Groups

Purpose

Set up award and category groups so 2Timer can calculate group placements and winner counts correctly.

When to Use This Page

Use Groups when:

• your meet gives awards by age bracket
• your meet uses overall plus age-group winners
• your scholastic workflow needs grouped result categories
• reports or awards need more than simple overall placing

Groups are most common in running and cross country, but the concept can also support other meet formats that need category-based winner lists.

Prerequisites

• A meet already exists.
• Athletes have age, gender, or other relevant profile data filled in consistently.
• You know how many awards each group should receive.

How Groups Work in 2Timer

A group tells 2Timer:

• the category name to display
• whether the category behaves like an age-style range or a broader band
• which gender it applies to, if any
• which division it applies to, when the meet has multiple divisions
• the age range, when applicable
• how many award winners to take from that group
• the display sequence

2Timer then uses athlete data and the event division to match eligible athletes into those groups for results and awards output. Groups marked meet-wide apply to every division. Division-specific groups apply only to events assigned to that division and take priority over matching meet-wide groups.

The Groups Page

Open Groups from the meet navigation.

Use this page to:

• add groups one at a time
• quick-add simple groups
• auto-create a common set of overall, masters, and age-band groups
• create meet-wide groups or, when the meet has multiple divisions, groups for one division
• edit group names and abbreviations inline
• filter groups by name, division, gender, and type
• change min and max ages
• change award counts
• reorder groups by sequence
• delete selected groups in bulk

Group Fields

Name

The full display label, such as Women 40-44 or Men Overall.

Short name

A compact label used where space is tighter.

Behavior

Common behavior types include:

• Age: a category tied closely to age-style grouping
• Band: a broader category such as Overall, Masters, or another nonstandard bucket

Gender

Use gender-specific groups when awards should be separated. Leave the group more open only when that matches the meet rules.

Division

Use Meet-wide when the same award groups apply to every race or event division.

When a meet has multiple divisions, you can assign a group to one division. Use this for concurrent races or event divisions with different award structures, such as a 5K and 1 Mile that start together but use different age ranges. If both a division-specific group and a meet-wide group match an athlete, 2Timer uses the division-specific group first.

Min age / max age

Use these when the group is age-based or otherwise needs a defined age range.

Award count

How many winners the group should produce in award-oriented reports.

Sequence

Controls display order in reports and group listings.

Common Workflows

Quick add a single group

1. Open Groups.
2. Click Quick Add.
3. Enter the name and optional short name.
4. Choose the behavior and gender.
5. Set the award count.
6. Save.

Use quick add when you only need a few simple categories and do not need to fill every field up front.

Add a detailed group

1. Open Groups.
2. Click New Group.
3. Enter the name, short name, behavior, gender, min age, max age, and award count.
4. If the meet has multiple divisions and this group should apply to only one division, choose that division. Otherwise leave it meet-wide.
5. Save.

Use this when you need precise age ranges or more explicit setup than the quick-add drawer provides.

Auto-create a standard range set

1. Open Groups.
2. Click Macros and choose Create Standard Groups. If there are no groups yet, you can also use the empty-state button.
3. If the meet has multiple divisions and you want the generated groups to apply to one division, choose that division. Otherwise leave them meet-wide.
4. Choose the standard range style, such as 5-year or 10-year.
5. Choose whether to include overall and masters groups.
6. Choose the award counts and genders to generate.
7. Confirm the creation.

This is the fastest way to create a common road-race awards structure.

Run the wizard again for another division when different races in the same meet need different award ranges.

Recommended Setup Patterns

Overall plus age groups

Common pattern:

• overall men
• overall women
• age groups below that

This works well when overall winners should not be buried only inside age brackets.

Masters plus age groups

Common pattern:

• overall
• masters
• 5-year or 10-year age bands

Use this when your race rules call out masters awards separately.

Common Mistakes

• creating age groups before athlete ages are available
• creating one meet-wide group set when different divisions need different ranges
• mixing inconsistent gender rules across otherwise similar groups
• forgetting to set award counts
• overlapping age ranges that make the awards intent unclear
• using inconsistent sequence values so the reports appear in the wrong order

Common Problems

Verification Checklist

• Group names match the published meet rules.
• Division-specific groups are assigned to the intended division, and shared groups are meet-wide.
• Age ranges have no unintended gaps or overlaps.
• Award counts match the awards plan.
• Athlete ages and genders are populated where needed.
• Test reports show the expected group ordering and winner counts.

Related Pages

• Meet Setup
• Importing Data
• Athletes and Entries
• Results and Reports
• Cross Country Scoring
• Concepts and Workflow Reference

Metadata

• Last Updated: 2026-05-07
• Version: 0.2
• Status: Active