Are time chips in races reliable

Timing chips are very unreliable... missed splits are very common as well as large discrepancies like you describe. You just never can tell who will beat you from behind!

She might have signed up with other family members/friends and they got their chips mixed up. It's possible someone else accidentally wore her chip and thus gave her an artificially fast time. Of course, its also possible that the chip malfunctioned, but I have never seen a 5 minute discrepancy in a 5k.

I'm pretty sure the NFHSAA says that in high school xc races it goes by chip time, not chest, at the finish line. Which is bs. Especially when you only have a chip on one foot and beat the kid next to you but he had his on his front foot that went over before your back foot.

Pretty simple, you're a guy.

Thus, while you may be in the same age group, you are different genders.

I think the Kip Litton thread is proof that timing chips are horribly inaccurate.