It has been a busy year for Athlete Guild. We have timed over 200 events this year and continually get questions all of the time about how things work or in some cases don't. I thought a brief explanation was in order. A lot of this is from a blog I wrote over a year ago, but it is still relevant.
We've been timing and managing races now for over 15 years and one of the biggest challenges and sources of frustration that we face is the inability to capture your race times 100% of the time. It's disappointing to us when we discover that we've missed a time and it's certainly disappointing to you. Most of the time we can recover it and get you into the results but it would be nice if it didn't happen in the first place. Why doesn't chip timing work all of the time? After all, it's technology and computers so it should work every time all of the time, right? I hope to help answer that in this short article and maybe we can together improve our results.
If you look at the history of timing, a lot of you may remember when we did popsicle sticks or index cards in the buckets. In many ways this was a much more reliable solution albeit much slower to calculate final results. We simply handed you a card or stick when you crossed the finish line and then sorted those cards based on your finish order. We didn't so much as care about your time as we did the order so that we could produce results. With the advent of computer-based timing, we were now able to capture finish order and times with the computers. Prior to chips, we simply captured your time as you crossed the line and then using the tear tags, were able to match you up with your time and hopefully produce good clean results. There were sometimes issues if we missed keying in a time but as long as we had the finish order of bibs, we could correct it and produce results. This method was a vast improvement over the old system but still required more time at the end of the race to tabulate everything. As a timing company, some of our clients still utilize this method as it is less expensive and is adequate for very small races.
Enter the age of timing chips. These chips or tags as they are sometimes called are a technology using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). There are two types of RFID chips. One is called active RFID and the other is passive. Active RFID chips are used in very high speed races and in other types of critical applications. There is a battery on the chip and it is always "active" and communicating. The problem is that these chips are very expensive and require ongoing maintenance. The other technology which is what most road races use is called passive RFID. These chips contain a very small microprocessor and antenna. The chip reader at the finish line is constantly sending out a radio signal within a short distance. When the passive chip comes within range of the signal, the chip actually powers up, runs a short computer program and then begins communicating with the reader. This happens in an incredibly short period of time. The reader communicates with the chip to determine the particular bib number. When that chip crosses the finish line, the computers are then able to capture the time and record order. As long as the RFID reader is able to communicate with the chip, then the computer is able to record the bib and its time.
So what could go wrong with the chip and reader interaction to prevent a time being read? There are actually several that could affect the timing. One issue is density of runners. Think of a cell phone in a very busy area. You try to make a call and either can't get connected or the line gets dropped. Oftentimes it's because there are too many signals to be processed in a given area. At the starting line for a race, the same type of problem occurs. The readers can only process so many signals at once. With hundreds of runners crossing a line within a very short period of time, the readers have problems keeping up. It's why you will see multiple mats or antennas at the line. It's called redundancy and is an effort to accommodate the overload.
Density is not as big an issue at the finish line because you usually have fewer people crossing at the same time. There the problem is usually due to a bad chip or human error. Reusable or what we sometimes call hard chips or not as susceptible to breakage, but disposable chips are somewhat fragile. The antennas on the chip can get broken if you bend and twist them. The microprocessor itself can sometimes get damaged and simply not work. Many times weather and humidity can also cause the chips to momentarily fail. Much like trying to connect your computer to a wireless printer or wireless network, issues can and do occur which can cause them not to work. Frustrating, but it is what it is.
The biggest issue that we see though is with the runners themselves. Chips that are worn on the ankle or shoe are sometimes worn incorrectly as hard as you think that might be to do. Bib tags though must be worn on the front so that they can be "seen" by the readers. I'm not sure where people get the idea that the bib should be worn on the back, but in road races bibs are always worn on the front. The photographers and course marshalls need to see you and the timers must be able to read your bib as you approach. The forward facing readers don't do well reading through your body as the human body actually absorbs the electronic signal and will cause a loss of communication. Another big issue is caused by runners blocking the signal. Remember that the chip must be able to communicate with the reader wirelessly. This is line of sight communication. If you put up some metal or other obstruction in front of the chip it can cause the chip not to be read. For example, runners will often bring their arm up to start or stop their watch at the finish line. The metal and especially the GPS signal in the watch can definitely interfere with the RFID signal causing the chip not to be read. The density issue that I mentioned earlier also has to do with blocking. Runners directly behind someone else can have their signal disrupted by the person in front. Paying attention and making sure that you have a little distance in front of you at the line can certainly help.
The inability to read a chip at the start can cause an issue with gun and chip time. When the race begins, everyone gets assigned the same gun time. That is the time that gun/horn/start pistol was fired. Not all races do chip time, but those that do allow for a different starting time to be recorded. That is the time you actually hit the starting line until you finish. This allows you to start after the gun goes off but get an accurate elapsed time. In a high-density race as discussed before, it is entirely possible that the mats or readers don't see your chip so the timer is left with a blank starting chip time. In that case the only thing to do is simply assign the gun time. Some runners can get pretty upset when they know for certain that their gun and chip times were different. There is a simple explanation and the timer can easily fix it if given the right information. Another thing that can happen though is caused by the runner themselves. If the runner is wandering around and the readers see their chip and assign a starting time but then the runner waits around a while before actually starting, it's possible that their start time won't be updated. This can be easily remedied as well as long as the timer is informed. As stated before, nothing is perfect and a simple request to the timer can easily get it resolved.
Lastly, the biggest issue is incomplete information. Race day entries are always a challenge but especially if you forget to write your age or gender down. In order to calculate results for age groups that is information we have to have. In addition, many of you could give doctors a run for their money with your handwriting. Sometimes the entry forms are almost illegible so we have to guess as to the name and other information. You can help by writing clearly and making sure that all of the information is entered.
If you do find that your time was missed, please just let the timer know. The timer is always happy to correct the issue. Industry average is about one to two percent missed reads regardless of the manufacturer or timer. As mentioned earlier, chips can even be programmed correctly and still fail for any number of reasons. We know of timers and equipment manufacturers that claim 100% all of the time, but what is happening is that times are simply being made up when missed. They use algorithms to approximate times. Athlete Guild will never resort to that policy. We would much rather be honest and work with you to resolve the error. Missing times is not something we like, but given all the factors involved and the number of things that have to go right in order to capture the time it's just a part of the business. We oftentimes get 100% but the larger the race is and therefore density, the more chances we have of missing a chip. You can certainly help us by making sure that you are wearing your chip correctly and also looking at the preliminaries to make sure you are listed. Every timer I know strives hard to get those results correct and complete before leaving the race.
See you at the race!
