Technical -- Timing & Results Committee: 2004 AGM Report

by Kevin Miller

I have been the the Chair of the Technical -- Timing & Results Committee for the past 6 years. Committee members in 2004 were Michelle Barnet, Anita Miller, and Jaclyn Vallis.  The Committee did not formally meet, but I copied committee members on most relevant e-mail communication, although there was much less communication than in previous years because this year was very much a status quo one.

Goal #7 in the 2004-2005 Game Plan says:

"Triathlon Manitoba will continue to provide our Race Directors with timing and 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."

Three Objectives/Plans are listed in the 2004-2005 Game Plan, and each one has a few Major Tasks.  I've listed them below, followed by my evaluation/comments:

1. Maintain the timing and results equipment, software, and procedures so that they are up-to-date and easy-to-use.

1.1 Ensure that the notebook computer, TimeTech Sprint 8 watches, and all peripheral equipment (cords, plungers, batteries, converters, etc) are working well.

This is done very regularly during the race season, primarily by Anita.  There are some reliability issues with the timing watches, but Anita has developed procedures that minimize the impact, and she knows the status of each watch.  The notebook computer is now a little over 3 years old (it has been used for four race seasons), and it has a few minor problems, but it continues to do the job well.

1.2 Communicate with the Race Wizard Software Developer (Peter Chernis) to ensure that all software problems and requests for new functionality are brought to his attention, and to ensure that we are aware of any fixes or new functionality in new versions of Race Wizard that would benefit us.

We used Race Wizard V4.32 during the season (V4.16 in 2003). The new version had a few very nice new features, specifically

  • Place Racers in Report Group.
  • the Set start times by Category or Group button.

Together with the few nice features added in each of the previous years, Race Wizard continues to evolve, and it is more powerful and easier to use each year. 

1.3 Update our Triathlon Timing with TimeTech Sprint 8 and Race Wizard Timing & Results for Triathlon user guides with current, accurate, and easily understood information.

I did an annual update of the user guides. 

2. Ensure that volunteers and Race Directors are trained to use the timing and results equipment and software, and that they have access to the user guides.

2.1 Hold in-person training sessions if required

We again did not hold a session because we relied on our fairly small group of Race Wizard people to handle all races. For timing, our procedures are now so good that volunteers are easily trained on-the-job. (Also see point 3.4 and Online registration, below.)

2.2 E-mail the user guides to Race Directors and volunteers.

Done by me.

2.3 Use e-mail to communicate knowledge and procedures, and to answer any questions from the Race Directors and volunteers.

Done by me.

3. During the race season, coordinate all aspects of timing and results.

3.1 Ensure that the Race Wizard Racers Register database is always kept up-to-date with new racers, new members, and current-year club affiliations.

Done by Anita.  

3.2 Coordinate the distribution of the timing and results equipment from race to race.

Done by Anita..

3.3 Coordinate the distribution of the Racers Register database from race to race and to/from the Results Coordinator, perform backups of the database, and merge database versions into a single master copy whenever necessary.

Done by me.

We used Race Wizard at 13 races this year: 4 Tuesday Night Series, 6 of 7 Grand Prix events (not Trappers' Tri), and Essex Road, the Manitoba Games, and Duathlon Mitch Hildebrand.  All others, including all Kids of Steel, were timed with the TimeTech Sprint 8 watches and paper/pencil, and results were typed into a website template (HTML file). 

3.4 Communicate with each Race Director a few weeks prior to his/her race to discuss which trained volunteers are available to work at his/her race.

Done by Jaclyn/Anita/me. Our overall expertise continues to rise, and it's now very good.  There are many people who are knowledgeable about our timing procedures.  Jaclyn again increased her knowledge of Race Wizard. Every race had at least one technical support person (Michelle, Dale, Cherrie, Peter, or me) in attendance (although sometimes he/she was on the race course or doing another major job). We had enough trained people at all races, and more than enough at a few races. (At St Malo, Anita was redundant until Dale Kirk was sent to the hospital to treat a fluke injury he sustained while timing.)

However, the loss of just one well-trained and skilled person from our organization would drop us back into a position where we would be just barely staffed OK at most races to avoid problems, and understaffed at some races or if big problems occurred at a race. We'd have to train another person, or we could just lower our standards of always providing complete and perfect results at the Awards Ceremony, and having the results posted on our website later the same day.

At  the seven big races:

  • Triple Threat was handled by Triple Threat club members and volunteers. (Kevin & Anita and others.) 
  • St Malo was handled by Tribalistic club members (Cara, Cherrie, Dale, and others), with timing support by Jaclyn, and emergency Race Wizard support by Anita after Dale was injured.
  • Pinawa was handled by Peter Chernis and other Pinawa volunteers, with lots of procedural and timing support from Jaclyn.
  • Morden was handled by Anita and Jaclyn, with timing volunteers from Morden.
  • Essex Road was handled by Michelle, with timing volunteers from Kenora. 
  • LacduBonnet was handled by Michelle (a race organizer) and Jaclyn, with timing volunteers from LacduBonnet.
  • Riding Mountain was handled by Kevin & Anita under contract to the Race Director, with timing support by Jaclyn, and misc timing volunteers.

Morden, Essex Road, and Riding Mountain needed significant support from people outside their race organization. Riding Mountain paid for it for the fourth year. Essex Road offered food and lodging, and there is a long and special relationship with Edie. (Thank you Michelle for being at Essex Road.) Morden, for the second year, offered to have one of their volunteers trained, but it is not practical to thoroughly train a person to handle only a single race each year, so the only solution was to handle registration/timing/results for them; this required a huge amount of time from Anita and Jaclyn. 

3.5 Ensure that the Race Director and Results Coordinator / Webmaster know how and when the Racers Register database will return to the Results Coordinator / Webmaster for prompt uploading to the Triathlon Manitoba website after the race. Our goal is to have the results on our website the same day as the race.

We exceeded our very high objectives at every race.  We continue to set the standard at Sport Manitoba.

Online registration

Excellent work by Jaclyn, Anita, Michelle, and Kevin at many races, Cara Brown and Dale Kirk at St Malo, Peter Chernis at Pinawa Free Spirit, and many timing volunteers at all the races resulted in a great year for registration, timing, and results with very few minor problems and no major problems.

This page was last updated on September 27, 2004