Roster Guide for Activity Leads and their delegates
For instructions on joining activities as a participant (i.e. not an activity lead), see the separate general roster help
This Guide answers these Questions below
1. What is my role as an activity lead or delegate?
2. How do I get editing access, and must I sign in to Google?
3. Can I manage the roster on my phone?
4. Which parts of the roster may I edit?
5. How do I add a new activity?
6. How do I enter distance, duration and other activity details?
7. How do I change or cancel an activity?
8. How do I complete “Did it?” and roll-call?
9. How do I handle withdrawals, no-shows and people who have not signed up?
10. How do I record organised groups?
11. What should I check after each activity?
12. How do I appoint a delegate?
13. How do I deactivate a delegate?
14. How do I change the WhatsApp link for my activities?
15. What conditions and privacy arrangements should I explain?
16. How do Strava and the Progress tab fit in?
17. What should I do if something goes wrong or I need help?
1. What is my role as an activity lead or delegate?
Activity leads keep their activities up to date on the Blocktober 2026 roster, coordinate participation and record who actually takes part for the safety of participants. Delegates help with these tasks on behalf of an activity lead.
The main roster tasks are to add or update activities, communicate changes, complete roll-call and check the information used to report our collective Blocktober effort.
If there is more than one actitivy lead for your sport, or if you or other such leads have appointed delegates, please agree who will update each session so that the lead and delegate do not duplicate or contradict one another’s changes.
2. How do I get editing access to the roster?
Activity leads and delegates must sign in with the Google account recorded for their editing access. Being able to add a name as an ordinary participant does not require activity-lead permissions.
The Roster is built on Google Sheets, a Google produce similar to a MS Excel sheet, but in sheet shared with others.
Your account is recorded under Google account email (editing) on the Activity Leads tab (scroll to that tab at the bottom of your screen). Active delegates also have access for the sport of the activity lead selected under Delegated for.
If you are a new activity lead, contact blocktober2025@gmail.com with your name, sport and the Google account email you will use. An existing activity lead can appoint a delegate as explained in question 12 below.
When using more than one Google account, check that the roster is open under the correct account.
3. Can I manage the roster on my phone?
Yes. For guidance on how to use the roster on your phone, see Using the roster on your phone.
Key steps are the following:
- On a phone, swipe up to see activities further down the sheet and left to reveal columns to the right. To use a drop-down, tap the cell and then the arrow ▼. To follow a link, tap the cell and then the link that appears.
- After entering information, tap ✓ to finish editing and bring the sheet tabs back into view.
- Before changing the content of a cell in the roster, check that you are still on the correct activity’s row. This is particularly important when moving across the sheet between activity details and participants’ names.
4. Which parts of the roster may I edit?
Activity leads and active delegates have activity-editing and roll-call access for their authorised sport: Walk, Run, Cycle or Swim. A delegate’s access is not limited to “Did it?”
On the relevant sport tab, the editable activity fields include the date, starting time, route or location, activity lead, status, additional activity details and roll-call entries.
These are sport-level permissions, not permissions restricted to one session. Change only the activities you are responsible for, or changes agreed with the relevant lead.
Delegate appointments and an activity lead’s WhatsApp settings are managed on the Activity Leads tab. Delegates should ask their lead to make those changes rather than treating their sport-editing access as permission to administer other people’s roles.
Please leave headings, formulae, automatic counts and system fields alone. Do not insert or delete spreadsheet rows or columns, or rearrange the sheet’s layout. Overview and Progress display information; they are not where you enter activity details.
5. How do I add a new activity?
Work on the relevant Walk, Run, Cycle or Swim tab—not on Overview.
Find the unused, preformatted activity row below the existing activities. Do not overwrite an existing session or use either row marked Do not use this row;
Enter the Date in the format DD/MM (ie two digits for day / two digits for month), Time in the format hh:mm (ie two digits for hour on 24 hour basis : two digits for minutes), and Route / location. Use a clear description that identifies the activity and meeting point;
Select the responsible person from the Activity lead drop-down and check that Status / cancel is Planned;
Use More → to enter the additional details described in question 6, then check the activity on Overview.
