Markers and Reads

Markers are the timing points on a chip-timed course: the start mat, the finish mat, and any split mats. Reads are the times your timing system sends to 2Timer. This page covers setting up markers and their read windows, what the Reads page shows, and what each read status means and how to fix it.

Markers are for road races and cross country. Track and field meets have no Markers page, because FinishLynx results are matched to entries by heat and lane.

What a marker is

A marker is one timing point for one event. Its Behavior says what a read there means:

Start: when this runner crossed the start mat. It sets the runner’s own start, used for net (chip) time. It never records the race’s gun.
Finish: the runner’s finish. The earliest valid finish read sets the finish time.
Split: a time on the way, such as the 5K mark of a 10K. The runner’s earliest read at each Split marker is their split there, measured from their start.

Each marker also has a Name, an optional Abbreviation, a Sequence (its order on the Markers page), the Event it belongs to, and a read window, Min Time and Max Time, measured from the race’s start.

In a combined race (a super-event where boys and girls run together), markers belong to the combined race, not to each division’s event.

Markers 2Timer creates for a new meet

You usually don’t create markers by hand:

Road race: the new-meet wizard creates a Start marker and a Finish marker for every race.
Cross country: the wizard creates a Finish marker for every race. Add a Start marker only if you have a start mat and want net times.
Markers page with no markers yet: Add start and finish markers creates both for every event.

A created Start marker accepts reads from the gun to 3:00 after the runner’s wave goes. A created Finish marker’s window comes from the race distance: no faster than 6.7 meters per second and no slower than 1.1 meters per second. For a 5K that is 12:26 to 1:15:45. Check these on the Markers page and widen them if your field is unusual, such as a walk division.

Add or edit a marker

Open Markers in the meet navigation.
For a quick one, press Quick Add, fill in Sequence, Name, Abbreviation, Behavior, and Event, and press Add Marker. For the full form, including Min Time and Max Time, press New Marker.
To change a marker, open it from the list, edit it, and save.

Saving a marker doesn’t recheck reads that already arrived. After changing a window or a marker’s event, open Reads and press Reprocess reads.

Do I need a start mat (Start marker)?

No. A Start marker is optional:

Without one, every runner starts at the race’s gun, plus their wave’s delay if they are in a wave.
With one, each runner’s crossing of the start mat becomes their own start, so their net time (chip time) is measured from when they crossed.

2Timer counts a race as having a start mat once a timing connection’s Read Routing sends a reader to its Start marker, even before the first read. A runner the mat missed counts from their wave’s start, and the race’s Entries screen lists them under No start read so you can type a Started At from a backup mat or the video.

A start mat read never records the gun. Record the gun with the Gun control on Entries (see Timing Workflow).

A created Start marker accepts a runner’s start read up to 3:00 after their own wave goes. A runner in a wave that leaves 3:00 after the gun has until 6:00; with no waves, everyone has until 3:00. In a big road race where the back of a wave takes longer than that to cross, raise the Start marker’s Max Time, or those runners’ start reads show Late Read.

If one mat is both your start and your finish, a read that lands while the runner’s Start window is still open counts as their start, even if it also fits the finish window.

Read windows: Min Time and Max Time

A marker’s read window is the time range, measured from the race’s start, in which a read at that marker counts. A Start marker’s Max Time is counted from the runner’s own wave start instead:

A read earlier than Min Time is kept as Early Read and isn’t used.
A read later than Max Time is kept as Late Read and isn’t used.
A read before the race has started is kept as Before Start.

The race’s start is its recorded gun, or its scheduled start time if no gun has been recorded yet.

Read windows apply to chip timing systems (ONETIME, IPICO, MYLAPS, ChronoTrack, Trident, Feibot, Generic RFID). FinishLynx and Time Machine send finished race times, so windows don’t apply to them.

Set the finish window to cover your whole field, not just the leaders. A Min Time that is too high or a Max Time that is too low is the most common reason real finishers go missing.

A real finisher shows Early Read or Late Read

The finish read arrived outside the Finish marker’s window. Example: Maya Lopez walked the 5K in 1:18:02, but the Finish marker’s Max Time is 1:15:45.

Open Markers and open the race’s Finish marker.
Lower Min Time (for Early Read) or raise Max Time (for Late Read) so the real finish fits, and save.
Open Reads and press Reprocess reads. The read is checked again and becomes Used.

