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Importing your athlete or teams list

If you don't use Liveheats for athlete registration, you can quickly import your whole event's athlete list into your Liveheats event by uploading a single CSV file.


If you'd prefer to import individual lists/files into each division individually, head over to this article for importing athletes into a division's seed list.


This article will take you through:



How to save your athlete list as a CSV


To import your athletes into Liveheats, you'll need to upload a CSV (Comma Separated Values) file.


If you have your athlete data in a spreadsheet, save it as a CSV file. You can typically do this within your spreadsheet application (like Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets) by going to the File menu and selecting "Export as .CSV" or "Download as .CSV."


How to format your CSV file for import


  1. Minimum Required Information


Individual divisions


At a minimum, your CSV file must include the following fields when importing atheltes into individual divisions:


  • Name: You can include this as a single "Name" column or use two separate columns: "First Name" and "Last Name."


  • Division: The spelling of the Division in your CSV file must exactly match the Division names in your Liveheats event.


Download our basic import template CSV file here, which includes the "Name" and "Division" columns.


Team Divisions


(Available for Surfing and Surf Life Saving only)


For team divisions, your CSV file must include the following fields as a minimum:


  • Name: You can include this as a single "Name" column or use two separate columns: "First Name" and "Last Name."


  • Tag team name: (Surfing only) This is the name of the tag team. See below for SLS.


  • Team: (Surf Life Saving only) This is the name of the relay team. See above for Surfing.


  • Division: The spelling of the Division in your CSV file must exactly match the Division names in your Liveheats event.


(For Club / Event team name, see optional information below) 


Download our Team division basic import CSV templates here:


Team divisions Surfing - which includes columns "Name", "Tag team name" and "Division".

Team divisions Surf Life Saving - which include columns "Name", "Team" and "Division"


Mixed divisions (team & individual)


(Available for Surfing and Surf Life Saving only)


When importing a mix of teams and individual divisions, the minimum requirements are as above. Ensuring the division team column (Team / Tag team name) is populated for team divisions and left blank for individual divisions.


Download our Mixed divsion basic import CSV templates here:


Team & individual  divisions Surfing - which includes columns "Name", "Tag team name" and "Division".

Team & Individual divsions Surf Life Saving - which include columns "Name", "Team" and "Division"



  1. Optional Information


You can also include additional identifying information for each athlete in the CSV.


For example, you can specify “DOB” and/or “Nationality” as custom fields. If including optional information, you must use the column titles detailed below. You can use one, many, or all custom fields in your CSV upload (in any order).


  • Seed: You can always add seed numbers within Liveheats later
  • DOB: (Date of Birth) Use the format "yyyy-mm-dd" (e.g., 1995-07-04). See here for how to change the date format in Excel.
  • Nationality
  • Team: (Club for SLS organisations) If included, the club/team name will be displayed beneath the athlete's name to the public. See more information about this here.
  • Bib: Athlete's Bib number identifier, typically used for snow events. Like seeds, Bib number can also be added within Liveheats later
  • Plus, any custom fields you have active


You can arrange these fields in any order within your CSV file. You can also include only the required fields or all of them, depending on your needs.


Download our advanced import template CSV file here, which includes all optional fields. You can delete any columns that are not relevant to your athlete data.


How to use the import athletes feature


  1. Go to the Event Dashboard.
  2. Before drawing heats, locate the three dots menu in the top right corner of your Divisions section.
  3. Open the menu and select Import entries to open the import wizard.

  1. Click Select file and choose the CSV file you prepared.
  2. Select the header row of your CSV file and click Next.
  3. Match the columns from your CSV file to the corresponding fields in Liveheats by selecting the correct options from each dropdown list. Some matches may be automatically suggested.


Please note: If using the optional Team/Club name and your organisation's sport is Surf Life Saving, ensure you select Club from the dropdown. All other sport types should select Team.


  1. Click Next.
  2. Review the data that will be imported carefully.
  3. Click Confirm.
  4. A final confirmation message will be displayed. Review it and click Import entries to complete the process.


Updated on: 17/03/2026

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