
- Import, manage results and filter for results
- Event pages with themes & posters
- News, updates & photo management
Why Shoestring
vs. Doing It Yourself
- No messy spreadsheets or manual sorting errors
- No need to pull your own club members off the start line to work the finish
- Instant, professional category sorting — gender, age, vets, teams
vs. Corporate Chip-Timing Companies
- No £400+ baseline setup fee
- No financial risk if turnout is lower than hoped
- A permanent home for your results on the North West's established race archive
Steve Ashcroft
Behind every Shoestring race is decades of hands-on experience. Steve Ashcroft has been involved in road races since the 1980s, and brings that trusted, expert eye to every event run through the system — earning him well-deserved praise among organisers and runners alike.
Based in Lancashire, Shoestring has provided on-site race timing and management since the 1980s — from grassroots club races to full half marathons and marathons — primarily across Preston, Blackburn, Blackpool, Lancaster, Cumbria and the wider North West region. Event further afield? Get in touch and we'll let you know if it's a fit.
How It Works
Book Your Event
Contact Shoestring to book your race. Use BookItZone, Let's Do This, or another entry platform to collect entries — we'll take it from there.
Bookings Uploaded
Entry bookings are uploaded straight into the Shoestring race system app, ready for race day.
Race Day
On-the-day entries and race results are taken directly through the system.
Results Go Live
Results are uploaded to the website immediately — with instant adjustments if needed.
Live on UKRR
Runners view results on ukroadraces.co.uk and can purchase a personalised race certificate.
Manual Timing — Proven Results
Shoestring is manual timing, on purpose. A synchronised, two-person stopwatch-and-sheet protocol, refined over decades, delivers accurate results without hardware cost or complexity. It is a proven approach and it's why Shoestring stays the reasonably-priced, dependable choice for most community events.
Coming Soon
📱 Mobile App
Currently in active trials — a companion mobile app for race day, capturing live timing and entries directly from a phone and syncing straight back to the main system. This one's moving fast, as it's a genuine priority.
⏱️ Chip Timing — Premium Tier
Manual timing is Shoestring's core service — reliable, affordable, and priced fairly for grassroots and community events. A premium chip-timing tier is in development for larger races, or organisers who want that process — sitting alongside manual timing as an option, not a replacement for it.
🎟️ Online Entry Booking
A built-in online entry system is in development, so runners will soon be able to book directly through Shoestring — alongside our existing support for platforms like Let's Do This and BookItZone.
Book Your Event with Shoestring
Ready to run your race with entries, timing, results and certificates all handled for you? Tell us about your event — including expected numbers and location — and we'll be in touch.