How we time the Head of the River Race
Times are recorded at Start and Finish, and at two mid-way points at Barnes and Hammersmith.
We use tablets at each of the timing stations, and no longer use stop watches or paper. Start and Finish crew numbers and times are recorded as four separate data streams. These are automatically e-mailed to our control centre as every tenth crew passes. Provisional results are produced and published to our web-site within a few minutes of each crew finishing.
We record four times at the start and finish to allow for cold fingers and the odd slip in concentration during the almost two hours of racing. At the centre the times are compared using a set of automated data quality checks and a spread sheet and then manually reconciled. They are finally crosschecked by a digital video interpretation of the finish. Final verified results are available a few hours after the race, as penalties need to be posted and careful attention is given to all crew times where any discrepancy has been detected between the recorded times. These results are available via the HoRR web site results section.
Technically – Android 10” tablets are used as recording devices and run a Java programme that displays a large numeric key-pad. Time is maintained by Internet Standard time, using the 3G network. A crew number is entered and when the DONE key is pressed, the crew number and time are captured on the tablet. Data transmission is by E-mail over 3/4G . An Excel spreadsheet is used at the centre, with the data being automatically downloaded and the load via macros in to designated columns. The spreadsheet then runs comparisons by crew and highlights discrepancies. A formula is used to obtain the best start and finish times, and to produce the race time for each crew: it then completes its job by deciding category winners before create a result json file and then this goes to the website.
So yes we still use ‘spotters’ and ‘callers’ and binoculars, but have now introduced ‘tableteers’ and ‘interpreters’ and ‘operators’ – they all contribute to what we believe to be an accurate timing system.