If the early read was a real crossing that isn’t a finish, such as a runner passing the finish mat on lap one, leave the window alone. The read stays as Early Read and does no harm.

A course that passes the finish mat more than once (laps)

When runners cross the same mat before they finish, for example on a two-lap course with a combined start/finish mat:

Set the Finish marker’s Min Time above the fastest first-lap crossing, so first-lap reads are kept as Early Read and never become finishes.
To record a time for a pass, add a Split marker for it with a window around that pass. A Split marker records one pass per runner, not a count of laps.

How a chip read becomes a result

Your timing system sends a read: a chip ID, a time of day, and which reader or mat saw it.
The connection’s Read Routing rules send the read to a marker, by reader ID. A read with no matching rule shows No Marker.
2Timer looks up the chip on Chips to find its bib. A chip with no bib shows No Bib. Systems that send bib numbers themselves skip this step.
The bib finds the runner’s entry in that marker’s race. If no athlete has that bib yet, 2Timer records the result on the bib alone, and it shows up without a name until an athlete is given that bib.
The read time is checked against the marker’s window.
The earliest valid finish read becomes the runner’s finish and shows Used. Later reads at the same marker show Superseded.

Read statuses: what each one means

These are the statuses you see on the Reads page.

Status	What it means	What to do
Used	The read set a start, finish, or split for an entry.	Nothing.
Superseded	Another read was used for the same runner at the same marker, usually an earlier crossing.	Nothing. This is how repeat crossings are handled.
Pending	Saved, but not used for a result. Most often the runner’s entry has Override checked on its place.	Check the entry. With Override checked, reads never change that entry’s result.
Before Start	The read came before the race’s start: the recorded gun, or the scheduled time if there is none.	Expected for test reads. If the race really had started, record or correct its gun.
Early Read	Earlier than the marker’s Min Time.	Lower Min Time if the finish was real, then Reprocess reads.
Late Read	Later than the marker’s Max Time.	Raise Max Time if the finish was real, then Reprocess reads.
No Bib	The chip has no bib on Chips, and the read didn’t carry a bib.	Assign Bib on the read’s row, or add the chip on Chips.
No Marker	No Read Routing rule sent the read to a marker.	Add a Read Routing rule for that reader, then Reprocess reads.
No Sub-Event	A read in a combined race couldn’t be sent to a division, for example a read with no bib.	Fix the bib, or check that the runner’s gender matches one of the combined race’s divisions.
Contradicts Status	A finish read for a runner marked DNF, DNS, SCR, or FS, or a split read for one marked FS. It isn’t put on the entry: those statuses keep no time, and a false start keeps no splits.	If the runner did finish, set the entry back to Entered or Finished, then Reprocess reads.
Manual Ignore	You chose Ignore for this read.	Select it and choose Unignore to use it again.

Results imported from FinishLynx, FieldLynx, or Time Machine can also be held for you to review, with the statuses Import Needs Review, Identity Conflict, No Match, Event Mismatch, or Event Structure Required. The Entries page’s Import Review box leads to them.

A read shows No Bib

The read’s chip isn’t on the Chips page with a bib, so 2Timer can’t tell whose it is.

On Reads, find the read and press Assign Bib in its row.
Enter the bib number and press Assign Bib. This adds the chip on Chips.

Every read from that chip, before and after, is linked to the bib and results are recalculated. For many chips at once, load the chip file on Chips (see Chips).

A read shows No Marker

The connection received the read but none of its Read Routing rules matched the reader or mat that sent it, so 2Timer doesn’t know whether it was a start, a finish, or a split.

Open Connections and edit the timing connection.
Under Read Routing, press Add rule. Pick the Marker and enter the reader’s ID under Reader IDs (Point Names for ChronoTrack). Leave the rule Active.
Save, then open Reads and press Reprocess reads.

ONETIME has no reader IDs. Its Where reads go section sends chip reads to each race’s finish line and tells races apart by when each one started. If it says “This meet has no finish line yet”, press Add start and finish markers there.

Reprocess reads offers Keep existing marker assignments, which still routes reads that have no marker yet, or Reassign markers using current routing rules, which routes every read again.

A test read shows Before Start

That’s expected. A read made before the race starts is kept as Before Start and never becomes a result. You can still see on the Reads page which marker and bib it landed on, and that’s what a test proves.

