Race Management Committee -- Timing & Results: 2009 AGM Report

by Kevin Miller

I have had responsibility for Triathlon Manitoba's Timing & Results for the past 11 years.

2009 was a year of transition for Triathlon Manitoba. In the Sanctioning Application package, the requirement to use our hardware/software/procedures (online registration with EventsOnline.ca, velcro timing bands / TimeTech Sprint 8 watches / Race Wizard software) at Grand Prix events was replaced with a set of standards for timing & results.

In 2008, the Riding Mountain Triathlon had asked for an exemption from having to use our system, which we granted, because they wanted to hire a chip timing company. Chip timing was first used in Manitoba at the 2007 Morden Triathlon, which is not a Grand Prix Series event. With increased opportunities, Results Canada of Edmonton contracted with a Winnipegger (Steve Gajerski) and were able to significantly decrease the fee they charged our races for chip timing. The net result was that the four Birds Hill Duathlon Series events, the Triple Threat Triathlon, and St Malo Multisport hired Results Canada and Steve to handle their timing & results. Pinawa Free Spirit and Kenora Borealis opted to continue contracting with Anita and I using Triathlon Manitoba's hardware/software/procedures.

Timing & results at Kids of Steel races continued to be no-splits / timing watches / paper-and-pencil / manually update our website.

• At Pinawa Free Spirit and Kenora Borealis, registration/timing/results went extremely well. Interim unofficial results were posted onsite well before the last person crossed the finish line. Final unofficial results were posted onsite 5 minutes after the last person crossed the line. Results were web-posted a few hours after the race, and no problems were identified with the web-posted results. We charged the race $1 per registrant (~$200), and they provided six timing volunteers.
• The Birds Hill Duathlon Series was a learning experience for Results Canada and Steve Gajerski. All things considered, they did a good job, but the race director and I expended a fair amount of effort correcting relatively minor problems and troubleshooting other problems (the "lost person" problem -- more about that later) at three of the four races. Kudos to Steve for changing Results Canada's results program to include a participant's time at T2 ("swim+bike"), changing "City" to "Club", and making other information and formatting improvements.
• A malfunction with the "bike to run" timing mat at the Triple Threat Triathlon and other problems (the "lost person" problem -- more about that later) resulted in a lot of post-race work by me (in conjunction with Steve and others) before results were posted on our website late on race evening -- well within the 24-hours-after-the-race requirement. Some updates occurred later in the week to Junior Elite times not captured at the malfunctioning mat. 
• St Malo Multisport Race Director Colin Blanchette expended a lot of effort on procedures and backup systems. He also worked extensively with Steve before race-day and during the race to ensure that timing & results at St Malo went very well.
• At Riding Mountain, Mark Boyd (Results Canada's Saskatchewan contractor) had to deal with miserable weather conditions and the largest triathlon (358 participants) in Manitoba history. The initial Sunday-at-6:00PM posting of results on Results Canada's website was corrected by Mark near midnight on Sunday, and final corrections were posted on Wednesday afternoon. Mark showed me his backup system (hardware and software); it's very impressive.

A problem that sometimes occurs with Results Canada's results

• Sometimes, participants do not appear in the results, even though the ChampionChip software has times for them. The problem occurred with one or more participants at 5 of the 8 races that Results Canada timed.  It appears to be a shortcoming in the software integration between the ChampionChip timing software and the RunScore results software. Twice I've expressed my concern with Results Canada, but the response has only been an explanation of why the problem happens. I understand the technical problem. This "lost person" problem does not occur with our TimeTech Sprint 8 watches and Race Wizard software because there is consistency checking software that generates messages if there isn't exactly 3 times for every participant in the start order (and vice-versa).

• Results Canada essentially has a monopoly on chip timing for smaller events (< thousands of participants) in Manitoba because their presence here means that their rates are much lower than other chip timing companies, which are located in Ottawa and Vancouver.   
• Results Canada has said they will eventually be changing all their equipment from the ChampionChip system to the Chronotrack system because it "is much nicer system to work with". Hopefully that will reduce problems. I'm not sure if it will solve the "lost person" problem.
• For 2010, my recommendation to the new Board will be that another Director take over responsibility for timing & results. The pre-requisites are an aptitude for this type of work, and an interest in working with Results Canada.

Please also refer to my Timing & Results Committee annual reports from the previous ten years: 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008.

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This page was last updated on September 28, 2009