When timing an event that is run in lanes, does everyone pick a lane and time that lane or pick a place and time for that?
When timing an event that is run in lanes, does everyone pick a lane and time that lane or pick a place and time for that?
It is certainly easier to time by lanes, but if you want more accurate results, you should time by places. Ideally, you have a picker paired with each timer.
If you have a timer (or a watch) that is slightly off, you will get an athlete who was behind potentially get placed ahead of an athlete who acutally finished ahead of them. If you have the correct places (but a time that is off) you can fudge the time to make it fit the places.
Timers are assigned by place and often assigned to another place as back up watch.
By lane if your timers are not experienced and by place if they are. The latter is both more accurate and more difficult.
You assign by place. If you assign by lane, someone will end up finishing higher than they are supposed to because the timer was wrong. If a place timer messes up, you notice (3rd place gets 11.0 and 4th 10.9!?) You can adjust.
If lane 3 got 11.0 and lane 4 10.9 and lane 3 finished before lane 4, how would you know?
Or, you can get an FAT system for $6,000.00 or so.