Configuring timing points in a race with laps

A race with laps is one with two or more timing points, at least one of them intermediate, that share a physical location. An example would be a race in which the 5K and the finish line are in the same location. Copernico detects these timing points automatically and marks them with a colored bar on the left of the row (one color per location).

For these timing points it is important to configure the minimum and maximum lap times so that the readings are assigned to the correct timing point.

1. Configure the lap times

1. Go to Race setup in the left-hand menu.
2. Expand the event for which you want to configure the times.
3. Expand the Timing points section.
4. Click the pencil icon of the second timing point of the lap (the first one that shares its location with a previous one) to open its Advanced editor.

5. In the Lap time block, enter the minimum and maximum time of the timing point:
   • In Min. lap time, the minimum time it should take an athlete to reach this timing point since their previous passage through the same location.
   • In Max. lap time, the maximum time it should take an athlete to reach this timing point since their previous passage through the same location.
6. Click Save in the race configuration.

In our example of a race with the 5K and the finish line in the same location, we have given the finish timing point a minimum lap time of 15 minutes. This means that, for an athlete’s time to be assigned to the finish, at least 15 minutes must have passed since they passed the 5K.

2. Create the timing points of a lap with the wizard

You can also create all the timing points of a lap at once with the Create action of the Timing points section menu. In the wizard, enter:

• The number of timing points to generate (Generate amount).
• Optionally, a prefix for the timing point names (Name prefix).
• The distance between the timing points, in meters (Distance between timing points (meters)), which is required.
• The common Physical location: choose it from the list or create it.

When you set the location, the minimum lap time field also appears; it is applied to all the generated timing points. All the timing points created, including the start and the finish, share that physical location.

More information in “Quick actions menu”.

3. Video transcript

Hello, in this video we’re going to learn how to configure Copernico for events with laps. A lap is when participants pass through the same location more than once during an event, usually because the route of the race requires it. This case is quite common in a triathlon: for example, participants pass through the box several times during transition points. Let’s take a look at how to configure this in Copernico.

First, you go to Race setup and, once there, we go to our Timing points. So this is a simple race, just a 10K, where there are three timing points: we have the start, the intermediate and the finish. But you’ll notice that there are actually only two physical locations, the start and the finish, and then one lap. So when we configure minimum time, I’m going to put here, for example, 14 minutes, and then for the finish I’m going to put a minimum of 28, but I need to put a minimum lap time of 14.

The difference between the minimum time and the minimum lap time is quite easy. The minimum time is from the start, so the minimum time from the start to the intermediate or from the start to the finish, whereas for a lap it’s just the minimum time for that one lap, from the previous passing through the timing point to the next one. And from the advanced menu [today, the Advanced editor, opened with the pencil icon of the timing point] you can also see minimum time, maximum time, and here we actually have the time range by lap [today, the lap time window of the Advanced editor].

Let’s look at a more complex race setup. When it comes to timing laps, a really good example is a triathlon. We’re going to start with a triathlon half distance. We look at our timing points and we can see that we have a couple of locations that are in the same place: we have the “in” and the “in”, and we have “run one” and “run one”, which are both laps, technically, when it comes to timing. You can see that we have colors on the side that are indicating that we have repeated physical locations, and it helps us remember to put a minimum lap time.

So here in this race we already have the minimum times set up and also the minimum lap times. So from the “in” and the “in”, between the transition two and the run, we have 1 hour, and then we also have 45 seconds. Then down here, for the minimum lap time for running lap two, we have 10 minutes. And if we go to participants and we check out the raw, you can see that each participant has only been assigned that physical location once, and that Copernico knows when not to take a duplicity of times. Then, if we go back to participants and we want to, say, look at the information, you have here again the confirmation about the splits for each participant.

So we’ve looked at how, with two timing points, we can time a race with laps. Now let’s look at our last example, which is probably the most complex situation, and that is an Olympic distance triathlon. So in this example the setup really isn’t too different from the half distance, but now we have our lap timing mechanism being applied to the transition point: the first transition, where the location is the same, and then also the second transition, where the location is the same. You’ll see here that all of the minimum time has already been configured, as well as the minimum lap time.

And while there is a lot of timing point information here that’s important for timing purposes, it’s not exactly the same as our splits, which show the necessary information that we need in order to time a race. So then, if you go to participants, you can even look at your splits specifically, which are going to be the most important. So we go to information and here you see the splits that are relevant to each participant, according to what they completed.