I'm wondering if a coach who has used the Excel Meet Manager can put together a 'day of meet' checklist for a hosting school to assure a successful meet.
We are looking at using it next year. While I can get my head wrapped around getting all of the entries done online, I'm wondering about the day of (ie. printing bar codes/labels, downloading, tracking/recording times and exporting to excel, how many computers, finish chute setup, how many personnel to have in the chute timing/transcribing etc etc etc etc)
I realize that it may look a little different for various successful coaching/hosting instances, but a checklist/direction sheet such as this would be invaluable for newbies like me!!!
Thanks!
Kevin Huinink, Kitchener/Waterloo, ON
Excellent question really.
I do a lot of finish lines -- and I have a written set of instructions that span several different things.
1. I have a set of instructions on how to use the timer, the computer and to make the two go together. This does two things: a. if I have someone else in charge of one of these things they can make reference and b. every once in a while I forget a basic step ... so I can run the instructions to figure out my stupid move (or lack of any move more often). Often this saves us because we forgot something totally basic. I do the same thing for the generator start up procedures, etc. For the computer it is literally step by step for each thing we do.
2. I have a checklist for everythign I bring ... spindles, watches, sprint8 watch, paper for printer, cartridges for printer, power cords, grounding adapters, safety pins, bib numbers, wrist bands, tape, printer tape, tables, chairs, etc. Amazing how many times someone took something out of the box I use to keep my finish line supplies or we ran out of something last meet.
3. I always do labels the day before for big races -- don't wait until the last minute. I also do some extra generic labels/bib/wristbands for late entries. Usually makes it very smooth.
4. Chute -- totally depends on the size of the meet. For your basic cross meet I have the following people in place:
a. a head timer, runs the sprint8 and stops it once on each runner
b. a clipboard assistant who stands next to the timer - I have them record the order of finish in a numbered spread sheet. I only need the first initial of the school or color or whatever is appropriate. If we are using bibs, they write down the last two digits of the bib instead. I ask them to stand immediately next to the timer and compare how many finishers they show to the number of clicked finishers to be sure we are on. If they are every off, I ask them to circle it and continue on -- means we either clicked one too many times, one too few times, recorded one too few or one too many finishers on the clipboard. But if these two work well together it resolves most issues. For a bigger meet I do a second clipboard just into the chute and record a finish time every few runners in addition to the order of finish.
c. a spindler who puts each pull tag, label, or wrist band on a spindle. I make mine from coat hangers and sharpen one end in case the hole is ruined somehow. I find that having one person pull the tag and hand it to the spindle person for placement face down helps immensely and avoids drops.
d. for our largest meets we now video the finish line -- we have not watched one yet, but it's there if we need it
e. I often have two computer operators at larger meets and one at smaller meets
f. I have volunteers in the chute, enough to keep kids moving
g. it really helps to have a reader next to your to read bib numbers for entry. With a good ten key operator we feel we are faster than scanning -- and the spindle provides a handy back up. This person typically doubles as the person who posts results between reading races.
I feel my folks run some of the best results lines going. We can do races up to about 300 people.in cross (much larger in road running where they are more spread out). After that the frequency of finishers makes it hard to click the stopwatch fast enough and then you should go to chips.
ALWAYS run a dummy meet with your entries and score it to be sure it is as you want it to be. We have yet to use EMMXC, but plan to try soon. I need to be sure it can handle my stopwatch download as expected.