Joint 1st Equal vs there can only be one 1st...

[Daryl Bloomfield]

Morning Vesa,

I wasn’t sure whether to send this directly or post in the user group – but figured others may share similar thoughts or use cases.

Now that our Cross Country season is underway here in NZ, I’ve run into / been reminded of  a couple of situations with Webscorer that might benefit from added flexibility:

1. Dead Heats in Individual Results
Currently, if finishers have the same displayed time (e.g. to the nearest second), Webscorer lists them as tied, even when we know the actual order of finish based on visual observation. In NZ XC races, ties aren’t allowed—an official at the line determines order.

Could you add an option to calculate placing from more precise recorded times (e.g. tenths or hundredths), while still displaying results to the nearest second?
Example option settings:

• Display time: nearest second

• Calculate place: nearest tenth

This would help remove unintended ties without showing overly precise times that aren’t accepted by governing rules.

2. Dead Heats in Team Scoring
We also encounter ties in team scores. For our events, we use a tie-breaker based on the best finishing position of the last scoring team member.

For example:

• Team A and B both score 25 points.

• Team A’s 3rd runner finishes 12th; Team B’s 3rd runner finishes 10th.
  → Team B wins on the tiebreaker.

Locally, I add a small fraction (e.g. last scorer’s position ÷ 1000) to the team’s score to automate this, then round for display. Could Webscorer consider supporting something similar as a built-in option?

---

I understand Webscorer can’t cover every edge case, but these features might support a wider range of race formats—especially for organisers needing to meet official rules while still using Webscorer as the public-facing results platform.

Thanks for a great product—it covers 99% of what I need!

Apologies for the long note,

[Vesa Suomalainen]

1. Can you send me the file you're using to update results - that ends up inadvertently creating the wrong timing precision of one thousands of a second?  The upload tool is designed to use the time format specified in the file.  To understand the issue you’re running into, I need to be able to reproduce it on my computer.  This is not a generic problem, something specific to your race / file / setup..

2. If two racers share the same time, but you want to assign unique places for each, you can do this as follows:

Include a “Place” column on the upload file

After uploading the file, select “Racer placement = Use place column” 

Example: https://www.webscorer.com/race?pid=1&raceid=10509

3. Regarding ties in team scoring and team standings, we opted to not add tie-breaking rules as everyone seems to have their own.  The user interface would become (impossibly) difficult to use & explain.  You can explain your own rules in the “Race notes”, or download the team standings, and repost the modified team standings with the tie-breaking points on your own website.