arcing Posted February 26, 2011 Report Share Posted February 26, 2011 I am putting a race on in two weeks, a individual 2-run event. I am trying to secure a wireless timing system but may not get it. Has anyone successfully done or raced a race where they used stop watches to time? Any suggestions on using them for the timing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quigley Posted February 26, 2011 Report Share Posted February 26, 2011 We run hand times along with the taghuer timer with beams for all our sanctioned races. So the first thing is to synchronize the watches. At the start I recommend using a start wand the same as if you had the wireless system if possible. I would say it best if you have two volunteers at both the start and finish. At the start have your Starter with communication (a radio) that puts the racer in the gate and sounds the cadence. The timer then has the stopwatch and a clip board. He records a bib number when the racer enters the gate. Then he watches closely for the racer to leave the gate, easiest if you can watch for the wand to open, but if you stay consistent the wand is not necessary. So as the racer leaves the stopwatch is stopped and the 6 digit time is recorded ( hour, minutes, seconds) Then at the finish line one person has the stopwatch and the other has a pencil and clipboard. The one recording should have a radio and so has written down the bib number when the starter anounced the bib. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quigley Posted February 26, 2011 Report Share Posted February 26, 2011 So at the finish the person with a radio has recorded the racers bib number. When the racer approaches the person recording and the person with the stopwatch both try to see the bib and confirm the expected number. If it isnt possible it is necessary to confirm bib after finish is crossed. So racer crosses finish line and the stopwatch is stopped. That person then reads the 6 digit time to be recorded to the other on the clipboard. Dyeing the finish will help visually, liquid blueing works well. At the end of the run the timing sheets are compared and simple subtraction yeilds the times. We are usually accurate within 2 tenths of a second to our wand and beam timing. So dont dispair if you have to run it old school. Probably easiest to run it so you only have one racer on the course at at time. If you have any questions or need clarity dont hesitate... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arcing Posted February 26, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2011 I under stand having the timers above and below, but I am not certain how you synchro your watches then stop them to get the time and start them again without starting back at zero. After I googled it, I think I understand. Stop watches have an elapsed time measurement mode where you can hit stop, read that time, then start it again and it jumps to the elapsed time from when you first started. For example, you start the time and then after 10 seconds, hit stop, read/record the time (for 5 seconds) and then hit go again, the watch reads 15 seconds at that point. Is this what you mean by synchronizing two stop watches? I can't think of any other way to be able to stop the clock, record time and then pick up the time with out stopping it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quigley Posted February 26, 2011 Report Share Posted February 26, 2011 You dont want to use them as a normal stopwatch at all... they are both running clocks that you zero out and then use as you spoke of. As you hit the split timer and record, then when you hit the button again it skips to that new time. No reset between racers necessary. make sense? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arcing Posted February 26, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2011 Can anyone recommend a inexpensive stopwatch for timing a race? Needs to have 1/100 second counting for at least a couple of hours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quigley Posted February 28, 2011 Report Share Posted February 28, 2011 The tags we use are $170 a piece... but $30 or $40 a piece should be sufficient for your limited use. ours get used almost every weekend. but the old ones we got are still working and were maybe even less than $30. the human error is normally a bigger factor than the inaccuracy of the watches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arcing Posted March 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2011 thanks, just ordered some for about that price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quigley Posted March 17, 2011 Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 How did it go? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arcing Posted March 17, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 17, 2011 Hey our race went great! We had 18 racers, including our team. We used a Brower wireless timing system and it worked flawlessly. We also used a set of stopwatches as a backup in case the timing system failed. Here is a link to a short news story on our race. Appreciate your advice. Gene http://methowvalleynews.com/story.php?id=5404 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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