Start time mode

To make timing certain types of events easier, you may want to use different start time modes for the participants.

That is why the Start Time Mode is set for each participant, not for the event: different participants can have different start time modes. By default, all participants use the Wave mode.

1. How is the start time mode configured?

There are two ways to configure the start time mode for the participants:

1. In the import file. Map the column to the Start Time Mode field. The values Copernico recognizes are wave, raw (from reading) and individual (manual). If your file uses other values, you can map them to these during the import.
2. Manually. In Participants, select one or more participants, right-click, choose edit and change the Start Time Mode in the participant form. You can do it one by one, for several participants or for all of them at once.

2. What start time modes are there?

There are 3 start time modes:

Wave

From the shot, whistle or any other means. Each participant has a previously assigned wave. Waves are created in the Waves block of each event, in Race setup. There can be one or several waves (see Multiple waves) and you must start each of them manually from Copernico.

Select this start time mode when you use the official time calculation method, which is used in most races. With this method you can obtain rankings by official time and rankings by net time.

With this start time mode, the official position always prevails, both in Copernico and when displaying results in the APP.

In the participant form, this mode shows the Wave field, with the event’s waves, and the Start time offset field, an offset applied to the participant’s wave start time. Using the offset is explained in Timing Time Trials.

From reading

With this start time mode, when Copernico receives a reading at the location set up as a start-type location, it creates an individual start (wave) for each participant based on their start reading. The start is given automatically for each participant.

The first consequence is that official times and net times will be the same, since each participant’s start is created automatically from their reading. With this mode, the position and the net time are the ones that prevail when displaying live results in the APP.

Note that, as it is a start, the last reading rule still applies, meaning that the start is created and overwritten until there are no more readings at that point or a reading arrives at another point.

In the participant form, this mode shows the Accept readings from and To fields, which set the time window in which start readings are accepted for the participant.

Manual

Manual (value individual in the import file): use it whenever you want to set the participant’s start time by hand. Select it in Start Time Mode or unlock the Start Time field in the participant form, which switches the start time mode to manual. A common case is a participant set to “from reading” whose start reading has been lost: to add a start time, set it manually.

3. What are the implications of the “from reading” mode?

• The most obvious is that you cannot use this type of calculation if you are not going to take readings at the start.
• As each participant has their own start, you can edit the start time of each of them individually.

In the participant form (under Participants), you can unlock the Start Time field to change the participant’s start time. Unlocking it switches the participant’s start time mode to manual.

By having an individual start for each participant, the minimum time at each of the timing points of the race is calculated from each participant’s start.

But what happens if a participant’s start reading is lost?

Currently, the participant will not have a start and therefore will not be ranked, even if they have a raw time at the finish. You must manually edit their start time so that their start is created and they are ranked.

In the future, we are working on a time backup that uses the date and time of the event as the participant’s start time, allowing the participant to have a result from the configured start time.

Also, as mentioned above, if you need to edit their start time, you can do it from Participants.

• When you move a participant to another event, if the target event has waves and none matches the participant’s wave, the wave is cleared and you need to select a new one.

4. When can you use the “from reading” mode?

Whenever the main time and position of the event are calculated from a reading at the start-type location.

For example, in any event where net time is used as the official time, such as a time trial.

In addition, this mode makes it easier to time events with an open start, that is, events in which participants can start the race at any time of the day without a set start time. For example, in a downhill mountain bike race in which participants can start at any time.