Why Your Crew Needs a Plan From You
Your crew is probably made up of friends, a partner, a parent, maybe a training buddy. They want to help, and most of them have never crewed an ultra before. They don't know the course, they don't know your pace, and they don't know that you can't stand the taste of orange gels by mile 60.
You are the only person who has all of that information, so the crew plan has to come from you. A good plan means your crew spends race day helping you instead of guessing. A missing plan means a group text at 2 AM asking which parking lot they're supposed to be in.
This guide walks through building a crew plan from scratch, in the order that makes the most sense: course first, then timing, then people, then what happens at each stop.
Step 1: Start With the Race's Aid Station List
Every race publishes an aid station list in the runner manual or on its website. Copy it into one place and, for every station, write down:
- The name and the mile (or kilometer) it's at
- Whether crew is allowed there — most ultras only allow crew at some stations
- Whether drop bags are allowed
- The cutoff time, if there is one
- Anything the race says about parking, shuttles, or how far crew has to walk from the car
Highlight the crew-access stations. Those are the only places your crew will see you, and the rest of the plan is built around them. In a lot of 100-milers that's somewhere between four and eight stops, often with long gaps in between.
Step 2: Estimate When You'll Arrive at Each Crew Stop
Your crew needs to know when to be where. Use your goal time and your training to estimate a split for each crew-access station. If you've run the race before, or can find results from runners with a similar finish time, use their splits — they're more realistic than an even pace.
Then give your crew a window, not a single time. Something like "earliest 9:30 AM, expected 10:15 AM, worst case 11:30 AM." Make the windows wider in the second half: almost everyone slows down more than they plan to, especially overnight.
Tell your crew to plan around the early end of the window. A crew that waits an hour is fine. A runner who arrives to an empty aid station loses time and morale.
Step 3: Decide Who Is Going Where
If you have more than one or two crew members, don't send everyone everywhere. Long races are long for the crew too, and an exhausted crew makes mistakes on mountain roads at 4 AM.
- Assign each crew-access station to a person or a car
- Note when each person is actually available — someone may only be able to come out on Saturday morning
- Pick one person to be the main contact for the race, family, and any medical questions
- If you have pacers, note where each one starts and stops, and who gets them to the start of their leg
Look at the gaps between crew stops. If there's a five-hour stretch overnight, that's when someone sleeps. Put it in the plan so nobody feels guilty about it.
Step 4: Write Down What You Want at Each Stop
This is the part most runners skip, and it's the most useful part for your crew. For each crew stop, list what you expect to need:
- Food and drink: what to have ready, and a backup option
- Gear changes: headlamp before dark, warm layers before the high section, fresh socks and shoes
- Bottles or bladder: how much to fill, and with what
- Anything to take away: trash, the headlamp after sunrise, layers you won't need
Be specific. "Food" isn't a plan. "Two quesadilla squares, a cup of broth, refill both bottles with drink mix" is. Your crew will happily follow a list; what they can't do is read your mind when you're too tired to answer questions.
Step 5: Agree on the Hard Calls in Advance
At some point you will probably want to quit. Decide now, while you're rested, what your crew should do when that happens. Write down the rules:
- When they should push you to keep going ("If I'm just tired or sore, get me out of the chair")
- When they should not push ("If I can't keep fluids down for two stations, or I'm confused, take me to medical")
- How long you're allowed to sit at a stop
- What to do if you're close to a cutoff
This takes a huge weight off your crew. They don't have to make that judgment alone in the middle of the night — they're following the plan you made.
Step 6: Put It All in One Place and Share It
The plan only works if your whole crew has it, has the same version, and can read it on their phone with bad signal. A spreadsheet emailed three weeks before the race usually turns into five versions by race day.
Whatever you use, make sure every crew member can see the aid station list, the arrival windows, who's covering which stop, and what you want at each one — and that they know where to find it when you're not there to ask.
Prefer to start on paper? Print the free crew plan template
UltraCrew is built for exactly this. Add your race's aid stations with arrival windows, cutoffs and what you want at each one, invite your crew and assign them to stations, and write down the hard calls. Your crew sees the same plan you do — even offline on race day. The Starter plan is free.
Step 7: Walk Your Crew Through It
Don't just send the plan. A week or two before the race, get your crew together (a video call is fine) and go through it station by station. Questions will come up that you didn't think of, and it's much better to answer them now.
What should that conversation cover? What to tell your crew before race day