Custom Race Kits

One Order for Everything a Runner Takes Home

Most race organizers end up buying the same event from four or five suppliers: medals from one factory, shirts from an apparel printer, bibs from a specialist, bags and bottles from a promotional wholesaler. The result is four quotes, four artwork approvals, four color references that do not quite match, and four delivery dates that all have to land in the same week.

A race kit is the same list bought as one order. Sinoawards supplies the metal lines from our own factory in Dongguan — finisher medals, trophies and metal awards — and the printed and textile lines alongside them: running t-shirts, race bibs, drawstring bags and water bottles. You send one brief, one artwork set and one race date; we reply with one quote for the whole kit.

There are no fixed packages. A kit is built item by item, from a two-item order for a small club run to a six-item order for a full marathon, and each line keeps its own quantity and size breakdown.

What Goes Into a Race Kit

Item	What it covers	Lead time	Minimum
Finisher medals	Custom die-cast or die-struck medals with ribbon printed in your event colors	10–15 business days after proof approval	100 pcs per design
Crystal trophies	Podium and age-group awards engraved with event and category details	Quoted with the kit	Quoted with the kit
Running t-shirts	Performance tees printed for finishers, volunteers or participants	About 25 days	70 pcs per color
Race bibs	Numbered bibs with event name, sponsor logos and participant data	4 days after the vector file is approved	1,000 pcs per order
Drawstring bags	Participant bags sized for the kit, printed on one or both sides	Quoted with the kit	Quoted with the kit
Water bottles	Branded drinkware for the finish line or the participant bag	Quoted with the kit	Quoted with the kit

Each item has its own page with sizes, materials and decoration options: custom medals, crystal trophies, running t-shirts, race bibs and drawstring bags. This page is about the combination, not the specifications.

Build the Kit Your Race Actually Needs

The right kit follows the size and the character of the event, not a template. Three combinations we quote most often:

• 5K and 10K fun runs. Bibs, a finisher medal and a drawstring bag. Small budgets, first-time runners, and often a charity element, so the bag doubles as the handout at packet pickup.
• Half and full marathons. The full list: medal, shirt, bib, bag, and trophies for the podium and age-group winners. This is the combination where color consistency matters most, because the medal ribbon, the shirt print and the bag are photographed together at the finish line.
• Charity, trail and club events. Medal plus shirt, with bibs added when the event is timed. Trail and charity races usually care more about the shirt and the story on the medal than about a large trophy order.

If your event has an unusual mix — 800 bibs but only 200 medals, or shirts for volunteers only — that is normal, and it is why the kit is quoted line by line instead of as a package.

Lead Times, and Which Item Sets Your Date

Kits fail on timing far more often than on price. The three windows that matter:

• Race bibs: 4 days after your vector file is approved.
• Running t-shirts: about 25 days. Shirts are almost always the item that decides whether the kit arrives before race weekend.
• Medals: 10–15 business days after proof approval and payment.

The practical consequence is that you start the shirt artwork first, approve the bib file early, and let the medals run in parallel — not the other way around. Shipping is a separate stage that depends on the destination, the weight of the whole kit and whether you need it at a warehouse or at the venue, so send the delivery address with the brief.

Artwork and Files for Each Item

A kit is only as fast as its slowest file. What each line needs before production can start:

• Race bibs — a vector file with the design in curved-line (outlined) format. Text that is still live, or a bitmap logo, has to be converted before the 4-day window begins.
• Running t-shirts — print-ready artwork, plus the size breakdown by size and by name if the shirts are personalized.
• Medals and trophies — vector artwork (AI, EPS, PDF, CDR) or a 300 dpi bitmap, and the wording for the front and back. A digital proof comes back before the mold is cut.
• Bags and bottles — the logo in vector form and the placement you want; the printing method depends on the material and is confirmed in the quote.

Send one artwork package for the whole kit and the same mark is used across every item, which is what keeps a kit looking like one event rather than six separate purchases.

Why a Single Order Beats Four Suppliers

Three things change when the list is bought as one order. First, color consistency: the gold on the medal, the print on the shirt and the panel on the bag can be matched against the same reference instead of three separate ones. Second, one approval cycle: a single proof round covers every item, so a change to the event date or the sponsor logo is applied once rather than chased across four vendors. Third, one delivery plan: the kit is scheduled together, which matters when the boxes have to reach a warehouse before a fixed registration date.

What we do not do is pretend every item is made in one building. The metal awards are produced in our own factory; the textile and printed lines are supplied to the same artwork and shipped with the order. What you get is one contact, one quote and one schedule.

Frequently Asked Questions