by Kevin Miller

I was the Chair of the Technical -- Timing & Results Committee, and Committee members were Sandy Klassen, Michelle Barnet, Cherrie Fournier, Anita Miller, and Jaclyn Vallis.  The Committee did not formally meet, but I copied Committee members on all relevant e-mail communication.

Anita and I held a clinic on May 22^nd. One attendee left early. Dale Kirk learned lots about Race Wizard, the Time Tech Sprint 8 watches, and our procedures.  He applied what he learned during his very successful timing & results work for the St Malo Triathlon. Sandy and Jaclyn improved their knowledge while contributing to the clinic’s success.

We used Race Wizard V4.10 during the season.  It contained a few minor improvements over previous versions.  The most notable is a Heads Up! feature that warns you when you add certain people to the Start Order of a race. This feature is meant to warn Race Directors about previous incidents (medical or otherwise) with those certain people. I updated the Triathlon Race Results user guide to reflect V4.10 changes.

A few of the Time Tech Sprint 8 watches malfunctioned during races, and two had to be sent to Bend Oregon for repairs.

As mentioned in last year's report, the Triathlon Manitoba notebook computer bought in June 2001 does not have a diskette drive, so it was not convenient to make backups, which sometimes left us vulnerable. In March I purchased a 32MB Universal Smart Drive ("USB storage stick") for $85.  It works great, and has 20X the capacity of a diskette.

For the most part, Registration/Timing/Results went very well again this year.  "Thank you" to the handful of regular race-day timing volunteers who worked the Sprint 8 watches at many races.

Goals:

• Triathlon Manitoba will continue to provide our Race Directors with timing & results equipment, computer software, efficient procedures, technical support, and a pool of trained volunteers so that the registration, timing, and production of results at each event will be efficient and accurate, and the results are available on our website promptly.

Strengths:

• We communicate often with Race Directors to discuss timing & results personnel and the movement of the Racers Register database from one race to the next, and our procedures work (although they do evolve every year).

Weaknesses:

• Although many people have received training in the use of Race Wizard, it is used in a very stressful setting (during a race), so Kevin or Anita's expertise is sometimes required when there are problems.  We must continue to train and support users of Race Wizard so their expertise continues to increase.

Opportunities:

• Two races contracted with online race registration services this season.  Other races may also be interested in doing that because it allows participants to register conveniently and pay by credit card, and the last-minute rush of entries is reduced. We are currently discussing the advantages of a software interface between the output from an online race registration company and our Race Wizard software. Race Wizard author Peter Chernis is willing to work with us.