The timing system not starting is easy to deal with, as long as you can start the timing system late. That's a heat malfunction, and the heat malfunction correction rules go into play. Even if you only have one timer/button per lane, you have, in effect, as many timers and you have lanes to correct. If you have 8 lanes, then for each lane, you get a pad-to-button differential, and then average that differential across all lanes, and that tells you exactly how late the timer started, and thus how much time to add to each pad time to correct. That is very accurate, given that you're introducing 8 or 16 or 24 humans into the formula.
In the case of a pad malfunction, and you have a bad human timer... of course more timers will help. In my experience working with USA Swimming National Admin Referees, the general practice is that you look to find as much agreement with your data that you can, while keeping in mind that if you have human timers pushing buttons and watches, then you may have corresponding pairs of good or bad data. For example, you may have a timer who is slow on the finish, and the pad _and_ button is always slow. However, they may also be slow at the start with the stopwatch, so that may "correct itself" on both ends of the swim.
You also have order of finish that can help. If you have watch or button data that matches, or does not match, the order of finish, that can help piece together the data.
In the end, it becomes a judgment call in terms of what data is valid. The standard of course is 0.30 second difference between a pad and button to signal a problem... but it is the judgment of the Timing Judge (under the direction of the Referee) to determine if it was the pad that was bad, or the button that was bad, or both, based on the available data.
But certainly... it is a dream having three human timers per lane if you can get it. (Although sometimes... I'd take one good competent timer, over three bad human timers.)
In the very very rare case that I have no good data to arrive at a time, I've got no choice but to manually insert the slowest possible time that fits the available data. For example, I know you finished about 3 seconds ahead of the swimmer in lane 6, but don't know by how much, I might give you a time that is 1.00 seconds faster than lane 6, knowing it couldn't be slower than that.. but I can't know that it was any faster.
-Rick
The timing system not starting is easy to deal with, as long as you can start the timing system late. That's a heat malfunction, and the heat malfunction correction rules go into play. Even if you only have one timer/button per lane, you have, in effect, as many timers and you have lanes to correct. If you have 8 lanes, then for each lane, you get a pad-to-button differential, and then average that differential across all lanes, and that tells you exactly how late the timer started, and thus how much time to add to each pad time to correct. That is very accurate, given that you're introducing 8 or 16 or 24 humans into the formula.
In the case of a pad malfunction, and you have a bad human timer... of course more timers will help. In my experience working with USA Swimming National Admin Referees, the general practice is that you look to find as much agreement with your data that you can, while keeping in mind that if you have human timers pushing buttons and watches, then you may have corresponding pairs of good or bad data. For example, you may have a timer who is slow on the finish, and the pad _and_ button is always slow. However, they may also be slow at the start with the stopwatch, so that may "correct itself" on both ends of the swim.
You also have order of finish that can help. If you have watch or button data that matches, or does not match, the order of finish, that can help piece together the data.
In the end, it becomes a judgment call in terms of what data is valid. The standard of course is 0.30 second difference between a pad and button to signal a problem... but it is the judgment of the Timing Judge (under the direction of the Referee) to determine if it was the pad that was bad, or the button that was bad, or both, based on the available data.
But certainly... it is a dream having three human timers per lane if you can get it. (Although sometimes... I'd take one good competent timer, over three bad human timers.)
In the very very rare case that I have no good data to arrive at a time, I've got no choice but to manually insert the slowest possible time that fits the available data. For example, I know you finished about 3 seconds ahead of the swimmer in lane 6, but don't know by how much, I might give you a time that is 1.00 seconds faster than lane 6, knowing it couldn't be slower than that.. but I can't know that it was any faster.
-Rick
