Timing & the stopwatch

Assigning a timer company

The Timer Company card lives on the Edit event page, in the More settings tray. It shows a directory of verified timing companies you can search by name and filter by state, with each company's service area and profile. You assign one timer per event, and can remove them anytime.

Once assigned, that company gets a scoped dashboard for your event:

• see your registrations
• assign bib numbers
• enter and manage race results
• check athletes in on race day

Payment and arrangements with the timer are normally handled directly between you, outside Run This. A timer can also propose a per-registrant fee through the platform, a flat amount, a percentage, or both. The request appears on the same card and nothing is charged until you Accept (or you can decline). An accepted fee is added on top of each new registrant's cost and paid out to the timer; the card keeps a history of every request and decision. See Timer companies, getting started and the Timer API for the timer's side of this.

The stopwatch: setting up

For self-timed races, open Stopwatch in your event's dashboard sidebar. Setup is three things:

1. Set a volunteer access code

   A private code unlocks your event on the public stopwatch page. Generate one (or type your own), save, and share it with your crew. Regenerating the code revokes old access.

2. Define your checkpoints

   You start with a Finish line. Add aid stations or split points if you want course accountability, each volunteer picks the checkpoint they're standing at. Exactly one checkpoint is marked as the finish line; only its times feed race results.

3. Copy the volunteer link

   Volunteers open runthis.run/stopwatch on any phone (no account, no app install) and enter the code.

The stopwatch on race day

Volunteers open runthis.run/stopwatch (or the Run This Stopwatch app), enter your code, and tap Record as runners cross. Every phone shares one clock, a tap is timed the moment it's pressed, and each phone sees the others' taps within about a second. Send your timing crew How the Stopwatch works: it walks through everything they'll do on race day.

The code is how you sign phones out. Phones stay signed in through the race. If a phone goes missing or someone shouldn't have access anymore, change the Stopwatch code on your dashboard: every phone that unlocked with the old code is signed out within a couple of seconds.

Waves, heats and different start times

When your waves, heats or distances start at different times, the Stopwatch gives each one its own Start, and every runner is timed from their own start. Volunteers tap a heat to get it ready, then press one big Start button, with Undo for a few seconds after. See Waves, heats and track meets for the full walkthrough. A race with one gun works as it always has.

Distances you don't time

Not timing every distance, like a kids fun run or a virtual race? On your Stopwatch page, turn it off under Distances to time. Volunteers can do the same in the Stopwatch's Settings. A distance that's off gets no Start on any phone, and its runners drop out of the bib grid, the live awards and what you send to Race Results. With one distance left on, volunteers get the one big Start Race button.

• Virtual races start off. Every other distance starts on.
• At least one distance always stays on.
• A distance someone already started stays on the Stopwatch, so it can be ended or undone, and its finishes keep their times.

Getting times into Race Results

Back on your Stopwatch dashboard page, a live feed shows crossings as they arrive. When the race is done, click Send finishes to Race Results: finish-line times are matched to registrations and linked to each runner's Run This account, each runner's gender and age group are pulled in, and places come from each runner's time within each distance (within each heat, when the heats are separate races). Then publish them from the Race Results page. Nothing is public until you do. Crossings without a bib or name are skipped and reported, so you can identify them and sync again. If the same bib was recorded twice, its first finish counts and the repeat is ignored (the message after sending tells you how many).

A finish from a distance you don't time is left out, and the message names it (like “Left out bib 11”). Its time is kept. If that runner really ran another distance, change the distance on their finish in the Stopwatch, or move them to that distance in Registrations, then send again.

Live awards

The Awards (live) board at the bottom of the Stopwatch page fills in as runners cross the finish. Pick a distance and it shows the top finishers overall and in each age group, using each runner's registration (gender, and age on race day) and their time from their own start, so you can hand out awards before anything is sent to Race Results. When a distance's heats are separate races, pick the heat too. Click Change age groups to set that distance's groups (for example 54 & under and 55+, everyone together) at any time: it's the same setting as on the Race Results page. A runner with no registration (no age or gender on file) is listed so you can fix them. Not sure which groups to use? See Choosing age groups