Chiptime vs. Guntime
Cedric J. who writes for Running Journal Southern Running Newspaper and is the Editor for the SC Runner Gazette sent me this month’s Runner Gazette. Being my usual self, I popped up the email and started reading. By the way, I can forward you Cedric’s email address if you are interested in getting the SC Runner Gazette. It doesn’t cost anything and Cedric distributes it via email.
But back to the purpose of my blog today, one of the topics that Cedric put into this month’s paper was should races be using Chip time vs. Gun time to determine awards.
This is not a topic that I had given most thought as it doesn’t affect me during most races. But in larger races it could have effect.
Maybe you are asking yourself what is the difference between the Guntime and Chiptime. Well, Guntime is the time between the start of the race and you crossing the finish line. Whereas, the Chiptime is the elapse time between you crossing the starting line and then crossing the finishline.
In most races these two values only vary by a second or two because these races are just not big enough that you have a huge difference.
However, if you look at larger races such as Cooper River 10k or Peachtree 10k, it can be anywhere from a few seconds to several minutes before you cross the starting line. In some races, the number of people entered in the race is so large that the lead runners maybe finished before the last person is actually across the starting line.
For most of us Guntime vs. Chiptime doesn’t make that much of a difference. Most of us are just looking to enjoy the race and to finish. But there are a few of us that are very competitive and want to run our best race during these big races.
So how do you handle the fact that based on Guntime one guy finishes ahead of another but based on Chiptime he was actually slower. Then you throw in the awards factor (and if there is money involved) and all bets are off. Some people seem to just go ballistic because they didn’t get an award when they actually ran faster based on the chip time than the guy getting the award.
In my opinion, there is no clear solution to this issue. When you have so many people entered in a race, there is no possible way to give everyone the same opportunity to run a fast race. I am sure there are a number of people that can argue this point both ways and I can certainly see both sides of the issue.
My suggestion is if you feel that you may be put into this situation contact the race director ahead of time and ask for clarification on the race rules. Then at least if you decided to enter the race anyway, you know going in that you maybe handicapped by not being right on the starting line.
But back to the purpose of my blog today, one of the topics that Cedric put into this month’s paper was should races be using Chip time vs. Gun time to determine awards.
This is not a topic that I had given most thought as it doesn’t affect me during most races. But in larger races it could have effect.
Maybe you are asking yourself what is the difference between the Guntime and Chiptime. Well, Guntime is the time between the start of the race and you crossing the finish line. Whereas, the Chiptime is the elapse time between you crossing the starting line and then crossing the finishline.
In most races these two values only vary by a second or two because these races are just not big enough that you have a huge difference.
However, if you look at larger races such as Cooper River 10k or Peachtree 10k, it can be anywhere from a few seconds to several minutes before you cross the starting line. In some races, the number of people entered in the race is so large that the lead runners maybe finished before the last person is actually across the starting line.
For most of us Guntime vs. Chiptime doesn’t make that much of a difference. Most of us are just looking to enjoy the race and to finish. But there are a few of us that are very competitive and want to run our best race during these big races.
So how do you handle the fact that based on Guntime one guy finishes ahead of another but based on Chiptime he was actually slower. Then you throw in the awards factor (and if there is money involved) and all bets are off. Some people seem to just go ballistic because they didn’t get an award when they actually ran faster based on the chip time than the guy getting the award.
In my opinion, there is no clear solution to this issue. When you have so many people entered in a race, there is no possible way to give everyone the same opportunity to run a fast race. I am sure there are a number of people that can argue this point both ways and I can certainly see both sides of the issue.
My suggestion is if you feel that you may be put into this situation contact the race director ahead of time and ask for clarification on the race rules. Then at least if you decided to enter the race anyway, you know going in that you maybe handicapped by not being right on the starting line.
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