End of Race

[Jen Brooks]

We run a small 5k road race on Mother's Day -- this will be the 17th year. Usually have about 130 - 150 runners. Last year we had a hard time with people crossing the finish line and then going back and running it again with friends (who were a little slower). This is a family focused race so we have many that run with children and spouse.

do we simply ask people not to cross the finish line a second time? How do we prevent this - it is a head ache for our stop watch operator.

Any tricks of the trade would be great.

[Len]

Jen,

You can try making an announcement at the start of the race and ask them once they finish not to run through the chute. However, this may or may not be too effective. I assume you are using bib numbers and pulling the tags when they finish. You could have the volunteers ask the runners as they finish to take off their numbers and assign this task to a volunteer. That way if they do come through the finish line again, only the runners with a bib number would have their time recorded. This procedure could also be included in the pre-race announcements.

Len

[Trailrunnerdude]

I'm guessing that your stopwatch operator is standing perpendicular to the finish line and concentrating on capturing a time whenever someone crosses the finish line? If so, it would be exceedingly difficult for him/her to distinguish between first-time finishers and friends/family who have already finished and are accompanying them even if the friends/family take off their bib. I suggest having a couple volunteers positioned 10 to 15 meters before the finish line to act as spotters and direct people who don't have the tag on their bib away from the finish.

[HI-TEK Racing]

I assume you are pulling bib pull tags in the chute for finishers.

A backup to assure accurate times is to use blank tags, and to time everyone who crosses the line regardless and then insert these "blank" tags as space holders for the times of the runners who should be removed later to avoid the times being off. This assures everyone who crosses is timed and accounts for any times and places for runners who cross a second or third time.

Despite announcements you will get people crossing multiple times. Family type events are the worst offenders as many are not regular racers and/or are assisting new runners, kids etc finish the events and don't think about the timing issue they cause by crossing multiple times.

We have blanks ready at every race and rarely go without using a few at an event. This combined with select timing should take care of the issue.

[JimG]

Tom's suggestion is a good one. I might even go one step further; have the pull tag spindlers write down the person's bib number on the blank tag, and give them that finish place and time instead of their first one. Make an announcement before the race that you can cross the finish line as many times as you like, but you will be credited with your slowest time. That should stop them (but probably won't).

[calicoracing]

You can also slash the bib number with a black marker as people finish. If someone comes around a second time and you see the marker striken thru the number you'll know not to record their time.