Checking a sample and releasing medals

Once your results are approved, Breaktape makes a draft medal for every finisher in the race. Nothing is public and nothing is sent until someone on your team checks a sample and releases them. It's the last look before the emails go, and emails can't be unsent.

Before you can release

The sample appears once all of these are true:

• the race has an age policy, not Not decided yet
• the race has a medal design
• the results have been imported and approved, with no rows still needing attention

If something is missing, the page says what under Can't prepare medals yet or Before you release, with a button to put it right. Only admins and editors can release medals.

Check the sample and release

1. Go to Events, open the event and press Check sample and release next to the race. You can also start from the Issuance page, or from the task on your Overview page.
2. Look closely at each medal under The sample. These are real draft medals from this race, picked because they're the ones most likely to look wrong:
   • Longest name in this race: if this fits, every name fits.
   • The race winner: the fastest time and first place.
   • The last finisher: a long time and the last position.
3. Read What happens on release. It tells you how many medals will be signed, published and emailed, how many of those have no email address, and how many people get no medal because they did not finish, did not start or were disqualified.
4. Under Options, choose when the emails go and whether to use quiet mode. See Send times and quiet mode.
5. Tick I've checked the sample, and the names, times and design are right.
6. Press Approve and release. The button shows how many medals, for example Approve and release 4,812 medals.
7. A box asks you to confirm, for example Release 4,812 medals?, and reminds you what happens next. Press Release medals to go ahead, or Not yet to go back.

If you press the release button without ticking the box, you'll see: "Tick the box to confirm you've checked the sample. Emails can't be unsent, so this step matters."

What release does

• Every medal is signed, so anyone can check it is genuine.
• Every medal gets its public page and its verification link.
• The emails are lined up for the time you chose, unless quiet mode is on.
• Your name and the time are recorded against the run, so the Issuance page shows who released it and when.

You then land on the run's progress page, where you can follow delivery. See Following delivery and fixing failed emails.

If something on the sample is wrong

Don't release. The run was prepared with the design version shown at the top of the page, so changing the design or the results now won't change these drafts. Contact us at support@breaktape.com with the event and race name, and we'll help you put it right before anything goes out.

Good to know

• People with no email address still get a medal. It's made, signed and published, but there's nowhere to send it. There isn't a screen to add an address yet: contact support@breaktape.com if you need to.
• Under-13s' medals are always private. They're in the count, but they never get a public page. See Age policy and under-13s.
• A result corrected after release gets a new medal. The old one stays and points to the new one, so no link ever breaks. See Correcting results.
• Corrections need a release too. They show on the Issuance page marked "(correction)", and you check and release them in the same way.
• For a list of thank-you medals, the sample shows the longest name on the list and the longest line on the medal instead.

Related guides

• Send times and quiet mode
• Following delivery and fixing failed emails
• Reviewing an import
• Correcting results