Event Insurance

Liability insurance for an event can be a significant expense when organizing a cycling race, fun run

However, given today's lawsuit-crazy society and the city, county or state insurance requirements for most events, liability insurance is something that must always be considered part of an race's budget.

It's a necessary expense and something that will help protect you, your organization and the owner of the race venue in the unfortunate case that an accident occurs during an event.

John Seaton, Risk Manager for the City of San Angelo, says that the city requires race organizers to submit a certificate of insurance with their event application showing a minimum liability insurance coverage of $1,000,000 general aggregate.

"We also ask that the City of San Angelo be included as an additional insured on their policy for the event," says Seaton.

Although there are multiple sources for obtaining event insurance, race organizers typically make insurance decisions based on if the event is sanctioned by a national body or if it's an independent unsanctioned event.

A sanctioned event is one organized under an event permit from a national organization such as USA Cycling, USA Triathlon, or the Road Runners Club of America (RRCA).

These national organizations have insurance programs in place for the events they sanction with the cost of insurance for sanctioned events paid for by fees charged to the event organizer.

In order to be sanctioned, the event must typically be organized by a club that is a member of the national sanctioning body, must comply with very specific safety criteria, and the race promoter must pay race permit and insurance fees as set forth by the organization.

Using USA Cycling as an example of a national sanctioning body, a race promoter must pay an permit fee that ranges from $25 to $700 per day based on the projected number of participants plus $3 per racer per day for insurance coverage. USA Cycling also requires that every sanctioned event use (and pay for) an approved number of race officials licensed by USAC.

In addition, all participants who do not have a USA Cycling annual membership ($70 per year) are required to purchase a one-day racing license which costs $15 per day.

The costs of the permit, insurance, and race official fees are passed on to participants via race entry fees, so it's not uncommon to see entry fees for sanctioned one day events cost $50 or more (not counting the cost of a one-day license fee for non-member participants).

The alternative option for race organizers is to put on an unsanctioned event not affiliated with a national sanctioning body. Unsanctioned does not imply lower quality - instead, it simply means the event is not affiliated with a national organization.

To comply with the insurance requirements of city, county or state governments (or private landowners in many cases), organizers of non-sanctioned events must purchase their own event insurance from an insurance agency.

One of the largest vendors for this type of event insurance is McKay Insurance in Knoxville, Iowa (silentsportsinsurance.com).

McKay and similar agencies do not have event sanctioning fees, race official requirements or require participants to be members of a national sports governing body, but the cost of the liability insurance policy for an event will typically be higher than the insurance fees charged for a sanctioned event.

The insurance fee charged by McKay for a typical one-day cycling event is $4.10 per participant with a $365 minimum premium, with the premium for a running event being $2.20 per participant (also a $365 minimum).

For multi-day events such as a race series, these insurance costs would increase significantly. A recent insurance quote for a five week cycling race series indicated that the cost of liability insurance would be $1,460.

The take-home message for groups planning a cycling, running, or multisport event is that although liability insurance can be expensive, it is almost always required for an event and - most importantly - it serves to protect the organizing group and any additional insured organizations if a lawsuit occurs.

Remember - liability insurance for an event is important, so include the insurance cost in your race budget.

Upcoming Events

Sept 13: Run to Remember, roadlizards.org

Sept 27: Mason Lions Club 5/10K Run,

masontxcoc.com

Oct 4: Shannon Pink Ribbon Run, active.com/san-angelo-tx/running/shannon-pink-ribbon-run-2014-7777655

Oct 11: Goodyear Race for Celebration, roadlizards.org

Nov 1: 30K of the Dinosaur trail race, roadlizards.org

or triathlon event.