Type/Distance of race?
Size of Field?

Running Races. 5k-10ks. Maybe 1/2 Marathons.
As far as local weekend races, I'd aim for 100 participants. But where I live, I have potential to put on kids XC races with 400+ kids.

There are many 5k, 10k etc that just get done with stopwatches. I advised a race that did it that way successfully. It certainly can handle 300 racers. That is by far the cheapest way to do it, but you are better off if you have a crew that has done it before. Adding anything more than that, is certainly going to add significantly to the cost.

I think that if you really are going to make a go at it, buying your own equip is probably a little more than would be worth it, unless you are planning to do a ton of races, but I have not research the cost.

(Cost of system)/((total Number of racers)*(Number of races))
Until you can get that result down to the number you were quoted by the timing company, it does not work out.

Yeah, you're probably right. I guess I do see most "serious" race directors use a Timing Service, so there is probably something to be said about that. I will do my research though.

Thanks,

Hi Ironmuffin,

I have a race timing company, but there are other options out there for Race Directors. You can google apple race timing and you'll find several apps that may do the job for you. They are pretty intuitive to operate and can do the job.

There are bulletproof ways to manually timing a race. If you have 100 athletes in a race, you can just write 1 to 100 on an index card. Have a volunteer or team member write the clock time on the card and give it to the athlete after he/she finishes. They will then write their name, age and gender and place the card on a table. Another team member sorts the cards by 1 to 100 and you then have overall and age groups ready to award.

I blame the following on facebook: "Instant isn't quick enough."

What you may want to consider is growing your business. You'll need an inflatable finish arch and a time clock. You can get both of them for $1000. You can purchase pro timing equipment fairly reasonably. I use race result equipment and software. You can purchase a system for about $5000. Timing tags will cost you $0.20 to $1.10 each depending on the system you decide to purchase.

Of course, once you time your own events, you'll need back-ups to the back-up. It can fall apart quickly!

If you are building races, most likely athletes expect chip timing, or smooth use of one of the apple apps (they are easy to figure out and operate).

If you can invest in a timing system, I would think that would be the best long term way to go if you are looking to put on several events.


Good luck!

Mark

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Triathlon and Running Race Timing
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