Markers and Reads

Purpose

Understand timing points (markers), configure read windows, and manage the raw read log to ensure every finish is captured accurately.

Prerequisites

• A meet with at least one event created.
• Timing hardware or a connector configured (reads must come from somewhere).
• Basic familiarity with how chip timing hardware produces reads.

What Is a Marker?

A marker is a named timing point at a specific location on the course. Every incoming read is matched against markers to determine which event, and which timing purpose (start, finish, split), the read belongs to.

Each marker has:

• Name and short name — Displayed in the UI and reports.
• Type — Start, Finish, or Split.
• Event — The event this marker belongs to.
• Read window — The earliest and latest valid time (relative to the gun) for a read to be accepted at this marker.
• Order — Sequence within the event, used for split display.

Creating Markers

Go to Markers in the meet navigation and click New Marker.

Minimum configuration for a chip-timed road race:

1. Start marker (Type: Start, assigned to your event)

   • Read window: 0 to a few seconds (captures the gun pulse)

2. Finish marker (Type: Finish, assigned to your event)

   • Earliest valid time: the fastest plausible finish (e.g. 10 minutes for a 5K)
   • Latest valid time: the slowest expected finisher (e.g. 2 hours for a 5K walk event)

Splits

Add Split markers for intermediate timing points (e.g., a halfway split on a 10K). Name splits clearly to identify which km or mile they represent.

Split times are recorded per entry and appear in detailed result reports.

Multi-event meets

Create separate start and finish markers for each event. Assign each marker to the correct event — reads will only match the event registered on the marker.

Read Windows in Depth

The read window defines the earliest and latest valid time for a read, measured from the moment the event gun fires.

A read landing outside this window is not discarded — it is flagged with an error status (Early Read or Late Read) and kept for manual review. You can widen the window and re-process, or manually apply the read.

Setting Good Window Values

Set the window to cover your full expected field, not just the leaders. Error on the side of wider.

Tight windows are the most common cause of missed finishers.

How Reads Flow

The raw read lifecycle:

1. A timing device detects a chip and writes a record (to a file, TCP stream, etc.).
2. The active connector picks up the record and creates a read in 2Timer.
3. 2Timer matches the read against active markers using the chip ID (looked up against your chip assignments to find the bib number) and the receive time vs. each marker’s read window.
4. If a valid match is found, the read is marked Used and the corresponding entry is updated with the time.
5. If no valid match is found, the read is flagged with one of the error statuses below.

Read Status Reference

The Reads Page

Go to Reads in the meet navigation to see all incoming reads for the meet.

You can:

• Filter by marker, athlete, connector, or status.
• Sort by receive time or bib.
• Change the status of any read manually (e.g., mark as Manual Ignore for a clear stray read).
• View the raw line received from the timing device for debugging.

Reading the Reads Dashboard

The meet dashboard shows a read volume bar chart broken down by status. A healthy race in progress shows mostly Used and Pending reads. A spike in No Bib or Early Read usually indicates a configuration issue.

Review Finish Order (Chute-Timed Races)

When a timer such as a Time Machine sends official finish times without bibs, use Reads → Review finish order to turn a received race into results without selecting rows by hand. For corrections, reopen the same workflow from Entries → Tools → Review Finish Order…. The screen lists every timer race with finish evidence and recommends the one that still needs attention:

1. Confirm the race. Each race shows how many official times and checkpoints were received.
2. Confirm where the results go. When the timer’s race number matches a meet event, that event is already chosen. If the timer was restarted mid-meet and its race number matches nothing, pick the event the times belong to.
3. Review and apply the official times. Held times — for example, when the race start record never arrived — flow through the same preview as pasted times.
4. Apply the finish-order bibs. Enter or upload the complete bib order to identify the finishers.

The bib step remains available when the official times were already applied and did not change, so the same path handles a missed or transposed bib later.

While entering bibs, the wizard shows the timer’s checkpoint records (Time Machine Select presses) interleaved between the official finishes. Checkpoints are read-only landmarks that help you verify a long chute in smaller batches; a repeated checkpoint bib is flagged so you can double-check that stretch. Checkpoints never become scored times and never assign bibs.

To correct a missed time or bib later, reopen the matching wizard and reapply the corrected complete order — times keep their places when bibs are corrected, and bibs keep their athletes when times are corrected.

This workflow is for chute-timed races. Track events match results by seeded heat and lane; use Reprocess reads after corrections instead.

Manual Finish Entries

If a chip read is missing for a finisher (chip fell off, reader missed them), enter the finish time manually:

1. Go to Entries or find the athlete in Results.
2. Open the entry editor.
3. Enter the gun time and/or chip time.
4. Enable Override — this prevents automated processing from overwriting the manual time.
5. Set the athlete’s status to Finished (or the appropriate outcome).

Multiple Laps and Mat Bounce

If your course passes the same mat multiple times (e.g., a multi-lap race with a combined start/finish mat), the read window prevents premature lap-1 reads from being applied as the final finish. Set the earliest valid finish time high enough that lap-1 reads fall below the floor.

For split-lap recording, configure a Split marker with an appropriate window for each lap point.

Verification Checklist

• Each event has exactly one Start marker and one Finish marker.
• Read windows are wide enough for the full expected field, not just the leaders.
• Connector locations are assigned to the correct markers.
• Test reads land as Used in the correct event.
• No No Bib errors from test chips (chip assignments verified).
• No No Marker errors from test reads (connector → marker assignment verified).

Related Pages

• Getting Started
• Connectors
• Timing Workflow
• Concepts and Workflow Reference

Metadata

• Last Updated: 2026-08-11
• Document Version: 0.2
• Status: Active