SAI Chip Timing System Fails at Honolulu Marathon

Well, perhaps my earlier comment about the race director's professionalism was premature.

In a new twist, the Honolulu Marathon organizers are blaming the runners themselves for "mis-use" of the chips.

Misuse of paper microchip caused marathon troubles

Did you hear the one about the runner who tucked his timing chip under his shoelaces? Ha ha, that's a good one.

I say use, use the right tool for the job. With FinishLynx cameras you could capture a time for each runner, but how would you identify that runner when the bib number is on their chest?

I feel for these guys. I sure we have all timed races where it seems everything is conspiring against you and things have gone bad. I know I have. The best thing to do in this case is not slam the technology, but to analyze what went on and make sure we don't repeat the same mistakes at our next race.

From the articles, it appears there were multiple problems which combined to form the "perfect storm".

1) The timing tags were not designed with the stupid athlete in mind. It seems to me, the smartest people in the world become the dumbest thing on the planet when they put on that number. And rightfully so, they are focussed on competing in the race and are not thinking about if the tag is oriented correctly, or can be crumpled. They should just be able to put it on a go. Now the racer does have some responsibility to follow directions. But if the race is using technology that is new to the culture of the sport, it is incumbent on the race director to go overboard on explaining the use of the technology.

2) Heavy rain in Hawaii? Who'd of thought? It seems to me the timing points need to be weather proof. This includes the power delivery system. There also needs to be UPS power available.

3) Clocks didn't have the correct time when the timing points restarted. The timing company needs to understand the timing system they are using and what needs to happen when a timing point is restarted. It's best of the system would automatically sync with a standard time source when it is turned on. When the spam hits the fan, it's easy to forget steps, so rehearse, rehearse, rehearse.

Finally, it seems to me, we have to be careful when it comes to controlling our costs. At $90 to replace a lost AMB ProChip, we are well aware of chip recovery hassles and replacement costs. But going with the low bidder is not always the best answer. That goes when we are purchasing equipment and when race directors are selecting timing companies. In my experience, you get what you pay for.

Every timing system has its strengths and weaknesses. It is our job as race timers to fully understand these strengths and weaknesses and fully exploit its strengths and compensate to the best of our abilities for its weaknesses.

Mac
Milliseconds Sports Timing

>>With FinishLynx cameras you could capture a time for each runner, but how would you identify that runner when the bib number is on their chest?<<

Runners' numbers are stenciled on their legs with a Sharpie-type pen. The stenciled numbers are very thick, you can read them from 10m away. This is done - amongst other reasons - for emergency medical care purposes, since a bib might be torn off in a crash or other incident.

With a Lynx camera, this number can be read clearly from any conceivable opposing-view finish setup.

It's a good thing they stenciled the numbers on their legs for this particular race. I've been in a number of running events and have never been stenciled, (I thought they only did this for triathlons.)

Normally the chip also records the start time for competitors as well, (because people are queued up for blocks and it can take the last of the 27,000 competitors an hour to get to the start line.) I wonder if they would have had camera coverage at the start line? It probably wouldn't help anyway, because at the start, all of these competitors are literlly shoulder to shoulder, crossing the start line in herds.

I feel for the race organizers and hope they get it sorted out.

The latest...

All 24,000 Honolulu Marathon Times Flawed

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article...214/NEWS01/712140376

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article...EWS01/802280358/1001

After two months of video review, the Honolulu Marathon has announced that their SAI chip system produced accurate finish times for 1,798 of 22,839 runners, or slightly less than 8%.

That is not a large number. The chips should be accurate 99.999% of the time.

I agree that is a very large number.

Hopefully they fix it in the future.

Speaking of that, has the marathon had that problem in recent years?

-Jim

Jim Mason
Honolulu Clocks