Suburb Run is a collection of courses that we have created for our community. We don’t hold competitions or events, we simply provide you with the course maps to explore areas and have fun doing so. We don’t mind if you walk, jog or run these courses - that is entirely up to you. It’s about getting out and about and being active. Feel free to bring a friend along and explore together, or even challenge each other to go further or faster. How you approach the courses is your choice.

I get the concept – but how does it work?

We create courses which comprise of 3 things: a start area, a finish area and a number of controls. Controls are locations on the course that you need to visit between the start and the finish to complete the course objective. Generally, we will have the start and the finish located in a park or green area which has some nearby parking for convenience.

Once you have unlocked a course, go to the start area at a time that suits you, with your course map and get moving. We encourage you to use a GPS device so that you can see where you went and if you didn’t meet the objective you can see why afterwards – however, that’s not mandatory. We just won’t be able to log your participation if you don’t use one.

As it isn’t a race we don’t mind if you stop and have a coffee, meet a friend, sit down for a break, take in history or sights… whatever you enjoy. However, we appreciate that there are people who will want to run as hard as if it’s a race or serious training and the courses are designed to accommodate that. Just be ready to think on the fly. *warning* you may find running more enjoyable and the time goes faster than expected!

How much does Suburb Run cost?

You can use Suburb Run for free. We used to have credits and subscriptions - however, now we run on your generosity alone.

How do I unlock a course?

To unlock a course you have two options:
- click the red padlock, or
- click the map or the see more button to go to the course page and from that page, you will be able to click the unlock button on the right-hand side of the screen.

I have unlocked a course but I can’t see the control points! Help?

The course is likely to be an upcoming course - this means it has not been released in full yet. The course's controls will become available to you when the course is current.

Why can't I use any course at any time?

Courses have 3 phases – upcoming, current and expired. Upcoming is a soon to be released course, current is a course which is active for participation and expired is a course which has passed its current phase. So why do we have these phases?
- Upcoming courses create a pipeline of new and exciting courses for you to look forward to.
- Current courses give the community a central set of courses to focus on for a period of time. Only during the current period will the main leaderboard be updated with your results.
- Expired courses - just because it’s no longer current doesn’t mean you can’t use it – once you unlock a course it is yours and expired courses allow you to go back and use that course as many times as you wish. We will even keep a history of your attempts on a separate private leaderboard.
In short, once a course becomes current you can use it whenever it suits you, as often as you want, for as long as you wish.

Will I need to print out the course?

You have two options here currently - either print it and bring it with you or load the course page on your mobile browser. Using a printout is easier for the moment. We are working on a mobile application to make the whole process simpler.

How long are the courses?

We typically try to set the course distances for line and scatter courses between 5-8km. If you wish to go shorter, please use the score courses, as you can stop at any distance you want (as short as you want). If you want to go longer you can also try the score courses and run as far as you can within the time limit. If you want even longer send us a request and we will see what we can put together for you. Alternatively run on a cruise control course which is a pre-defined course with a set distance (typically 3km, 5km, 7km or 10km).

What is a GPS enabled device?

There are a number of GPS enabled devices on the market but the most common are watches and phones. Almost all smartphones are capable of acting as a GPS enabled device with the use of an app (e.g. runkeeper, strava, endomondo).

Why don't you have an app for us to use?

Can I keep my profile private?

You may keep your trace private however if you have taken part in a current course your result will be placed on the public leaderboard. We do have the ability to block other users from seeing your profile page, as well as your blog and this, can be managed in your 'edit profile' screen.

I have run my course and have a GPS recording of it what next?

I definitely ran through that control!

We do our very best to make sure we capture your activity correctly. Have a look at your trace to see if you went through the control circle or not. If you did and it’s not showing as if you did, feel free to contact us and we will look into it.

A control was unreachable - how is that fair?!

It’s not - we agree! Despite our best efforts when setting courses, what we can see on the maps doesn’t always match reality on the ground - we are sorry, we wish it did. However if you let us know, we will fix it so that others don't run into the same problem.

I would like to join other people participating or get a group of us together - is that possible?

Absolutely - we encourage it! Please feel free to use the comment section on the course pages, our social media account or your personal profile blogs to organise with friends to go on a course together. If you want to meet some new people feel free to do that too, however, we would suggest that you follow common sense steps that you would take when meeting anyone you don't know from an online site.

In the future, we will also be developing group and club pages which will make this type of collaboration easier.

Why did you want my location in my profile?

This allows us to show you the courses nearest to you - it’s not mandatory and you can put in any location you would like including suburb level.

There aren't any locations near to me - will you be adding more and can I make a request?

We will continually be adding more courses and you can most certainly request a location and even a course type! We look forward to hearing from you and getting a map into our upcoming schedule for you soon. Use the 'request a course' link in the footer below.

The water bottle, I got tastes like plastic! How do I fix that?

This is because the bottles are brand new and straight from the factory floor to you! Rest assured they are BPA free and meet all FDA and European health standards. Whilst the taste will go away if you do nothing - the easiest way to quickly get rid of the plastic taste is to fill the bottle with warm/hot water and leave it for 5 minutes. Please ensure you do not use water hotter than 80c. Other tips: Do not put in quick freeze appliances or in microwaves. The bottles are dishwasher safe.

I still have questions!

That's great - contact us using the 'contact us' button and we will answer any other questions you may have.