I know what you’re going to say, don’t worry about these stupid details and go for a bike ride. But I have to know–in the IM races w/ the mass start, is the time displayed at the finish line for the photo op. based on the pro 15 minute head start or the age-group start? If a goal is 12:00, then having a picture that reads 12:14:59 would be kind of a let down.
At Disney it was based on the pro start. I don’t know about any others.
Go for a bike ride.
My finishers pics show the time on the clock that corresponds (within a few seconds) of my chip time. I think they change it once the AG’s start to finish, but that is just an assumption on my part. Then again, if you plan on going 8:30 as an amateur, then maybe your finish photo might show 8:45.
Sounds like you’ll have to adjust your goal time to 11:45 in order for the clock to read 12:00 
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I know what you’re going to say, don’t worry about these stupid details and go for a bike ride. But I have to know–in the IM races w/ the mass start, is the time displayed at the finish line for the photo op. based on the pro 15 minute head start or the age-group start? If a goal is 12:00, then having a pictire that reads 12:14:59 would be kind of let down.
By my observation they are changing it after the top however many pro women have finished - somewhere approaching 10 hours.
A long term solution, which would allow wave starts for age groupers, might be to have the time photoshopped in onto a greenscreen background after the fact, or to have multiple finish chutes on which the clocks are updated in real time based on reading your chip as you approach (sketchy when it’s crowded). Or, don’t have a finish clock in the photo at all, just print the time at the bottom of the photo.
nope, not anal at all. just got my disney 1/2 IM pics. will not be ordering the finish shot 'cause it sports a time 30 minutes slower. yep, vain indeed. not the only one.
I believe that in Kona last year they flipped the clock back by the 15:00 around the 9-9:30 mark.
clm
You would think they could put the time on your photo digitally so it is correct when they sell you the photo… shouldn’t be too hard.
Weeman
It would make sense to me to simply have the clock overhead wired to the chip on your ankle. As soon as you cross the mat, your actual time gets displayed on the clock, and that’s the time in the picture. Works for me, can’t be that hard to do.
-Colin
I believe that in Kona last year they flipped the clock back by the 15:00 around the 9-9:30 mark.
clm
Would it be too expensive to have two clocks at the finish, and label them pro and age group? Just a thought.
Can’t cut in to IMNA’s profits. They are just getting by you know.
That’s not IMNA, that’s WTC in Hawaii.
I’m with Gerard on this one. Two clocks should be really easy for them to set up.
Last fall in Kona I believe they changed the clocks after the 3rd or 4th female pro crossed the line. I was glad that when I crossed shortly after that (although maybe if I had raced better and been 15 minutes faster I would have been happy with an invalid time in the photo) the time in the photo was my actual time. Last fall when we were debating the pros and cons of the pro headstart I mentioned that I would be disappointed if my first Kona experience didn’t have my actual time in the photo and someone slagged me for it saying that if I was going for the photo blah, blah, blah. Anyone who knows me realizes that I don’t race for the photo but I’m glad to see that I’m not the only one who thinks that it sucks to have a finish line shot with an incorrect time in it.
Here’s another idea if two clocks are ugly. 10ft before the finish there is an extra mat, it checks your timing chip to see if you are pro or AG and switches accordingly, so that the top AG can also have the proper finish photo. After a while, when it gets busy, they just switch it to AG timing. That also has the benefit that those pros finishing in 11 hours appear to be finishing in “only” 10:45 
I always wondered what that other matt was for…at IMLP it is just before the last turn down the chute…
Your comments are more than good ideas. I was asking specifically about mass starts, where all age groupers would have one clock running. But w/ today’s technology, even the wave starts found in so many races should have a finish clock that is individually capable of posting the athletes’ times, no matter when they started. The photo op. is one thing, but spectators should be able to see the correct time of these awesome age groupers, even a “Sony Vision” type of jumbotron listing the person’s name, age, and finish time would be possible as a separate visual.
At IMAZ they rolled the clock back at some point. Out of the water I was really disappointed in my time until I realized that I needed to subtract 15 mins from it. The clock was correct for the finish photo. Just testing to see if I can post this pic or just a nice redx: - ah ha. Watch out for the double http:// when copying and pasting
