Merge start lists to add late entries, once the race has started

[Martin Jennings]

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for advice from anyone who regularly uses the option to merge start lists to add late entries when timing with Webscorer’s point-to-point setup across multiple devices.

We have a race coming up, with around 1,200 runners. We need to keep accepting on-the-day entries after the first wave has started, and we can’t have separate races for subsequent waves because there will still be runners on course, when we set off the next wave/distance.

We will have the start list on the timing devices as up-to-date as possible when we start the first wave. Then, as the race is ongoing, we plan to use the "Merge Start Lists" feature to download and integrate any new entries from Webscorer.com.

When I consult with Vesa about such things, he will confirm there are no known issues, and advise me to test myself prior to the event. I will of course do this, however, I’d appreciate hearing from anyone who does this as a standard practice.

Are there any risks or pitfalls we should be aware of? Since this is a new event for us, I’m keen to mitigate any potential issues by learning from your experiences.

Thanks very much in advance for any help and guidance.

Martin of Sublime Timing (UK)

[Boris Concepcion]

Hi Martin, in my opinion it is very risky update start list after race start and is greater when timing is multi devices.

When race is mode normal (loop) you can update manually a few racers, but the risk of typo error is high.

As part of our contract we don't accept new racers after race start.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Webscorer Users Group" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to webscorer-users-...@webscorer.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/a/webscorer.com/d/msgid/webscorer-users-group/528ee62f-12cb-4e55-ba6a-e7703948cb17n%40webscorer.com.

[Larry Wilkinson]

Hey Martin,

I do this often.  syncing start list before and after the start.  New entries are not a problem.  They always sync just fine, even after the wave has started.   However, edits are not synced, which may or may not be an issue in your particular situation.  Any edits to entries must be done on each individual device or at least on the device or devices that are posting results.  If not, results will be incorrect.  When I say edits I am referring to changes made to entries that are already on the receiving devices.

Warning: I have found that if you have used DNS to eliminate racers who  did not pick up their bibs on a device and then you sync the start list to that device, It will remove the DNS from those entries, which can be frustrating.  DNF and DSQ are unaffected, but those are features of results not starts, so that is probably why.  Also note that syncing results instead of start list does not pass on new entries. an example of this would be if you wanted to sync results to a device to perhaps give out awards and that device had a start list on it that wasn't up to date - the only results that would transfer would be those that match the start list on the receiving device.  to correct this you would have to sync the start lists between the two devices and then resend the results. 

My experience is only with iPad devices and mostly passing info between devices using bluetooth, but I have also synced through the website when available.  I don't know your set up but I would try to simulate race day a head of time so you know what to expect and how to get out of or avoid problems.  If you are planning on doing the syncing through Webscorer.com I would test on site to be sure you have good cellular connections where all your devices are, and have a back up plan to transport a device with updated entries around to the other devices to sync via bluetooth if needed.  I think you can only use Bluetooth between like devices.

hope this gives you some testing ideas. 

[Martin Jennings]

Thank you gentlemen for your advice.

Most appreciated.

[Vesa Suomalainen]

We’re about to release an app update (version 7.4) that supports merging all data (vs. additions only) - but this new merge feature is available only before the start of the race. The reason for this restriction is that updates to racers who may already have finished (or completed laps) could possibly end up messing up the results.

Marking racers as DNS on the app should be done only after the final merge. If you’re using Webscorer online reg, you can do the racer check-in on the reg admin page - and the merge will mark those racers not checked-in initially as DNS, and will update this state if the racer’s state has changed to being checked-in at the next merge.

In a race that uses “Timing mode = Multi-device splits” with “Live results = On”, the incremental merge can be done on the device recording “Timing point = Start” only. The other devices will then get an automatic sync. If “Live results = Off”, then the merge must be done separately on each device.

A merge can be done after the merged racers have already started (in a mass start or wave start), but must be done before the merged racers have a finish time (or a split time).