With the introduction of the Mobile Timing App smaller, single-event races are now able to score and publish results for their races all from a phone, however there are a few things to keep in mind if considering using Mobile Timing's "Score and Publish" mode. The following flowchart can help determine if your event is suitable for this method. If you are unsure about using Score and Publish, or are looking to find a more cost-effective method for producing results for your race it is always best to consult your Timer and work with them for a solution. If you do not yet have a Timer for your race, you can find someone in your area using RunSignup's Find a Timer tool.

Determining if Score and Publish is right for your race:

Question 1: Does your race contain a single Registration Event?

Mobile Timing's Score and Publish mode is only designed to score a single event at a time. In RunSignup terms, this means that you can only have a single registration event being scored at once - if your 5K is divided between "5K Run" and "5K Walk", for instance, it would not be able to be scored using the Score and Publish mode in Mobile Timing. Virtual Events and untimed events do not need to factor into this restriction.

For example, a Race with a 5K, Virtual Run, and Untimed Kids Mile would work for this scenario, while a Race with a 5K and 10K or a Race with a "5K Run/Walk" event and "5K Run/Walk - Youth" event would not work.

While it is possible to handle multiple concurrent registration events across multiple devices, it is best to keep in mind that it would be necessary to easily identify participants by bib range and color for this to be possible. 

Question 2: Does your race have a single start time?

Score and Publish mode in Mobile Timing requires all participants to be assigned a single start time - called a Clock Start or Gun Start. If participants are starting in waves, in a Time Trial fashion (one at a time), or require different start time assignments across the event, Score and Publish should not be used. 

Question 3: Does your race require live results?

Score and Publish mode in Mobile Timing only publishes results to RunSignup after the results are saved, and cannot be used to incrementally publish results to RunSignup.

Question 4: Does your race have a low-density finish line?

Generally, Score and Publish mode isn't recommended for 5K races with more than 50 people because it becomes difficult to accurately capture each individual finish time if multiple participants are finishing at the same time. The longer the event distance, the less dense the finish line becomes and the easier it is to capture individual finish times accurately. If your Race has a smaller number of participants or longer course distance Score and Publish is feasible, but if the Race has a large number of participants or a shorter distance this may not be possible.

Score and Publish does offer a Dual User mode, where one user captures times and the other inputs them in order (think the classic "bib and spindle" or popsicle stick methods for scoring races) which may help if you have a finish line that has somewhat higher density but is still a good candidate for this method. 

My race doesn't meet any of the criteria, what now?

If your race doesn't meet the above criteria, there are still options for using Mobile Timing. Mobile Timing includes the Backup Timing mode, which uses a device's time of day to put a timestamp with a recorded entry for a bib number. This can be treated similarly to a chip timing system's output of reads and opens up a great deal of flexibility in how a small event can be scored. The best option for any race unsure of how to proceed is to contact the Timer they work with, as they are the technology expert in the event result space and may be able to suggest an alternate solution like Remote Scoring the race.

Using Mobile Timing in Backup Timing mode does require the user to score the race in a scoring software to produce results, but can produce the results in a near-live manner using Dropbox to tie together multiple devices across multiple locations, or multiple devices at the same finish line to help deal with greater density. Backup Timing mode is not limited to a single Registration Event either, as it simply records the bib number and timestamp the user captures. 

For more information about these options, you can book time here to discuss which options may be helpful for your race.