skategoat Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 I just ran my first recreational SBX race over the weekend. Overall, it was a great success and I really enjoyed myself. However, managing all the data was not fun. Getting everyone into various qualifying heats, then ranking them and setting up the elimination rounds took a lot of copying and pasting and manual typing. Because there was no finish hut on the course, I could not just use a computer to enter in results on the fly. I had to hand record them. I figured with all the various regional snowboarding bodies, there has to be a better way. Does anyone have or know of a good database or intelligent spreadsheet system? Does anyone know the right person to talk to at USSA or FIS or any other snowboard racing organization? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ncermak Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 get in touch with Jason at USASA. he has their program, which this year should be doing all of the bracketing automaticaly, after you enter time trial times... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philfell Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 The program USASA uses is different than FIS. Talk to Dominique Langelier (dlangelier@sympatico.ca). She organizes the events for the CSF and she will be able to help you out. But keep in mind that SBX is a pain to run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ncermak Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 how many peopel did you have? I concur with Phil, SBX is a PITA to run... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ncermak Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 how would people feel about running a USASA bx, by full elimination brackets, then sorting out the age category finishers at the end?or perhaps two sets of brackets: big kids, and little kids? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Smith Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 Henry, welcome to our home grown qualifying by 2 heats system. This was developed because - not many sbx courses are wired for timing - we often could not access wireless timing On a plus side, all riders get to experience a min. of 3 (4 rider) heats FIS races must have 2 timed qualifing runs with no guarantee of any heats. At the NORAM level many racers get to fly accross the country take thier 2 qual. runs and then fly home... Missed you at the Masters race Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skategoat Posted February 12, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 Rob: I'm sorry to have missed the Masters race but I'm glad I went to the University SBX because I think I would've developed an ulcer on Saturday if I showed up cold. The experience in helping Cam run the University race was invaluable. I actually don't mind our non-timed, home grown qualifying system. It leaves one less point of failure without a timing system. I neglected to call and thank you for your help with the gates and course setup so I'll say it right here - Thanks! phil and ncermak: Try and imagine managing a race with 50 or so racers in 7 different brackets in 2 genders. No complaints, I had a great time doing it. The smiles on the kids faces made it totally worth it. Thanks for the contact at CSF. I will shoot Dominique an email. What do you guys think about a bar-coding system? You put a bar-code sticker on every racer's helmet. At registration, you scan the code, it automatically brackets each racer. A little bit of logic in the program gives you options on blending brackets to avoid lone riders. At the end of each race, you scan the code in the finish corral and enter in times and/or placement. Would not be expensive to build and if you could spread the cost out amoung CSF, USSA, the college leagues, etc., the only real cost would be bar-code/scanning hardware. Henry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ncermak Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 Personally I think there is nothing cooler than a styling bar code sticker on my helmet...and the kid who would now be running around pretending to be me in my lost/stolen helmet. Nah. I think we should give every racer a microchip implant like my dog has to get the pound in touch with me when lost. needless to say, I don't love the idea. USASA events are pretty similar. there are 12 age groups, male and female...often only 3 or less kids in a particular category. we find ourselves doing double elimination type stuff, or just running multiple heats of the same age group, and giving points by place. That is why I would be interested in running a single set of brackets, then determining the winners in each age group by overall place. also, in lieu of wireless timing, 2 radios and a stopwatch work pretty well... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philfell Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 Giving the kids a chance to race in heats is cool, but you have to also look at the safty aspect along with rider development. At USASA nationals I see a ton of kids who should not be racing in heats. They are a liabitlity to themselves and to other kids in the heat. Also not many people have the oppertunity to run a SBX course unless they are at an event. If you put them into heats right away, they miss out on a huge oppertunity to develope thier skills in a timed run with no one around. You can try different lines and see what is faster, instead of simply getting thrown to the wolves and having to survive. If it were up to me anyone under FIS age (15) would only do a time trial and no heats. Over FIS age you can run the heats if you qualify. SBX is so much more than racing 4-6 people at a time. I look at SBX with the same respect I look at a DH ski race. You need to know about line, terrain usage, gliding, board preparation. You also need to be mature enough to fully understand that your actions directly effect other people in the heat. In ski racing if the TD does not feel an athlete has the ability to safely run the course they are pulled from the competition. This hasn't crossed over much into the SBX events, but should. On a side note a nor-am level competition you can not use wireless timing. You need a hard wired system with a back up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skategoat Posted February 12, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 Personally I think there is nothing cooler than a styling bar code sticker on my helmet...and the kid who would now be running around pretending to be me in my lost/stolen helmet. Nah. I think we should give every racer a microchip implant like my dog has to get the pound in touch with me when lost. It's not really that different than the timing chip systems used at running races, triathlon, etc. The difference being, bar coding systems are cheap. Now with the microchips, I think you're going a bit too far. Maybe a retina scanner. Phil, we have a timed SBX event called RBC Riders. It's restricted to ages 9-14. We did have a concern with younger riders in some of the difficult SBX courses last season so we took under-15 categories out of our "Points" series and added them to our "Recreational" series. The Rec series races, which I manage, are milder and roomier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philfell Posted February 13, 2007 Report Share Posted February 13, 2007 Jeep uses a bracelet on the riders leg. It tracks when the rider comes across the finish line and starts or stops the timer in order to get a differential. I've been involved in mt. bike races that use the same stuff. This is a better option than a bar code system. With bar codes you have to know who finished in what order then scan them, this leads to human error and what happens in a heat that is too close to tell the winner? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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