RaceDB at BC Superweek and Americas Masters Games 2016

Post date: Sep 1, 2016 12:48:03 PM

RaceDB and CrossMgr were used at BC SuperWeek 2016 and the Americas Masters Games 2016 in Vancouver, BC.

Although RaceDB started out with a focus on the needs of club series races, the same features of managing bibs (issuing and replacing lost ones), creating/replacing RFID tags on-the-fly, and self-serve check-in proved ideal for smoothly managing multi-day competitions.

One story from SuperWeek came from an Elite Women's race - a competitor showed up at the start without her chip tag.

The timing team grabbed a blank tag then used RaceDB to record the rider's code on it and print the frame plate stickers.

There was plenty of time to attach it to her bike.

In short, they manufactured a custom RFD tag with frame plate and installed it before the race start instructions were finished.

RaceDB supports self-serve check-in. This makes it easy for riders to check-in at each day's events with their RFID tag.

In addition to being able to handle 100's of riders per hour with few registration staff, this process checks that the RFID tag works properly. If there are any problems, rider's are directed to registration staff.

With four RaceDB self-serve kiosks (very easy to set up), check-in throughput has been measured at 14 per minute - about one rider every 4 seconds. That's about 35 minutes to process 500 riders.

Self-serve works a bit like self-serve checkout at the grocery store. Riders present their tag to the antenna and press a button on a tablet. The rider is informed whether s/he is good to go, or if there is a problem. Only one reg staff person is required to supervise the self-serve process.

It is possible to set up RaceDB with even more self-serve kiosks if required. That's scalability!

Of course, there is no problem with using RaceDB with a single antenna for a small race. The check-in process can start with self-serve at the reg table. If it succeeds, great. If not, any issues with bibs and tags can be taken care then and there.

Rider's can also be checked in by reading the barcode or mag stripe on their license.