For example, enter a starting time as 16:30, rather than simply “4.30”.
The day, links and calculated fields are supplied by the roster. Do not type over them or copy a whole existing row, which could also copy its participants and attendance records.
The roster sorts activities by date and time. After an edit, check where your activity appears before entering further information; do not rely on its previous row number.
If no suitable empty activity row is available, or if you found an error or need advice, contact roster support via blocktober2025@gmail.com.
6. How do I enter distance, duration and other activity details?
On the activity’s row, click or tap More → in the Activity info column. This takes you to More details on the same sport tab.
Complete the fields relevant to the activity:
Distance km: enter the distance in kilometres, for example 7.5 (you can use up to 3 decimals);
Duration hh:mm: enter the duration in hours and minutes, for example 02:30 for two hours and thirty minutes. This is the activity’s duration, not its starting time;
Elevation gain m: enter the elevation gained in metres, for example 300;
Blockhouse?: select Y or N to indicate whether it is a King’s Blockhouse ascent.
These are the fields provided in the roster’s More details section.
Use ← Back on the same activity’s row to return to its main details.
Before the activity, enter the planned details where known. Afterwards, check whether they need correcting to reflect what took place. Do not invent a figure merely to fill an empty cell.
7. How do I change or cancel an activity?
Find the existing session on its sport tab and update the relevant details. Do not create a second entry merely to correct its time or route.
The Status / cancel field is in column J. Use:
Planned for an upcoming activity;
Done once the activity has taken place;
Cancel when it will not take place.
Cancel an activity by changing its status, not by deleting its row.
Communicate changes to the date, starting time, meeting point or cancellation through the relevant WhatsApp group as well. Do not assume everyone who added their name will notice a spreadsheet edit.
If an organised group has already registered for the session, ask its organiser to check the corresponding Group Roster entry after changes to the date or activity details.
8. How do I complete “Did it?” and roll-call on sports tabs?
On the sport tab, find the correct activity and move across its row to the participant names. Look for Names Start Here ↓.
Each Name cell has a neighbouring Did it? cell. Use that cell’s drop-down to select Y for someone who participated or N for someone who did not.
Check attendance at the start (as a roll-call, for safety to to ensure you can account for every actual participant) and finalise the record at the end of the activity. Do not mark everyone Y simply because their names were entered beforehand.
“Did it?” records individual participation; “Done” records that the session took place. They are separate entries.
Leave unused Name and Did it? pairs blank. Ordinary participants do not complete the protected roll-call cells themselves.
9. How do I handle withdrawals, no-shows and people who have not signed up?
Withdrawals before the activity: participants may remove their names before the session and should also let the activity lead know, but do not assume that they will do so.
No-shows: if a name is still listed but the person did not attend, retain the name and mark Did it? = N. Do not delete names after the activity merely because those people did not participate.
People who arrive without signing up: add each person to an empty yellow Name cell and record their participation. Use one person per cell, with the name or alias they normally use on the roster.
Before adding someone individually, check whether they are already included in an organised group’s headcount (see 10 below).
If there are no empty Name cells, contact roster support via blocktober2025@gmail.com rather than overwriting another participant or inserting more columns.
10. How do I record organised groups?
An organised group, such as a Saartjie Baartman Centre group, can be recorded by headcount rather than by entering every participant’s name.
First check that the group appears on Group Details. Its details need to be entered only once.
For each session it joins, use a separate entry on Group Roster. Complete Date → Activity → Group / unit → Participants, choosing the date first.
The Participants figure is the expected headcount before the activity. Afterwards, the group organiser should correct that same figure to the actual headcount, including 0 if nobody from the group attended.
Check this with the group organiser before finalising the session. Take care not to count the same people both in the group total and as individual participants.
11. What should I check after each activity?
Individual attendance: complete Did it? for the names entered and add anyone who participated without signing up beforehand;
Group attendance: confirm that group headcounts have been corrected to actual attendance, without duplicating individual entries;
Activity details: check the distance, duration, elevation gain and Blockhouse entry, where relevant;
Session status: set Status / cancel to Done.
