We have been timing track and cross country meets for the last few years with great success. The FinishLynx and IPICO equipment are ideally suited to these types of events and have been great. For the few small road races we’ve timed, we’ve used both the FinishLynx and IPICO systems. They worked, but certainly not ideal, especially for larger races. For races with 100 or less participants, the finish line ‘density’ is not great and hand timing becomes a very reasonable option. Larger races, however, require an RFID solution.
I have been planning on adding a road race timing system for some time and I’ve spent hours researching the different options available. A few months ago, I decided to go with the Agee Race Timing system. I purchased three Motorola FX7500 RFID 4-port readers, five antennas and a license for the full RFID Agee Race Timing software. This equipment will allow me to time road races where 2 or 3 runners finish side by side regularly. Also, unlike cross country where everyone starts at the same time (gun time), this system can be set up to easily get a ‘chip start’ time to account for the time it takes for runners in the back of the start field to get to the actual start time after the starting gun is shot.
I will spend the next several months practicing with my new system, testing different configurations and getting comfortable with the software. I look forward to being able to time medium and small road races starting in the spring/summer 2020!