Wave Start Then Combine Results

[Upstate RaceSeries]

I know this has been covered but want to make sure I am not missing anything on hosting multiple wave starts with chip start recording. 

I have an 800+ event tomorrow with 4 waves, and each wave allowing 2-3 runners (and their dogs) to start every 20-30 seconds to avoid traffic jams at the obstacle course for both the runners and dogs. 

I am recording chip starts and chip finishes for each of the 4 waves and will then combine them at the finish. 

So my question is there anything special I need to address before merging the results and how does one decide which file or path to keep when pushing those results to RunSignUp? 

Also to throw one more element of confusion the 4 waves are broken up into "Large dog" and "Small dog" divisions so I will actually have two result sets but I will not know which dog is in which wave as they allow both Small and Large dogs to enter each wave. 

Thank you in advance

[Ted Finch]

You could possibly just record one event using chip starts and chip finish times.

The waves are then less relevant. Perhaps put the wave number in notes.

Once you know whether dogs are large or small then allocate to an appropriate Type

and proves results by type or set up divisions as required 

Good luck

Ted 

Keep it Simple Timing

Scotland 

[Brian Agee]

I had someone email me a couple of days ago with a similar question. I'll paste info about his even and how I responded below because I think it might be helpful in your scenario too. The short answer is - since it's a chip start race for everyone it seems like you can just have a single "race" in ART. As long as the participant is assigned the correct "Athlete Type" (Large dog, Small dog, etc.) then you can have a single race where the Division Results will break everything out correctly. This means you don't have to know or care when people start and you can print/post results at any time that includes everyone.

If it's set up as separate events on RunSignUp, you'll have to pull those events in as separate events in ART and do something like this:

• You could create a new event in ART and RSU called "[The Race Name] Results" (or whatever makes the most sense). 
• After registration has closed you can "Combine Events" to move everyone across all races into the master "[The Race Name] Results" event you created that will host everyone. This master race is what really needs the correct Athlete Types and Divisions set up in it.
• Any QR codes or Live Scrolling Results displays that point to results on RunSignUp should point to the  "[The Race Name] Results" event on RunSignUp that was created just to host all participants and results.

I don't know anything more than what you shared so far in this thread, so hopefully this isn't a dead end road, but I wanted to give you something to consider. Below is the email I was referring to above from another user with a similar event coming up.

Their  inquiry:

• "Brian, I am timing a very fast-paced event. Basically 27 head to head heat/waves. Seconds after each race I need to know the winner's time and the top 3 cumulative winners by fastest time up to the that heat/wave. There isn't time to merge or manipulate the data as we must fit all 27 heat/waves into one hour, including commercial breaks.
  What or how would you suggest to pull and display this data quickly? I am happy to provide more details if you need more."

My response:

My first thought was if this can be accomplished by doing the following:

1. 1. Enter everyone into a single race, but create an "Athlete Type" for each heat (or let the import create the Athlete Type for you if you're importing from a file. Simply add the Heat # in the Athlete Type column in the file import screen in ART).
   2. Add a Division called something like "Top 3 Overall" and ensure the race is based on "Chip" time (which is the default).
   3. When you add/import participants, make sure they are assigned an "Athlete Type" for the heat they are assigned to.
   4. Check "Capture Chip Starts" and then start the race (either before or right when Heat 1 begins) and then check "Capture Chip Finishes" too.

If you need a print out that shows which heat each person is assigned to, you can print a roster that's sorted by Athlete Type. If you need the software to spit out a "heat sheet" (one page per heat with all participants in that heat) then let me know and I can show you how to do that easily too.

When you view the "Overall Results" report you'll see an option on the left that allows you to choose which "Athlete Types" (aka Heat #) you want included in the results. So just print this between each heat and include only the heat that just finished.

At any time you can also print the "Division Results" (make sure Bottom Fill is unchecked) and this will give you the top 3 cumulative finishers up to that point since everything is based on chip time.

If the above instructions won't work for some reason then let me know, but in theory that should be an easy way to manage all heats since it's a single race and you're just watching to make sure everyone is picked up when they leave the starting line and finish line. It's not difficult to manually add someone's start time if they are missed somehow, and as you know it's not too hard to manually add in someone's chip finish time if that is missed. Since capturing the start and finish is crucial for everything to work smoothly, I would double tag or whatever it takes to ensure 100% read rates. This setup would also allow you to quickly print results by "athlete type" (aka Heat) and the Division results report that shows the top 3 fastest at any point during the event. Then you can also print/post Overall results that includes everyone if you wanted to do that too during the race so that people can see how they're doing overall across all heats.