Turkey Trot DEVASTATION - Gun vs. Chip time?

From my experience, normally they award the top three positions based off gun time and the rest based off net time.

I've never heard of them awarding by chip time. The guy who won with chip time should be the one feeling like an idiot in 2nd place because he placed himself too far back in the pack for gun time. Sorry bud you should have complained right then and there.

first to the tape is the overall winner. Read the rules.

stil_kannonier wrote:

I've never heard of them awarding by chip time. The guy who won with chip time should be the one feeling like an idiot in 2nd place because he placed himself too far back in the pack for gun time. Sorry bud you should have complained right then and there.

There has been a few OTQs in the marathon awarded based off chip time if I remember right.

The race was not on Thanksgiving Day so it was not a Turkey Trot. The shame multiplies

I time races.

Top 3 overall M/F gun time. Age group awards are done by chip time. Standard protocol. Especially in larger races.

Stay@HomeDaddy wrote:

The race was not on Thanksgiving Day so it was not a Turkey Trot. The shame multiplies

This, right here.

Podium winners should always award off gun time to avoid situations where the first across the line is coasting the whole race but some idiot starts in the back and runs a flat out time trial for a 'chip time' win without having to 'race' anybody else.

That said, I've seen races where they placed podium finishes off chip times. At least one of those was a complete disaster because the timing company messed up and didn't reset the times to 0 when the gun went off. So one of the top 3 finishers registered a 5k time of 40 mins+ because he ran with his little kid in the 'fun run' before the 5k, and the other top 3 finishers registered a time several minutes slower than their actual time because they apparently set off the timing mat when they lined up at the start line.

I've typically seen races do one of the following:

- all prizes based on gun time, all other rankings on chip time

- all rankings on gun time, with chip time displayed in a second column only for informational purposes

In other words, at every race I've been to, you were the winner.

areusure? wrote:

stil_kannonier wrote:

I've never heard of them awarding by chip time. The guy who won with chip time should be the one feeling like an idiot in 2nd place because he placed himself too far back in the pack for gun time. Sorry bud you should have complained right then and there.

There has been a few OTQs in the marathon awarded based off chip time if I remember right.

No one's arguing that chip time isn't your actual time and thus can be used for qualifying to other races such as Boston or the trials. However, overall placement is always done by gun time, age group is usually chip time.

believe it or not, it appears to have been an error!

So they did the race on gun time - but the person they thought won appears to have been doing the 5k (which is 1 lap of the course, not 2 like the 10k) - and his previous results suggest his winning 10k time is actually his 5k time.

THE PLOT FOR TURKEY TROT GLORY THICKENS

or was it... THE PLOP OF TURKEY TROTS GRAVY STINKINGS! Congrats on the win.

gobbled glory wrote:

All - I shamed my family this past weekend in the local Turkey Trot 10k - after quite the battle with a few other runners, crossed the line in first place only to find out I was beat out by 10s by some guy who finished a few minutes later....I'm relatively new to running (and the feeling of deep devastation), but shouldn't overall placements in a race be based on gun time vs. chip time? My wife did not let me sleep at home so I want to make the case to her that I am, in fact, the local turkey trot champion.

-cold and confused.

There's time for redemption this THURSDAY. Lace up for a real trot. Saturday was a time trial.

Which race ? Beaten by 10 seconds by a guy who was several minutes back? That sounds suspicious. Where are our internet road racing sleuths on this one? Could a CHEATER have STOLEN VICTORY IN THE TURKEY TROT!??

RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE

Jerry Maguire wrote:

I time races.

Top 3 overall M/F gun time. Age group awards are done by chip time. Standard protocol. Especially in larger races.

I support this, except will extend it to beyond just top 3 overall are gun time. If a race pays prize money 10 deep all 10 will be based on gun time. Only secondary awards like age group awards will be chip time.

As a race timer, I can say that I hate doing any awards on chip time. If you get 99% reads at the start that means that some people do not have a chip start time. Unless you roll out a ton of timing gear, you are going to inevitably miss a few people.

How do you handle them? Are the start times even accurate enough if you do roll out 2, 3, or 4 rows of mats? You can use video to back up the finish and if there is a close finish you can go to that, but what about the start? Not to mention the fact that the core of our sport is based on people racing one another not a group time trial which is what you make it if you give out awards off chip time. I am a big fan of chip times to help people get their unofficial time and the bigger the race the more value it has. But I don't like to see the sport lose the core of competition any more than it already has where most races have about 2% of people who care about their time and the rest are just out there for the oversized finisher medal for that local 5K that is way overpriced.

thoroughrice wrote:

areusure? wrote:

There has been a few OTQs in the marathon awarded based off chip time if I remember right.

No one's arguing that chip time isn't your actual time and thus can be used for qualifying to other races such as Boston or the trials. However, overall placement is always done by gun time, age group is usually chip time.

Gun time for placing. Chip time for PRs and stuff.

That said if you didn't say gobble gobble mfer at the finish you should be DQed.

gobbled glory wrote:

believe it or not, it appears to have been an error!

So they did the race on gun time - but the person they thought won appears to have been doing the 5k (which is 1 lap of the course, not 2 like the 10k) - and his previous results suggest his winning 10k time is actually his 5k time.

THE PLOT FOR TURKEY TROT GLORY THICKENS

gobbled glory is a wonderful handle for this thread.

well done.

the bottom line is most road races have no set/documented rules on how they deal with much of anything.

most of the rules they might have are focused on income (example- you can not transfer your bib/entry to another runner, entry fees increase closer to the event)

nothing against cutting the course. Nothing preventing outside aid or assistance. What if you false start with a 5-10 second flyer? nothing will happen if a runner is Impeded.

At best, the RD might make up some policy afterwards if confronted with a complaint, but only if they want to.