Chip Scoring

'If there's a way to complicate a simple task by using modern technology, we should be using the new technology because it must be better than what's been done in the past.'

That's the prevalent attitude with almost everything today and - for better or worse - the task of scoring many running and multisport events seems to going in that direction.

Much of this is driven by participating athletes wanting complete race results posted on web sites and social media a few minutes after the event finishes.

In the early days race timing and scoring was simple.  A volunteer (usually a spectator who was drafted on the spot) was handed a clipboard, pencil, and watch and was tasked with writing down names or bib numbers and times as athletes crossed the finish line.

It wasn't uncommon to hear the race scoring volunteer ask "does anyone have a stopwatch I can use?"

After everyone finished, the race director spent a few minutes figuring out who were the winners in the various categories, awards were handed out, and - usually a few weeks later - the race results were typed up and sent out via snail mail to club members.

The preferred method of scoring events gradually evolved from the simple clipboard method to the index card system where athletes were simply handed a numbered index card as they finished. It was the racer's responsibility to fill out the card with their name, gender, age, and time.

Although very simple, this system worked great and is still used for a few events.

As race management became more sophisticated (or complicated?) many race directors adopted the newer tear-off bib number system.

Each pull tag was filled out prior to the race start with the athlete's name, age, gender, and any special award category information.

After each racer crossed the finish line, his/her tear-off tag was pulled from the bib number and then taped in sequential order onto a table or scoring board.

A printing stopwatch (high technology at the time) was used concurrently to capture all finishing times in order, and these times were then manually written on the corresponding pull tag.

After the race was over, the information on the pull tags was reviewed to determine the finishing order in the various race categories.

Participants would crowd around the scoring board after the race to see what their finishing time was and how they placed overall, and some (unlucky) person would spend much of the next day looking at the results board and typing up results to post on a web site.

In the late 1980s electronic sports timing ('chip timing') became commonplace for motor sport racing and by the mid-1990s some of the larger cycling, running, triathlon, and ski racing events started to adopt this technology.

Chip timing systems consist of a transponder ('chip'), an antenna and the decoder that 'reads' the unique code emitted by each chip, and database software that takes the data from the decoder, matches it up with pre-loaded participant information and calculates the final race results.

These chip timing systems are expensive with the small lower-end 'club-size' systems costing several thousand dollars and the individual chips or bib numbers that have embedded RFID chips being an additional cost.

Chip timing systems are great when they work properly - they can provide almost instant results for a large group of racers and allow those results to be easily uploaded to web sites or posted on social media

The down side is that it's common to see chip timing errors because racers wear the chip improperly so that it isn't 'read' by the timing system or because of incorrect registration data in the timing system's database.

My personal opinion is that we could have the best of all worlds by blending the old and new methods of scoring races.

A blend of the index card method and chips just might be the ticket to ensure fast and accurate results while allowing race directors to advertise 'we use chip scoring.'

As each runner crosses the finish line, he/she will be handed a large tortilla chip that has been numbered (1, 2, 3, ... etc.) using an edible-ink pen.

Just as in the index card method, each racer would be responsible for writing their name, time, age, and gender on the tortilla chip after finishing the race.

The race official would use these 'scoring chips' to determine awards and - as an added benefit - the chips (along with some salsa and beverages) would serve as after-race snacks.

Remember - simple and edible chip technology might be a good way to score events.


Upcoming Events
Aug 13: Run to Remember, roadlizards.org
Aug 21: Mountain bike time trial, angelobike.org
Aug 22-24: Hotter'N Hell Hundred, hh100.org
Sept 13: Run to Remember, roadlizards.org
Sept 27: Mason Lions Club 5/10K Run,
masontxcoc.com