Sunday, May 23, 2010

Race Timing and Results

The race results are posted! Click the links above (page 'tabs') to see how you did. To find yourself, press 'CTRL' + 'f' in most browsers - this will open a find dialog (above or below the main pain of the browser - then start typing your name. If the first one isn't you, press 'Enter' until you find yourself.

Disclaimers:
1. All results were compiled manually. I (Jason McKellar) may have miss-typed your name, age, gender, time, or all of the above. If you find an error with any (except time) post a comment and I will try to fix it as soon as I can.
2. The Race Committee voted not to pay to have the race professionally timed. At $3 a person (with a minimum of $1,500) we decided that the money raised would better benefit Aaron's family than to ensure everyone knew their time to the millisecond. We hoped and prayed that we would get at least 100 to participate, but we thought 200 was dreaming. If only 100 had signed up, every dollar paid to enter the race would have gone to timing. As many of us have participated in races (5k through marathon) we understand the value of knowing just how well you did. So we came up with a system that we thought would work well for the number of participants we expected. It cost just $0.99 plus tax and some paper.

The idea was to record the time as each person crossed the finish line using a cell phone app. Then everyone would turn in the bottom portion of their bib in the order that they finished. Also, one person would write the bib numbers of finishers next to pre-printed times, attempting to write at least 5 bib numbers per minute. Between the two systems, we could compensate for people who don't turn in their bibs and the occasional 5 people finishing at once. This should have worked well for the 100 we hoped for. Also, it would require 2 people to 'time' the race + 1 calling out the times as you finish + 2 more to compile results before the awards + a bunch of volunteers to keep runners in order and collect bibs.

Even though we knew Aaron and know that everyone who knew him loved him, we never dreamed that we would have over 300 people there to run in his memory. As race day approached and the number of entrants continued to rise, we knew it wouldn't be easy, but hoped it would be enough. Luckily, the people that knew Aaron seemed to share his positive attitude and I/we didn't have to deal with the irritated runners that are so concerned about their time/place. There were 320 finishers who turned in a portion of their bib - most of them were the bottom, and most of those had stickers identifying the racer. There were also at least 30 finishers that didn't turn in any portion of their bib. Immediately following the race, we attempted to find the 1st and 2nd place finishers for each gender/age division for trophies. While doing that, we promised to post results on the blog. Since then, I have (as mentioned above) typed every time, name, gender, and age that was on a bib that we received at the end. One ripped off the bib holder, so one lucky runner could have a finish time up to 2 minutes ahead of their actual time. Everyone else is probably within 10 seconds of finish time, and probably 95% of runners have a time within a second or two of their finish time.

Thank you to everyone for your desire to help Holly and for your patience with us in our first attempt to put on this BAM run.

4 comments:

  1. Thank you Jason for posting the results. I know that it took you a whole lot of time. I appreciate your efforts in figuring out the timing system and your willingness to be as accurate as possible.♥

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  2. Thanks again, to everyone that helped. BJ and I really wished we could have come home for this. We both keep hearing amazing things about the race. Everyone did such an awesome job. Thanks!

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  3. Jason, you are amazing! Hopefully, no one complains, I don't see any reason to. You are so smart and effiecient.

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  4. You all did an amazing job. My family and I enjoyed the race. Hopefully it was a positive day for all of the Greers. We plan on doing it again next year. Way to go. Thanks again.

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