How I learned to time races

Author

Ian Campbell
May 15, 2025

Race #1

“Runners will be finishing soon” Tim says as he hands me a notebook.

We’re at the finish line of a race on a crisp summer morning in 2022.

I take the notebook and ask, “Doesn’t the timing equipment do the job?”

“Yes but write the winners down.” Tim answers.

Moments later, the first runner crosses the finish line. I write down his time then continue writing all 20 of the top male and female finishers.

Satisfied, I walk to the timing table where I read Tim the top bib numbers and times. He listens and nods while reviewing with the scoring software.

“Clean race” he declares as he snatches the notebook back from me.

While we pack up the equipment, I think to myself, “Why bother to write down the times with pen and paper when we have this equipment?”

I figure that there is a lot that I don’t know, so I keep my mouth shut.

Race #2

“Where is the flash drive?” I ask my timing teammates.

I stand at another finish line a few weeks later, surrounded by a different set of timing teammates. Runners would be finishing soon.

The beautiful weather had generated a ton of race day registrations, which meant that a volunteer was constantly running from the registration table to our timing setup with a stack of papers to enter into our computer.

Occasionally, a piece of paper would blow away (which is one reason that many races have transitioned to a paperless race day - watch race volunteers talk about here).

Amidst the chaos of entering paper forms, the timing equipment had disconnected from our computer. This was not unusual. Since the timing equipment would record bib data without a connection to the computer, all the times would still be captured.

While this wasn’t unusual, without a flash drive it would be a problem. Although bib data would still be recorded, without a flash drive, we had no way to transfer it to the computer. Without the bib data in the computer, we would not be able to match it with the runners’ registration information to populate the results.

Runners would want to know their time after crossing the finish line and the race director would want to announce the winners before everyone got antsy and left.

Unsure of the best way to navigate the crisis, I did what I learned during race #1.

Grabbing a pen and notebook, I wrote the runner’s times as they finished. Fortunately, with intense focus and good teammates, we captured enough runners to fill out the age groups, so the award ceremony could happen without delay.

This bought us time to hunt down a flash drive, pull the data from the timing equipment and transfer it to our computer, so that we could upload the results to Run The Day.

As we finished uploading the results, my timing teammates said, “That was painful.”

I agreed.

Following that race,

  • I understood Tim’s lesson from race #1

  • I started bringing a backup flash drive to races

  • I got to work to prevent that pain at future races

Streamlining race day

Determined that race timing should not require multiple spreadsheets, manual data entry and connectivity troubleshooting under pressure, we got to work.

3 years later, our process is not perfect, but it is more efficient. Data streams from a runner’s registration through to the results allowing for:

  • Less prep work

  • Fewer volunteers at bib handout

  • An enhanced runner experience

  • No spreadsheets

  • Less pain on race day

I am quite proud of our integrated system.

But the excel nerd in me is bummed. After all, I have spent a ton of time learning excel keyboard shortcuts that I no longer need. I even skipped quite a few parties during my college years to practice these shortcuts in a dark computer lab.

  • The good news for me: our eagerness to offer races a customized approach gives me the occasional opportunity to show off my hard learned excel skills (like using an INDEX MATCH formula to align bib assignments from multiple files).

  • The good news for others: dealing with paper forms, manual data entry and navigating spreadsheets on race day is now the exception, NOT the rule.

My hope is that my experience learning to time a race helps Run The Day to reduce the pain that is felt on race day by race directors, timers and volunteers in the future.

This way, the future will have more races. Since races unite us, more of them would be good for all of us.

-Ian

ICYMI: a brief history of races

Last week, I shared a brief history of races. Starting from a legendary run by a Greek messenger and ending with the 2026 London Marathon’s world record 1.1 million applicants.

Run The Day Rocks!

Ian Campbell

Ian Campbell

Uniting communities.