To time a race you need:
- A computer (to set up the event in dashboard)
- A phone (to time the actual race)
- QR race numbers (generated by Timing.Mobi. You can print them from home or with professional printers)
- Internet connection
If you are using Timing.Mobi for the first time, create an account first by providing an email address & password. An email will be sent to your inbox requesting you to activate your account. If you already have a Timing.Mobi account or used us before, go directly to Step 1.
Login in with your email address & password.
Once you have logged in – you will see a Pin code in the top left-hand corner. It is also the same code you will give to other timekeepers that are helping you time your event, should you use more than one phone.
♦TIP: REMEMBER THE PIN AS YOU WILL NEED IT WHEN YOU LOGIN WITH YOUR PHONE TO TIME AN EVENT.
Here the pin is BCDS, yours will be different.
Choose your own event name, date, your race starting format and click save.
After you have saved the event details, go to step 2 and click on the “upload a spreadsheet” circle in the middle of the screen:
Get your excel sheet ready to upload your participant list of all the people that will take part in your race. It should have separate columns for race numbers, then first names, surnames, age categories & gender at least.
Tip: First row will always be your headers.
Choose your own race numbers but don’t use duplicate numbers. You can add more columns with more details, but all the information you have in your spreadsheet will show up on the results page, so stay clear of telephone numbers & email addresses. This is an example of an excel list of participant details you want to use for your event.
Once you have uploaded the sheet (no duplicate numbers or other previous events that are open with same race numbers), the sheet will upload and look like this:
From here you can upload more names, download the list to print to see who you have registered, add participants one by one (manually) and print your QR codes.
To the right of your screen you can do the following: View your already uploaded race participant list, upload a new participant list that will replace the old one, download the currently uploaded participant list, add individuals mannually to your currently uploaded participant list or print your QR race numbers.
If you click Print QR codes – the system will generate a PDF with the QR race numbers on. The first three numbers are used to TEST that your phones are reading the codes without starting the actual timing of the event. You can print them from your home printer, or let it be printed and laminated professionally.
Next, click the pink Activate Event button at the bottom of Step 3.
Then you will asked to supply your invoice details. We will invoice you the following week after the event. Remember if your event has 50 participants or less, you can time your event FREE OF CHARGE. (Note that if your event is less than 50 race participants or FREE OF CHARGE, you still need to supply your details in this step.)
Your event is has now changed from pink to blue and ready to time if it looks like this:
Your event listings page will change from pink to blue and the status will confirm that it is Ready To Time.
Open your browser on your phone (safari, chrome, internet explorer etc) and go to www.timing.mobi and choose Time an Event from the top menu.
Next choose the button “Timekeepers”
Put your own details in when logging-in USING YOUR OWN NAME & UNIQUE PIN and then allow the website to access your camera.
(The pin was created in the Race director’s login in the dashboard- in Step 1 or click here.)
TIP: Timekeepers ensure that you login to your browser before race day when you have internet connection and keep the browser open. If you have not logged-in beforehand and there is no internet connection at the race, you will not be able to time your event.
Select your option of what you want to do next by pressing the 3 stripes in left hand corner:
Manage Participants – for late entries and change of race distance/race number
Start – button to be pressed when the race timer is started
Finish Line – when you scan the QR race number with your phone when the participant crosses the finish line. This is called “ScanAndGo”.
Logout – Use this and log in again when you have created an event and do not see it at the front end.
If you want to start your race, you can do the count down, and then once the gun has gone off press the “Start This Race” button. Your screen will confirm that the race was started.
Tip: If you scan participants at the finish line without having started the actual race, no results will be displayed.
Your race is underway select the Finish Line option from the menu. Your phone will ask for access to your camera. Allow it. As each race participant crosses the finish line, scan their QR race number. Your phone (depending on settings) will make a noise/vibrate and show the number on the screen when it scans a participant successfully. It will look like this:
Go to your DASHBOARD and login with your email address and Password.
It will show Timing is in progress.
After you have timed ALL your participants you have to close your event on your dashboard, to ensure that you can make changes to the race results (should you need to) & share your results. Note: Once you have closed the event, you cannot time any more participants for that specific race.
Tip: You cannot make changes to the results whilst the event is still open and participants are still racing.
Also close the event so that you can use the same race numbers for your future events. The system does not allow duplicate race numbers.
Click on the event – and it will open up saying you can close the event at the top, in pink.
A warning will appear. Choose Close Timing. Now you can edit, add, change times etc should you need to.
You will find all the race results on our website under the Results tab
The actual result page looks like the image below. Click on a name to see the details as well. Note you can easily share your results to your FB page, twitter, print it, export it, ect from here.
The system can add late entries on the day of the race. It is easy to add those late entries on your phone, or you can still add it via the dashboard. (See step 2 above.) When logged into your browser of your phone, select the Manage Participants from your drop-down menu. The screen will appear blue at the top.
Your late entries is now registered and will form part of this race.
TIP: Be sure to do this BEFORE YOU START YOUR RACE and that the phone sync to the server to upload the late entries. (You can see if it has any numbers to upload on the very right corner of the screen)
Tip: You can also add more entries on your dashboard in step 1.
This happens in Step 2. When you get your pre-registered race participant list from your online entry platform, export this name list to excel. Makes sure the first line is for headers. We suggest that you have at least the following columns in your spreadsheet:
You choose what race numbers you want to use. We suggest using only numbers (and not letters mixed) to make manual entry easier and avoid human entry error. No duplicate numbering allowed. You must have different QR race numbers for your different races that are happening on the same day. Once you have closed a timed event, you can use the same race numbers again. (This helps when you print re-usable QR race numbers)
Name: Participant first name
Surname: participant last name
Age: Use this if you are having different prize giving categories according to age.
Gender: (you can use abbreviations here M/F to make late registrations easier)
TIP: Note that all these columns that you import will appear at the front end of the results page. Do not include any personal information like email address, phone number, Identification numbers, medical aid numbers etc.
You can make up your own columns and headers as you like.
TIP: Timing.Mobi generates the QR number codes in a PFD with size 50mm x 50mm for each QR code. Don’t go much smaller when printing the QR codes to ensure quick & sufficient scanning with the ScanAndGo action.
You can print your QR race numbers on a variety of materials to best suit your event and budget. Here are a few examples to help you decide what will work best.
Tip: You can print your race numbers in advance
You can do this without having any participant details. Create an event like you would do in step 1, but only import one column in excel with the race numbers. Leave all the other columns blank. Press “Print QR Codes.” Timing.Mobi will generate a PFD with QR race numbers, what you can print well in advance before your event.
Excel with race numbers only
How it will look like after importing your race numbers
QR race numbers generated in advance by the system without participant details
If there is not going to be internet connection at the ScanAndGo point:
This can be done from a phone or desktop. Use it to add late registrations, change race distances & dates, make spelling corrections, changing QR race numbers, deleting participants, etc for your current race.
Tip: No changes can be made once the race has started and is still open. You need to make these changes either before the race starts or after the event has been closed and all timing has stopped.
Not keen on using scanning? No problem! Make your own race numbers or use your current ones. No QR race number needed.
Tip: You can even do handwritten race numbers on label paper. But make sure you allocate the right race number to the right participant according to your participant list that you imported into your event set up.
Tip: You can mix ScanAndGo with manual timing. All the results will still appear on the leader board on the website. So one timekeeper can scan the QR race numbers whilst the other timekeeper uses manual timing to enter the number on the QR race number.