Comments on: 47:52 or 50:00 Minutes?

By: kingofpots

kingofpots — Thu, 01 May 2008 23:13:23 +0000

taki, the truth is that the race organizers are still using the 1980s technology where a person “pushes a button” as a runner crosses the finish line and that button is connected to a small “calculator-type” thing w/ a printer. what is being printed is the sequence of runners passing the finish line from #1 to the last runner with the time registered. as a runner passes the finish line & while walking along the chute, another guy would get that detachable strip from your race bib where there is a hole on it in its corner. the guy will place the strip on a stick (ala barbecue) and the strip at the bottom would be from the guy who finished the race first and the strip on the top would be from the last runner. somebody would now collate the printed sequence of runner with time and the strips where your race number is indicated. as compared with other races abroad, our technology is already “very primitive”. RFID (timing/racing chips) technology, which had been used by racing cars/Formula 1 for the past 20 years or so, is now being used by runners abroad for the past 10 years. as for now, better trust your own chrono digital wrist watch in our road races.

By: takicutie

takicutie — Thu, 01 May 2008 01:41:34 +0000

too bad i wasn’t able to join this race event. Based on experience, the official time will be seconds slower, or even like this one, a minute or two slower than your actual time. This is maybe because its hard to keep track the mix of all the runners reaching the finish line (5K and 10K), and so writing down the time is delayed.

In my case, I normally trust the time of my own watch. I just wait for the race results to just compare my standing with other runners.

By: kingofpots

kingofpots — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 12:58:42 +0000

mark, it is about time that race organizers should raise the level of running here. we are still primitive as compared from our ASEAN neighbors.

patrick, the timing technology that we have are still the same that we had in the 80s. i still depend on my GF 305 for my finish time & i am very positive that it has a very accurate time.

noel, the race organizers admitted that they had some problem with their timimg device. stick to the readings on your digital wristwatch.

cecil, i know, you are getting stronger and faster. i guess, you have some sort of a “secret practice” in the mountains! see you at Runnex!

qs, i’ll stick with the readings on my GF 305. anyway, i was able to improve my time. congrats on your big sur marathon and nice pictures, too! hope to see you during your visit here.

By: quicksilverrunner

quicksilverrunner — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 07:19:53 +0000

Hi King,

I would complain too if that happened to me. In shorter races, seconds can mean a lot. You actually lost minutes!

Not that timing chips are infallible. I just ran Big Sur and found that their timing chip (at least the one I was wearing) failed. So I got wall time, a nice 1 minute 10 seconds added to my actual time. True time accurately recorded by the 305 of course. I scanned the results, and a lot of runners did get wall time just like me. Oh well. SFM on the other hand got the timing chip thing down to a science.

I hope the race organizers will do better next time. From your description, it sounds like a race everyone should run.

Quicksilver

By: miraclecello

miraclecello — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 05:32:37 +0000

I think I was running near or beside Col. Miano (or somebody who looks like his picture here — with glasses, grey singlet?) for most of the last half of the race and there was an added time as well of more than a minute between my stopwatch and my official time. But Mr. Biscocho said I should be happy because not many people my age can do that pace, so that’s fine with me as well

By: noelmiano

noelmiano — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 04:24:18 +0000

same here. digital timer showed 52:24, but my official time was recorded as 53:41. anyways, it’s a new PR for me.

see you at runnex run this sunday!

By: runningshield

runningshield — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 03:12:37 +0000

BR
I came in 49.45 in my GF 205
rudy B. phoned me the day after the race and he said there was a problem with the timing system. i think there file crashed or did not record accurately. thats the reaso for discrepancy. if i am not mistaken they had to phone several runners to ask there time so they can average it. for your info

By: markfb

markfb — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 01:02:34 +0000

My time is 46:21… nah! Br, imposible lalo na yung time mo. I saw you cross and its definitely not 50:00 flat.

By: markfb

markfb — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 01:00:33 +0000

We really need a timing chip system in place. Its really not that expensive. For those who want to discuss this, I have a friend (IT) who’s interested to work with race organizers. RFIDs are used in retail outlets and in supermarkets overseas. The price previously mentioned in other forums are just way too high IMHO.