Want to time multiple athletes and workouts at once? Three running "startups" are trying to revolutionize the stopwatch

LetsRun.com wrote:

Jonathan Gault takes a look at the men behind three different timing apps that have recently been released - Elite Stopwatch, Synchro Stopwatch, and Trackster.

http://www.letsrun.com/news/2018/07/willamette-valley-meets-silicon-valley-three-running-startups-trying-revolutionize-stopwatch/

I still don't understand how the app works or how its stopwatch is any different than a regular stopwatch

Press the iPhone’s volume down button to start the stopwatch. Press volume up to record a split; do this for as many athletes as you want, and when the final athlete has finished, press volume down to end the rep. Repeat as necessary for as many reps as the workout requires.

Every split from every workout can be assigned to a specific athlete (as long as they’re on the app as well), which means that an athlete can view his entire workout on the app by the time he’s finished his cooldown.

So if you've got 7 guys doing 1k reps, this app would give you times like 2:55, 2:56, 2:59, 3:02, 3:05, 3:07, 3:10. A normal stopwatch gives you splits of 2:55, 0:01, 0:03, 0:03, 0:03, 0:02, 0:03. And the app lets you save athletes and share the data with them, so after the rep you just have to put the order the runners finished in and all the splits are properly assigned to the correct person, logged and shared.

i would expect most serious runners to be using GPS/smart watches now, anyway. And my old college coach had an app that recorded splits all the way back in 2014. hopefully none of these guys sink too much money into their smart phone stopwatches.

i didnt read this - but each runner should have a watch blue toothed to the coaches phone/connected to the app so the splits are assigned to the athlete instantly upon the runner "hitting" the watch as s/he cross whatever line needed

but i didnt this so maybe thats what it is

if not, gimme monies

This is a great app that many Maine coaches have been using for the last several years. It can handle lots of athletes for races or workouts.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/running-coachs-clipboard/id384927992?mt=8

Shouldn't there be a SPONSORED tag on this thread and "article?"

I’ve often wished I had an RFID system for group workouts. They exist but are expensive. These guys had a good idea originally: set up iPhone/iPad on tripod and use some recognition software to identify athletes and assign splits. I would pay for that app.

Not sure the benefit of the app in this current iteration. Even if the watch helps you record all the splits, it doesn’t assign them to the corresponding athlete.

Afghan wrote:

I’ve often wished I had an RFID system for group workouts. They exist but are expensive. These guys had a good idea originally: set up iPhone/iPad on tripod and use some recognition software to identify athletes and assign splits. I would pay for that app.

Not sure the benefit of the app in this current iteration. Even if the watch helps you record all the splits, it doesn’t assign them to the corresponding athlete.

Yeah, it's too bad they gave up on the RFID and face recognition ideas. Those would be more interesting than just a complicated stopwatch

y tho wrote:

i would expect most serious runners to be using GPS/smart watches now, anyway. And my old college coach had an app that recorded splits all the way back in 2014. hopefully none of these guys sink too much money into their smart phone stopwatches.

From 2009-2014 I think I had one teammate that had a GPS watch in that entire timespan. For the most part, all of my high school and college teammates wore Timex Ironman watches. I got a GPS watch when I started working because I a) had the money for the first time in my life and b) didn't have the time to go on gmaps-pedometer after every run and having a Garmin meant my running log got auto updated.

I think the watches are much better quality and much more affordable now than they were a few years ago. Also if I want to make sure I get splits on a track workout I will wear my Garmin and my traditional watch at the same time because I still haven't fully figured out the split function on my Garmin and will accidentally just stop my watch instead of splitting.

I downloaded all three (paid the $1.99 for Elite SW) to give a quick test. Not affiliated with any of the three systems, but wanted to satisfy my strange affinity for stopwatches... My impressions:

Trackster Stopwatch: Biggest complaint here was that it didn't have an easy "stop" function that I'm used to. Stopping the workout automatically triggered a "start" of a rest interval. There is no "stop" button, and resetting the timer requires shaking the phone, rather than pressing a button. I'm too ingrained to be able to easily start, stop, lap, and reset using the control buttons, which I wasn't able to do.

Synchro: OK. Seems to have the ability to start groups of stopwatches together, which is nice. I didn't 'upgrade' so there is a permanent ad stuck in the middle of the main screen, and you are limited to 2 stopwatches. Since I was happy with the Elite SW, I didn't feel the need to upgrade Synchro to see if I liked the upgraded version. The interface is OK, but not super appealing.

Elite SW: I liked this the best. Had to pay the $1.99, but I think it was worth it. Clean interface, and I can start, stop, lap, and reset all while using the volume buttons. I like the nested timers within different groups- it looks like you can time lots of different things ongoing at the same time and label or color-code them. My only concern is that a few times, while swiping back to the main group screen, the whole app crashed, and I lost the running timer. Not sure if this was the fault of my phone, or the app, but could be disastrous if using the timer as an 'official' timing system.

Which brings me to my next point- it seems like one could use these systems to replace the old chronomix-style race timing with one small addition- the ability to type in a bib # or lane # in advance of clicking the button (like on the old chronomix timing systems used to be able to do). Should be able to then export the data like some of these apps do. While the market for this type of timing system is rapidly going away with chip technology, I would find the feature useful for timing low-key track meets, where bib #'s could be easily associated with finish times.