The race’s start is its recorded gun. Until a gun is recorded, it is the race’s scheduled start time. A test made after the scheduled time, on a race whose gun isn’t recorded yet, is timed from the scheduled time, and usually shows Early Read instead.

FinishLynx, FieldLynx, or Time Machine results held for review

Imported results aren’t applied when 2Timer can’t safely tell which entry they belong to. For example, a long jump result from FieldLynx might name an athlete whose bib belongs to someone else. The result is held with one of these statuses:

Status	What it means
Import Needs Review	Needs a decision before it is applied.
Identity Conflict	The result’s name, bib, team, or entry point to different people.
No Match	The result doesn’t match exactly one entry.
Event Mismatch	The result seems to belong to a different event.
Event Structure Required	The event’s rounds or heats need fixing before the result can land.

To decide a held FinishLynx or FieldLynx result:

On Entries, select the event. The Import Review box says how many results are waiting. Press Open reads.
Open a held read. Its Import Review section offers Apply to Entry for the matching entry, or Skip Result if the row shouldn’t be used.

All held results are also listed on the meet’s Data Issues page, under Lynx Results Needing Review. A connection card also says “N import results need review”.

Held Time Machine times, such as when the race start record never arrived, are decided in Reads → Review finish order.

The Reads page

Open Reads in the meet navigation to see every read the meet has received.

Filters: origin (which connection), Any Event, Any Marker, Any Status, and Bib #.
Open a read to see its details, including the raw line the timing system sent.
Select reads to Ignore or Unignore them, Reprocess them, Delete them, or use them as finish times (Use as finish-order times).
Reprocess reads checks every read again against the current chips, routing rules, and marker windows, and updates results.
Refresh bibs from chips relinks reads after chip changes. Chip changes normally do this by themselves.
Assign Bib appears on a read whose chip has no bib.

At the Basic level, a track and field meet shows Reads in the navigation only when it has a timing connection.

The reads summary on the dashboard

At the Standard level, the meet dashboard’s Connections column shows one bar of reads: used, held, other, and rejected. Press By status for the full breakdown. Rejected means No Bib or No Marker.

A healthy race shows mostly Used, plus some Superseded from repeat crossings. A jump in No Bib usually means missing chips. A jump in Early Read or Late Read usually means a window is too narrow.

Review finish order (Time Machine and chute-timed races)

When a timer such as a Time Machine sends official finish times without bibs, Review finish order turns a received race into results:

Open Reads and press Review finish order.
Under Which race do you want to review?, pick the timer race. Each shows how many official times and checkpoints were received.
Under Where do the results go?, check the race. When the timer’s race number matches an event, it is already chosen. If the timer was restarted mid-meet and its number matches nothing, pick the event.
Press Review N finish times, check the preview, and apply the times. Held times, such as when the race start record never arrived, appear in the same preview.
Apply the bib order from the chute with Apply Bib Numbers to put a runner on each time.

While you enter bibs, the timer’s checkpoint records (Time Machine Select presses) show between the official finishes. They help you check a long chute in smaller batches, and a repeated checkpoint bib is flagged. Checkpoints never become times and never assign bibs.

Review finish order is for road and cross country. Track events match results by seeded heat and lane: correct the seeding and press Reprocess reads instead.

Fix a missed or swapped bib after a chute-timed race

Bibs 145 and 146 were swapped on the chute sheet, or one bib was missed:

On Entries, select the race and choose Tools → Apply Bib Numbers….
Choose Edit the current bibs, fix the list so it is the complete bib order, and review.
Apply. The times stay in place and keep their finish places; only the runners on them change.

To fix a missed or extra time instead, use Tools → Apply Times… → Edit the current times. The runners stay attached to their places. See Hand Timing with the Stopwatch for the same tools after a hand-timed race.

Enter a finish time by hand for a runner the mat missed

If a runner has no read, for example because they lost their chip or it fell off, type their time by hand:

On Entries, select the race.
In the runner’s row, press Add time and type the time, such as 22:41.3.

2Timer places the runner by that time, and timing never replaces it. You can also open the entry and use its Manual Time field; on a race with a start mat that places by net time, the Entries column shows Net Time and can’t be typed in, so use Manual Time there.

Leave Override on the place unchecked. With it checked, 2Timer stops recalculating that entry’s place, and timing reads no longer change it, so you would have to set its place by hand too.