Firstly a huge thankyou to Dave for helping me with timing for this event, wouldn't have been able to do it without him. So with the last post I thought I had multi-sport event timing cracked. 100% read rate at Killerton, job done, got a model to follow. I'd got a similar read rate for the Devon Duathlon previously, but that was using bib chips, this was Hu-Tags. Therefore it was with a bit of trepidation, but quiet confidence, that I headed off to the Dawlish Triathlon. I had put quite a bit of prep time into this one, testing chips and equipment, repairing two of the reader boxes, building a bespoke box for the swim and testing that, and generally going over everything. Previous experience at Dawlish was that it was high paced, stressful and if something could go wrong, it would. And so trial by Dawlish began.... As you can probably guess from the image above, the swim was cancelled. Replaced by a run. No need for the fancy timing box I'd built up with a separate network

 Following on the last post, I was asked to cover the Killerton Duathlon as part of Sportiva Events covering it for the organiser due to family health situation. It was the first event using the new HuTag XC-3 ankle chips, therefore to be sure of reads some gates used multiple readers and each gate was timed using a separate computer (well two computers and a tablet). This was via Webscorer's multi device timing feature. A really useful feature if- Your timing gates are far apart Everyone starts in one wave or very close waves (meaning gates are not active when people are still milling around) Internet connectivity is good And there is not much to say, other than 100% read rate!!!! Was very happy, here's a few conclusions I drew from this event- Wifi linked gates using the TP Link point to point adapters is fine Hu-Tags generally respond better to side antennae Two mats + two sides is ample for the gates, except bike For bike, four sides angled to create a read "zone"

Duathlon's (for the uninitiated) are an event involving two sports, and in the South West it is normally running and cycling. Sportiva Event's put on several such events, which I time. In the autumn I got these sorted (finally) using a combination of more sensitive antennas and two of the higher power, EU22 spec Impinj readers, and two of the lower power models (EU21 spec). So when it came to this spring's Donut Duathlon, we raised the bar. Each bike lap would be logged. The event was top be held at Torbay Velopark. The timing software was Webscorer . There is an image below and setup was as follows (excuse the small size of the details at the top of the image)- Finish gate - an EU21 spec reader connected to two mats plus and EU21 spec reader connected to 9dBi gain side antenna's (circular polarised) running in conjunction with the run gate on the same device. Run gate - a single mat powered by an EU22 spec reader. Bike gate and bike track - an EU22 spec reader connec

 It's no secret that I'm quite the Webscorer fan. I've talked about it a lot, and I think it strikes a good blend of ease of use, function and flexibility. Plus is undergoing constant development which only makes it better. However, for the XC races I time, Webscorer can keep up with the taps, but I struggle to keep up with getting the information I need out of Webscorer. Allow me to explain. In a single race there can be up to 12 categories. Each category has a different number of laps (some have the same number). As the leader per category finishes, all the riders in that category finish (even if lapped), but the rest must carry on. The distance between the finish line and the point to pull a rider is about 50m. On the flat. On easy grass. The call to pull a rider has to be spot on. It's a challenge, and I was stuggling. Enter CrossMgr . It's an open source piece of software written by Edward Sitarski, a cycling commissar, so he knows what he's taking on. Fir

 Steve organises brilliant races at Grammarcombe, as this one was no exception. 150+ competitors, four races and three brilliant courses (under 8s, under 10s & 12s, and juniors upwards). Steve has a mountain biking weekend coming up, sign up here . Timing wise this was a passive RFID timed race, using Sportiva Event's RFID gear I've written about before. Webscorer was the software of choice. The setup was as shown below. There's not much to report on the equipment front. It all worked seamlessly. All the kit was in bright sunlight. With the previous networking kit we were using this would be enough to trigger an overheat, killing the network and therefore the readers. However, the new Teltonika modem/router and switch performed without any issues. Antenna performance is as below. This analysis is from the largest race (96 competitors). Antenna Number Antenna Reader IP Reader Type Identifier Number of Reads Average Signal 1 Centre Mat 192.168.1.202 EU21 192.168.1.202 - 1

A worryingly straightforward event, but brilliant event (by Sportiva Events ) to time this weekend. Was a bit concerned as the new EU22 (higher power) impinj speedway R420 was switching antenna significantly slower than I expected. However, needn't have worried, when used correctly. The setup consisted of two 4 port impinj readers, one EU21 spec (2W), one EU22 spec (4W). Each was running three antennas. The EU21 with is faster antenna switching was driving three linear mat antennas, the EU22 with is greater power was driving three side, circular polarized antennas. We were much more careful in the setup, leaving a good gap between the mats and the side antennas, which proved to be wise as we no issues with the side antennas interfering with the mats as I had on a previous race. Between them, we didn't miss a runner (there was over 200). However, which reader read what was quite different for adults and children. See below for the results. I am guessing the height difference bet