Other Race Day Officials

Relevant ICR section: 612 Start and Finish Officials

A note on volunteers

Many essential positions, especially gatekeepers and handtimers, are staffed by volunteer workers. These can be tough jobs, especially in bad weather, which occurs often at Mammoth. Volunteer staff should be treated with patience, kindness and gratitude at all times. They are working for free and we rely on them to have a successful event.

Starter

Relevant ICR sections: 612.1, 613.4, 613.7

The starter has two main jobs:

  • Keep the timer informed of who is in the gate

  • Give the start cadence to competitors

The starter is in communication with the timer in the finish shack at all times using a headset. The starter acts as the timer’s eyes and ears in the start area. It is crucial that the timer knows clearly which competitors are on course or getting ready to start. As a competitor enters the start gate, the starter reads his or her bib number to the timer. When the competitor starts, the starter reiterates their bib number and reads the bib number of the next competitor in the gate.

In practice, this sounds like:

“Bib 12 on course, bib 13 in the gate.”

Or:

“12 on, 13 in.”

The starter is also responsible for giving the start cadence to the racer in the gate. This lets the racer know when it is their time to start.

For fixed interval races, the cadence is described in rule 613.4. Ten seconds before a racer’s assigned start, the starter gives a ten second warning. Five seconds before the assigned start time the starter counts down to one then gives the start command. The starter should then count back up to five to mark the legal start period described in rule 613.7. For example:

“Ten seconds

Five
Four
Three
Two
One
Go
One
Two
Three
Four
Five”

A start clock such as the Alge ASC3 Start Clock can be very helpful for this process, and should be used for all fixed interval races. It is important to note however that according to rule U613.4 that the start clock cannot replace the verbal cadence for US Ski and Snowboard races.

For irregular interval races (Slalom), the start cadence is described in rule 805.3. When it is safe for the racer to start, the starter says:

“Ready
Go”

The racer then has about ten seconds to legally start after the starter says go. The starter should coordinate with the timer and the jury to determine a safe start interval. This is normally done visually, for example when the racer on course reaches the second flush.

Handtimers

Relevant ICR sections: 611.2.2, 612.5

Handtimers operate the manual (System C) backup timing system. They are stationed at the start and the finish of the course and use a Hand Watch to take and record start and finish times of day. Hand times are used in the TDTR to verify electronic timing system accuracy. In the event of a failure of both electronic timing systems, hand times are used to calculate race times. The EET section explains how to do this. In an ideal world hand times are not used to calculate results, but it can and does happen. It is therefore an absolutely essential position. You should take care that the hand watches are setup correctly, and that the hand timing staff are properly trained.

The volunteer coordinator or the head timer should have the hand watches synced and ready in time to go out with the volunteers. Ideally this is done to the same clock used to sync the electronic times. See Syncing Hand Watches for information on how to do this.

Handtiming staff should be instruced to press only the black SPLIT/LAP button (top left). Pressing other buttons will usually not take the watches out of syncronization, but it can set the watch to a different mode that makes handtiming confusing or difficult.

Handtimers at the start should press the black SPLIT/LAP button every time a racer starts. This should happen the moment the start wand starts to move. They should then record the racer’s bib number and the time of day shown on the bottom line of the watch. Handtimers at the finish should record the time of day the moment any part of the racer’s body or equipment crosses the finish line, as per rule 611.3.1.

Handtimers’ top priority should be absolute consistency racer to racer. It doesn’t matter if they are slightly early or slightly late, as long as they are consistent. Human error can be caught and corrected, as long as it is consistent, using the procedure described in EET. Hand times can be very accurate.