Privacy Policy

Bear Races — Privacy Policy

Effective date: 25 February 2026

1. About this policy

This policy explains how Bear Races collects, uses, stores and protects personal information when you visit our website (www.bearraces.ie), enter one of our events, or otherwise interact with us. It applies to everyone we deal with — website visitors, event participants, customers and other contacts.

Bear Races is the data controller responsible for the personal information described here. We do not have a designated Data Protection Officer, but we take privacy seriously and are committed to handling your data lawfully, transparently and securely, in line with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Irish data protection law.

If you have any questions about this policy or how we handle your information, contact us at support@bearraces.ie

2. What personal information we collect

Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect:

• Identity and contact details — name, date of birth, gender, postal address, email address and phone number.
• Event entry details — your chosen event, distance, club or team, t-shirt size, and estimated finish time.
• Emergency contact details — the name and phone number of a person you nominate.
• Health information — any medical conditions, injuries or accessibility needs you tell us about, so we can keep you safe during an event. This is “special category” data under GDPR (see section 4).
• Payment information — entry fees are processed by our payment provider. We do not store full card details ourselves.
• Photographs and video — images and footage captured at our events (see section 9).
• Website and technical data — information collected through cookies and similar technologies, such as pages visited and how you use the site (see section 8).
• Communications — any correspondence you send us, including support requests and survey responses.

3. How we use your information, and our lawful basis

We only use your personal information where the law allows us to. The main reasons we process data, and the lawful basis for each, are:

• To register and manage your event entry, including providing race numbers, results and event communications — necessary to perform our contract with you.
• To keep participants safe, including acting on medical or emergency information — necessary for the contract and, for health data, your explicit consent or our duty to protect vital interests.
• To process payments and manage billing — necessary to perform our contract with you.
• To respond to your enquiries and provide customer support — our legitimate interest in assisting our customers.
• To send you marketing communications about our events — your consent, which you can withdraw at any time (see section 7).
• To improve our website, services and events — our legitimate interest in understanding and improving what we offer.
• To meet legal, accounting and regulatory obligations — necessary for compliance with the law.

4. Health and other special category data

Where you provide health or medical information as part of an event entry, we treat it with particular care. We collect it only to protect your safety and the safety of others, we limit access to staff and medical personnel who need it, and we delete it once it is no longer required for the event. We rely on your explicit consent to process this information, and where necessary on the protection of vital interests in a medical emergency.

5. How long we keep your information

We keep personal information only for as long as we need it:

• Event entry and participant data is kept for the duration of the event and a reasonable period afterwards to handle results, queries and follow-up.
• Health and emergency contact information is deleted shortly after the relevant event concludes.
• Financial and transaction records are kept for as long as required by Irish tax and accounting law.
• Marketing contact details are kept until you unsubscribe or ask us to remove them.

When information is no longer needed, we securely delete or anonymise it.

6. How we store and protect your information

Personal information is stored on secure servers located in Ireland. Where a service we use involves transferring data outside the European Economic Area, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place so your data receives an equivalent level of protection.

We use encryption to protect data both in transit and at rest, and we choose hosting and service providers that maintain strong security standards.

When we share data with third-party providers — for example, payment processors, email platforms or timing partners — we do so under written Data Processing Agreements that require them to protect your information and use it only as instructed.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it for purposes unrelated to those described in this policy.

7. Marketing communications

We may send you marketing communications by email about our events, promotions and related news. We will only do so where you have given consent, or where the law otherwise permits.

Every marketing email includes a clear way to unsubscribe. You can opt out at any time, either by using the unsubscribe link or by emailing support@bearraces.ie. Opting out of marketing will not affect entry confirmations or other essential service messages.

8. Cookies and tracking technologies

Our website uses cookies and similar technologies to function properly, understand how the site is used, and improve your experience.

When you first visit, you will see a cookie banner where you can accept all cookies, reject all non-essential cookies, or choose which categories to allow. The categories are:

• Essential cookies — required for the site to work, such as security and basic functionality. These do not require consent.
• Performance and analytics cookies — help us understand how visitors use the site.
• Functional cookies — remember your preferences and settings.
• Advertising cookies — used to make advertising more relevant and measure its effectiveness.

You can change your cookie preferences at any time through the banner or your browser settings.

9. Photography and video at events

Photographs and video footage are taken at our events for promotional and editorial use, including on our website and social media. If you would prefer not to appear in our marketing imagery, please contact us at support@bearraces.ie and we will do our best to accommodate your request.

10. Children’s information

Some of our events, such as kids’ runs, are designed for children. Entries for participants under 18 must be completed by a parent or guardian, who is responsible for providing consent and any required information on the child’s behalf. We collect only the information needed to register the child safely and manage the event.

11. Your rights

Under GDPR, you have the right to:

• Access the personal information we hold about you (Art. 15).
• Have inaccurate or incomplete information corrected (Art. 16).
• Request deletion of your information where it is no longer needed (Art. 17).
• Restrict how we process your information in certain circumstances (Art. 18).
• Receive your information in a portable, machine-readable format (Art. 20).
• Object to processing, including direct marketing (Art. 21).
• Withdraw consent at any time, where processing is based on consent (Art. 7(3)).
• Lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority (Art. 77).

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at support@bearraces.ie. We will respond within the timeframes set by data protection law. We may need to verify your identity first, to keep your information secure.

12. Complaints

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal information, please contact us first at support@bearraces.ie so we can try to resolve it. You also have the right to complain to the Irish supervisory authority:

Data Protection Commission 21 Fitzwilliam Square South, Dublin 2, D02 RD28 www.dataprotection.ie

13. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements. We will post any updated version on our website and, where the changes are significant, take reasonable steps to notify you.

14. Contact us

Bear Races Email: support@bearraces.ie