well, i was at the magazine rack today while my girlfriend was shopping and i picked up a copy of running times with bob kennedy on it. i can't remember- it was page 23 or 43, but everyone in the picture at world cross had these neon ankle bands on. are they some sort of a tracking device for timing? perhaps the africans want to be like britney spears? in all seriousness, does anyone know what those are?
They are tracking tags, and annoying as hell!! As you cross the line two people (normally two very large ladies) attack you to get them off, I mean you have just run 8k and these people are more worried about their tags. In all seriousness though, they allow for accurate timing and provide lap placings. If you look at the results on the IAAF website, they have where an individual was placing at the end of each of the laps.
why didn't they use chips?
No!
they don't atttack you at the finish line. After the finish of the race the team manager collects them from the athletes and he has to turn them in later on that evening. There is not time for runners to line up waiting for someone to take off those chips. as you know cross country finish comes in waves and it is an all out sprint to the finish line. look at the split and you will agree with me on that one
First of all i was...well over exaggerating the point, I thought that you would have noticed this. And in Dublin, they all but attacked you and the tags did not go through team management. AS for chips? Im not sure why they dont use them, any ideas??
but wrote:
why didn't they use chips?
They are using chips. I guess someone thought that it would be easier to put the chips on a velcro strap to put around your ankle than the old method of threading it through your shoelace. I guess it's much easier to get the chip at the finish this way. I've run with both, and never really noticed either.
I think the inportant question though is should we rely solely on chip results rather than having someone at the finish line to determine who is first in a close sprint. I'm sure it happens quite often these days that a runner who is ever so slightly behind another runner can be listed in front of him if he gets his chip leg across the line first (rather than his chest).
but wrote:
why didn't they use chips?
Two different technogies that have the same function -- like Betamax and VHS (ask your parents) or PC and Macintosh. They are not compatable.
how does one get their chip leg across before their chest while running? i just can't see that happening so often to worry about, especially with the obvious benefits of chip timing. and they tape the races just in case (or at least have at every race i've used the chip). i imagine you could ask for an "instant replay" tape review.
The IAAF has an agreement with Winning Time, an Italian company. Winning Time uses the same Texas Instruments' passive RFID transponder that ChampionChip uses. Winning Time uses a velcro strap instead of lacing to the shoe. Rumor has it, Winning Time's performance is inferior to ChampionChip, especially trying to get many reads in a short span of time (i.e., at the start and close finishes) for various reasons - antennas, software, etc.
Both of these systems are okay for timing the masses in a big road race or marathon, but they are notorious for "missing' finishers. Neither system was designed for place-sensitive events like cross country. Video and photo systems should still be used in high-level cross country events to verify close finishes.
What were they thinking with those baby blue mats?
I know that the close finish problem is helped somewhat by giving each runner two chips, one for each foot. This is what they do for DIII (and thus I would assume DII and DI) conference and regional meets.
With newer ChampionChip systems (manufactured after 2001) you can expect 100% reads for everyone in a road race. Of course at the finishline, a few runners (1 or 2 out of every 1000 finishers) might only be read by the backup system, which is the second set of mats you cross at the finishline. But between the main and back-up lines at a road race, these systems will read everyone. However, that accuracy is not acceptable for cross country.
When using a ChampionChip system to time a cross country race, each runner needs to have two chips - one on each foot. With two chips on for each runner, you can expect all athletes to be read on the primary system (first set of mats). If only one chip is used per runner in an XC race, the main line will most likely miss athletes - unfortunately there are some timers out there that allow this.
For cross country, a photofinish system needs to be used to verify all finishers. (in case of close finishes and in case an athlete does not remember to wear their chips) The use of both a chip system and FinishLynx is powerful and a very efficient way of timing cross country. But, let me emphasize that the entire race needs to be reviewed by the photofinish system. Since the chip data can be downloaded instantly, this process for 250-300 runners does not take long. Unfortunately, the NCAA D1 committee does not follow this procedure and that's why they've run into trouble at NCAA D1's.