Transponder' Timing in Road Races

USA Track and Field Rule 36 "Timing" permits the use of approved transponder timing systems in road races.

When the runner passes the starting line, an antenna embedded in a mat captures each transponder's unique ID code and sends it to a central computer. When the runner crosses the finish line, another antenna captures the ID code and the computer instantly calculates the runner's time to within one-tenth of a second.

Since ChampionChip provides completely individualized timing, all runners, even those many minutes and thousands of people back from the starting line, can be provided with the time they actually took to complete the race. Race results can be posted on the Internet within seconds of verification, thus enhancing audience involvement by bringing one of the oldest forms of athletic competition into the information age. By placing additional antennas at intervals throughout a course, the system can also provide instant split times and the identity of runners who fail to pass through each check point. Finally, it does away with the scoring and timing errors inherent in the standard practice of placing runners in chutes while reducing the number of race volunteers.

Since 1995, Winning Time SpA has been used sucessfully in timing Road Races, Triathlons, Cycling, Mountain Biking and Cross Country Skiing events throughout Europe.

Winning Time USA was established in 1997. Now a major presence in the United States, Winning Time USA is guided by veteran race director Creigh Kelley.

Winning Time provides timing services for more than 1000 events worldwide, including the prestigious Giro d'Italia pro cycling stage race, the Cross Country World Championships, numerous Races for the Cure and Avon Running events, and hundreds of others.

After extensive comparison tests, Winning Time was chosen by SEIKO and the IAAF as the official chip timing partner of the Marathons and Race Walks at the IAAF World Championships of Athletics in Seville in 1999 and in Edmonton in 2001.

Winning Time USA has adapted the industry standard -- TIRIS radio frequency identification (RFID) technology -- and developed an improved operating system that is mobile, convenient, fast, and accurate. Winning Time's lightweight, easy to handle antennae and self-powered controller boxes read all types of TIRIS chips and efficiently serve data -- in real time -- into all types of event scoring software.

For more information, contact:

Julia Vitarello
Winning Time USA
(303) 818-4291

Since then, AMB has developed the highly accurate timing systems used by professional motorsports customers, such as, NASCAR, IRL, Champ Car, AMA, MotoGP.Nearly 13,000 AMB transponder timing systems are in use around the world timing an estimated 300,000 events annually.

AMB was asked to develop its first non-motorized sports timing system for the UCI World Championship Road Cycling in 1993. In 1996, this system was used for all Cycling and Velodrome events at the Atlanta Olympic Games. A few years later AMB was asked to develop another system, this time for the Biathlon and XC skiing events at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.

Most recently, AMB Transponders were used at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games for the Marathon, Race Walking, Triathlon and Cycling events.

AMB's Activ Transponder system differs vastly from typical radio frequency (RFID) timing systems in both performance and function. Using interference-resistant magnetic induction, the Activ system is capable of handling up to 80 transponder detections per second on a course width of 36ft (12m). Since the Activ system is portable and easy to set-up (each 12m-wide detection point fits in a small Pelican case), preparing the entire system for an event is a one or two person job.

The Activ system has been designed to provide accurate results to 1/100th of a second and a 100% capture rate without the need for redundant back-up points. The Activ system's affordable detection points now bring the reality of split points every 1km. Web: www.amb-it.com E-Mail: info@amb-us.com

The new Rule (Rule 36 paragraph 4 1997 USATF competition Rules) includes the following requirements:

• the system requires no action by the runner during the competition, at the finish line or during any finish line or results related system or process
  
• the resoloution is 0.1 seconds (i.e. it can separate runners finishing 0.1 seconds apart)
  
• the weight of the transponder and its housing carried on the runners' uniform, race number or shoe is not significant
  
• none of the equipment used at the start, along the course or at the finish line constitutes a signiificant obstacle or barrier to the progress of the runner
  
• the system, including the implementation of its components and its technical specifications, is approved by the finish line sub committee of the Road Running Technical Council.(see below)
  
• the system is started in accordance with Rule 135.2 (official timing begins with the start signal or when the first runner crosses the start line, which ever happens first).
  
• the determination of the official time shall be carried in accordance with the requirements of Rule 37 and times for other competitors will be adjusted based on the official winning time.

The chairperson of The Road Running Technical Council has implemented the following procedure for approving individual systems.

"A system operator or producer will submit to The Road Running Information Center, results from three races, along with a listing of select times. The results submitted must indicate that the system captured codes successfully during periods when the rate of runners crossing the finish line is comparable with what occurs across high density finish lines. A reasonable match between select times and transponder times will indicate that the system and its operators are capable of performing appropriately."

The ChampionChip timing system has its origins in Nijmegen, The Netherlands. The company was founded in March 1994, after Dutch race officials teamed up with TIRIS and the German sports timing group, Sports Team, to create a transponder-based timing system. The technology was introduced successfully at the 1994 Berlin Marathon.