Joining an event

Your organiser is using Marshal to see everyone on one map during the event. This is everything you have to do — about five minutes, once, before the day.

1. Install Marshal. Open the Connect IQ Store app on your phone (or the Connect IQ section inside Garmin Connect) and search for Marshal. Install it to your device.
   Direct link: Marshal on the Connect IQ store. It is free. Nothing to plug in and no files to copy.
2. Let your device sync. Marshal arrives the next time your watch or Edge syncs with your phone. Open Garmin Connect and wait for it to finish before the next step.
   Skipping this is the single most common reason the settings in step 4 are missing.
3. Add Marshal to a data screen. On the watch or Edge itself, open the activity you will use on the day — run, ride, hike, whatever it is — then Settings → Data Screens → (pick a screen) → Edit, choose a field slot, and pick Marshal from the Connect IQ list.
   This step is not optional. Marshal only runs while an activity that shows it is recording. If it is not on a data screen, it never runs and you will not appear on the map.
4. Enter the event code. Open the Connect IQ Store app again, search for Marshal, tap it, and press the blue Settings button on the app's page. That is the whole path — you do not need to go hunting through your device's menus.
   You can also get there from Garmin Connect, via your device and its Connect IQ apps, but the store app is fewer taps and the same screen.

   You have found the right screen when you see these four settings:

   SettingsSave

   Event codeWINTERTRAIL-K7QM

   Your nameYour name

   Send heart rateon

   Send every (seconds)60

   Drawn from the real screen. Garmin shows the four names only — the explanations below are ours, not theirs.

   • Event code — the code from your organiser. Everyone in the event uses the same one.
   • Your name — how you appear on the organiser's dashboard.
   • Send heart rate — also sends cadence and power where your device reports them.
   • Send every (seconds) — how often you report. Lower uses more battery.

   Fill in the event code and your name, then press Save at the top right — the settings do not apply until you do. Leave the other two alone unless you want to change them. There is no server address to enter and nothing to pay for.

   Heart rate is your choice. Send heart rate is on by default. Turn it off and only your position and pace are sent — the heart rate is left out on the watch itself, so none is ever transmitted or stored. Your organiser is not allowed to require it.
5. On the day: start your activity as normal, and keep your phone with you. Marshal sends over Bluetooth through Garmin Connect on your phone. No phone in your pocket, or no mobile signal, means nothing reaches the organiser.

Checking it is working

Swipe to the data screen you put Marshal on. The field shows how long ago your last report was confirmed received — not just sent.

A number that climbs past your send interval and keeps climbing means reports are not getting through.

What is shared, and for how long

• Your position, pace, distance and altitude while the activity is recording — and your heart rate only if you left that switch on.
• It goes to your event organiser, on their dashboard. If they have switched public viewing on for the event, anyone holding the event code can see it too — ask them whether they have.
• Nothing is sent when you are not recording an activity with Marshal on a data screen.
• It is deleted 48 hours after the event closes or the last participant stops.
• Your organiser decides all of this, not us. The full privacy policy explains your rights and who to ask.

The full guide has more detail, including the complete device list.