Jaguar G4

One of the challenges in timing this event is the extreme complexity and lack of facilities across the desert. This year there was a redundant start line, six redundant split points, a pre-finish announcer read line, a redundant finish line, and two medical points where timing chips are read to confirm athletes who are in need of immediate care. In addition, timing  points are in the middle of a bombing range in the desert where there is no power, water or other facilities. Because thousands of family members and fans attend the event, kiosks are needed to keep everyone updated on the real-time status of their athlete. Furthermore, families, race coordinators, medical personnel and timing personnel need to know the location of every athlete, so live tracking using the ITS YOUR RACE app is essential. There’s no internet in the middle of the desert, so ITS also sets up a massive network that utilizes 16 microwave dishes to relay traffic from all timing points back to the 45-foot command center RV that is parked at the finish line. Due to elevation changes, relay stations are also setup at a high point out in the desert to carry network traffic back to the finish line. As if that doesn’t present enough of a challenge, ITS also places 32 fully automated Jaguar Snapshot cameras at the timing points to capture pictures of every participant. This allows each athlete to purchase up to 50 photos at the conclusion of the event. It also allows our timing team to find any athlete who may be out on the course.

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To provide world-class service for this event, ITS brings six of our own engineers and staff, and an additional 12 timers from around North America who have a vast amount of experience. The White Sands personnel include 4 additional team members who are involved in every aspect of the timing plan. In total, there are about 22 dedicated individuals on the team. The core timing team members arrive on site a week before the event to begin setting up the microwave network and to configure the 28 timing systems used. On race day, there are three Jaguar timers in the RV command center managing all the live data feeds, photo streams, result posts to ITS YOUR RACE, Kiosk updates, verification of live data on the ITS YOUR RACE App, and handling medical requests and disqualifications. It’s a busy day, but the combined experience of the 22 team members shows what can be done with the Jaguar timing architecture. Here are just a few of the stats that may be of interest:

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• We captured over 760,000 total photos of the athletes around the course

• 250,000 final photos were provided to the athletes within 24 hours

• Over 6,100 people were tracking athletes in real time using the IYR App

• Over 1,680,000 reads of timing chips were collected and processed

• Real-time reports were provided to base personnel every 30 minutes

• Every athlete received a confirmed finish time, backed up by a photo

 

In addition to timing, photos, kiosks and real-time tracking on the App, ITS uses a sophisticated software platform, developed by our head timer, that analyzes all race data to identify missing participants, athletes who changed divisions without authorization, athletes who cut the course, and a myriad of other challenging issues. The level of engineering expertise and automation delivered for this race may be the most advanced of any event in the world.

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ITS has been helping White Sands put on this event for 10 years and it’s a pleasure for our entire team. The technical and logistics challenges are incredible, but every aspect of the event becomes possible because of our award-winning products, combined with our outstanding timers from across the world.