Finish line sheets

Use these sheets to record the times and numbers as each runner finishes. Each sheet holds 25 places, so print off enough sheets in advance as well as numbering the sheets. If using the advanced stopwatches, you may only need the ‘race numbers check sheet’ as the times will be recorded in the stopwatch.

With the race numbers check sheet, ideally have two people doing this. One writing down the numbers called out by the other. This ensures the writer doesn’t get distracted. Ensure any finishers with obscured or missing numbers are written down as a dash or question mark and they are clicked in by the stopwatch as well. The totals should tally up, otherwise a finish line video would need to be used to work out any issues.

Results spreadsheet template

This spreadsheet will make it much easier to process the results, identify any errors and work out the age/category prize winners. It takes a bit of practice to get the hang of all the steps, but once you’ve tried a few times, it’s fairly straight-forward.

The night before the race, populate the ‘Entries’ tab with all the entries. If using EntryCentral.com, follow these instructions:

  1. Log in to the Organiser portal
  2. Click the race name and choose ‘Sign-ups’
  3. Click ‘Download Entry CSV’
  4. Click the ‘download is here’ link and save the file somewhere
  5. Open the file with Excel
  6. You need to remove all the columns, only keeping: Forename, Surname, Club, Gender, AgeGroup.
  7. Sort the data by Surname
  8. Copy the data, don’t copy the headings
  9. Open the race results template
  10. Select cell B2 and paste in the organised data from the CSV file, check everything looks correct and all the data is in the right columns
  11. Save the race results template ready for the day
  12. You don’t need to save the CSV file

Any on the day entries will just need to be manually typed at the bottom of the ‘Entries’ sheet.

Stopwatches

Fastime 26 Stopwatch

The club has four stopwatches that can record up to 500 positions on, so great for timing races such as Croome or the Wild One. Once the race is finished, the timing data can be downloaded to a laptop via a USB cable and then incorporated into a spreadsheet with a list of the race numbers in order they finished.

It is advisable to use two watches per race. One used in case of any errors.

Recording the times

  1. Set to stopwatch mode (press Mode until it says Chrono in the top-left of the screen)
  2. Clear the previous data if not already clear (press Recall, then hold Start/Stop until it says ‘All Cleared’)
  3. Start the watches when the race starts (press the Start/Stop button in the top-right)
  4. As each finisher crosses the line, press the lap/split button (top-left button)
  5. When everyone has finished, stop the watch
  6. Press reset (top left button) to store that set of results (you could then repeat from step 3 on another race)

Downloading the results

  1. Ensure you’ve downloaded and installed the stopwatch drivers and save the stopwatch software somewhere like the desktop in advance (as you may not have Internet on the day)
  2. Plug the stopwatch into a laptop with the cable
  3. Press the Mode button until it says ‘Upload’. If upload says 0 press reset.
  4. Open the stopwatch software (by right-clicking the file and choosing ‘Run as Administrator’
  5. If an error appears, try unplugging the stopwatch, plugging it back in to a different USB port and wait a minute
  6. If it’s ok, the software should say ‘Opened COM Port’ in the bottom left
  7. Press the Start/Stop button on the stopwatch
  8. The software should show all the times
  9. Press Save to keep the data backed-up somewhere safe as a text file
  10. Unplug the stopwatch

Converting the time format – Method 1

  1. Copy all the lines that start with ‘Lap’, e.g. ‘Lap1’, ‘Lap2’, etc.
  2. Open the race results template in Excel
  3. Go to the ‘Stopwatch’ sheet at the bottom
  4. Select cell A6 and paste the copied data in
  5. The blank rows need to be removed, follow the instructions at the top of the spreadsheet (highlight Column A and press the following key combinations: Ctrl+G, Alt+S, K, Enter, Alt+H, D, R)
  6. Highlight all the times in column E and paste into the ‘Results’ sheet, starting in cell B2. Select paste values from the paste icon.
  7. Copy the formulae down in columns C-J to fill in the names, clubs, gender positions, etc. Don’t type anything in these columns.
  8. Save

Converting the time format – Method 2

  1. Save the stopwatch data formatter tool somewhere safe in advance (as you may not have Internet on the day)
  2. Copy all the information from the stopwatch data (either from the saved text file or the software window)
  3. Open the data formatter tool
  4. Paste the stopwatch data into the ‘Input’ box
  5. Press ‘Update’
  6. Copy the formatted times from the ‘Output’ box
  7. Paste into the ‘Results’ sheet of the race results template in Excel, starting in cell B2
  8. Copy the formulae down in columns C-J to fill in the names, clubs, gender positions, etc. Don’t type anything in these columns.
  9. Save