Completing only one of these tasks can leave the record incomplete. For example, marking a session Done does not identify which individuals participated.
12. How do I appoint a delegate?
An authorised activity lead can appoint a delegate.
Open the Activity Leads tab and click or tap Go to Delegates ↓ near the top. This moves you to the Delegates section lower down on the same tab.
Enter the person’s name in an available Delegate name cell;
Under Delegated for, select the activity lead for whom the person will act;
Enter the delegate’s Google account email (editing);
Set Active? in column L to Y.
The delegate’s delegate number (#), sport and role fill automatically. The roster grants activity-editing and roll-call access for the selected activity lead’s sport. Please do not type over the automatic fields.
Ask the delegate to sign in with the recorded Google account and check their access before they need to use it for an activity.
Public mobile and email contact details are optional. They are separate from the Google account email needed for editing access.
13. How do I deactivate a delegate?
On Activity Leads, use Go to Delegates ↓ and find the person’s delegation entry.
Change Active? in column L to N ("no"). Use this control rather than deleting the spreadsheet row.
Let the delegate know that the arrangement has ended and confirm who will take over any outstanding activity updates or roll-call.
If the person’s access does not appear to reflect the change, contact roster support via blocktober2025@gmail.com.
14. How do I change the WhatsApp link for my activities?
As an activity lead, open Activity Leads and find your own row in the Activity Leads section—not in Delegates.
Update Default WhatsApp in column I and WhatsApp joining link in column J. The first is the label people see, such as General or Time Trial; the second is the group’s joining link.
Changes there feed through automatically to activity rows that name you as their activity lead. Do not replace the WhatsApp formula separately on each activity row.
The default is the general Blocktober WhatsApp group.
Use a dedicated Whatsapp group if you think that will work best.
After changing the link, test it from one of your activity rows. Remember that the change affects the activities linked to your name, not just the session you are currently looking at.
Delegates should ask their activity lead to change these settings.
15. What conditions and privacy arrangements should I explain?
Direct participants to the Conditions for Blocktober activities. Adding a name confirms acceptance, and group organisers should make the conditions known to their groups.
Explain that participants are encouraged to use a consistent nickname or alias. The roster is shared with anyone who has its link, so information entered in it should not be treated as confidential.
Public contact details are optional and should be included only with consent. The Google account email used to assign editing permissions is also recorded on the shared Activity Leads tab.
16. How do Strava and the Progress tab fit in?
Strava users are encouraged to still enter their name on the roster when planning to join an organised activity. The Roster is firstly a tool to record when people PLAN to join, which Strava does not do.
Include Strava users in the roll-call even when they also record the activity on Strava.
Encourage participants to use a consistent roster name and, where useful, add their Strava-matching details under Roster Names. This helps the reporting team match records and avoid double-counting when we compile stats later.
The Progress tab brings together participation and activity measures. Strava figures are added in reconciled updates, rather than immediately after each activity, and the figures remain provisional while records are checked.
Your contribution is to keep the session details, individual attendance and group headcounts accurate. Do not edit the Progress totals directly.
17. What should I do if something goes wrong or I need help?
If you cannot edit a cell, first check that you are signed in with the Google account recorded for your role and are working on the correct sport tab. A delegate should also ask their activity lead to check Delegated for, the email address and Active?.
Some cells contain formulae or are reserved for the administration of the Roster. A protected-cell message does not necessarily mean your activity-editing access is broken.
For phone controls, see Using the roster on your phone.
For other problems, email blocktober2025@gmail.com. Give your name, your sport, the relevant activity’s date and time, and the tab and cell or row involved. Explain what you were trying to do and what happened.
If you changed something accidentally, write an email on what was changed rather than trying to repair formulae or rearrange the sheet yourself. A screenshot can help.
If a participant has difficulty adding their name, they can email the same address, giving their name, the activity they plan to join—walk, run, cycle or swim—and its date and starting time.
