RaceClocker News #17
Easy manual sports timing
👋 Hello and welcome to our intermittently appearing newsletter with news, events, updates and other information about our race timing app. #happytiming
We’re moving…
We’re about to move the RaceClocker back-end to Amazon Web Services. For our users this will provide improved speed, quality and reliability. And for ourselves this means yet another big step towards a more robust infrastructure. The biggest benefit is that we can now better scale dynamically to peak demand, or provide better and more consistent global performance with servers at additional worldwide locations.
Please take note that we’re planning to be offline for a few hours on March 26 in the morning (CET) to take all the required steps for this migration.
Start list notes ✏️
We’ve recently shipped a new feature to include short notes in the start list (the blue lines in the list below). Such notes are useful to include messages for both participants as well as for timekeepers - as they help to segment and provide better overview of large start lists.
Start list notes can be included anywhere in a flat, non-grouped start list. In a grouped view, like in a wave start race or when a start list is grouped by categories, notes can be included on top of, or in between groups. The entry point to add list notes can be found in the start list editor, via a menu on each row. More info about start list notes is here.
Share your start list
Just like results, also the start list can now be shared with your audience via a public link. Click the 'Share' menu in the start list editor and a public link to the start list is created and copied to your clipboard. The public (short) URL of a startlist is identical to the results link, just with the word ‘startlist’ appended to the link. For example: raceclocker.com/02473be5-startlist
Include (much) more race participant information
When importing a start list from an external file (Excel or csv) or via copy / paste from a registration web site, additional information that doesn't fit any of the default RaceClocker fields can now be imported as 'extra info'. As many columns as you need can be mapped to this new field and the summarised data is accessible via a link on the participants name in the start list and in the results. An example is in the start list example above. More detailes on how to import this extra info is here.
Custom field
As a final improvement to putting a start list together, the list now supports a custom field that can be renamed by the race director. This will enable more sport specific information to include in the start list, like a custom subcategory, a boat name, a horse name, or something else that is specific to the sport type and helps identifying participants.
And a few more smaller improvements…
The two-step timer mode can now mark time stamps via the keyboard using the space bar on a laptop. This enables the timekeeper to keep their eyes on the race participant at the crossing line and make a more precise time stamp. Keyboard timing is also enabled in the keypad timer - for both lap marking as well as finish line marking.
In order to make pasting table data in the start list importer better discoverable, the right-click (or context) menu on the import box now includes a ‘Paste’ command.
When the race jury assigns a penalty, like a time penalty or a DQ, then a short jury note can be included to communicate the reason for the decision. This note can be added via the Dashboard and is published in the results as a tooltip on the penalty itself.
Tooltip with message on the penalty column
#happytiming #raceclocker
