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Best Timing Device??

Former Member
Former Member
Good Morning This is an organizer question. I have found myself in the position of race director for a small OW swim. We need a timing device as the former director has taken his. We have used the Seiko s149 watch and printer. Is there a better system out there short of timing chips? If you have used one I would appreciate any input. Thanks Spudfin
  • Define "small" and the distance covered. The longer the swim, the more people you can accomodate with hand timing. I would judge a 1 mile swim to be small at 150 entrants. Use popsicle sticks and forget a timing display, just have one person handing out numbered sticks as the swimmers pass through a chute finish, one reading a stopwatch, and one writing down times correlated to the stick numbers. Simple, cheap and low tech.
  • As a participant in the now defunct COWS swim, I can say a stopwatch and a clipboard to write down swimmer numbers and times was plenty of effective. They ran 3 distances -- .75K, 1.5K and 3K -- with number of entrants ranging from about 50-60 for the .75K to about 30-40 for the 3K.
  • Former Member
    Former Member
    As a participant in the now defunct COWS swim, I can say a stopwatch and a clipboard to write down swimmer numbers and times was plenty of effective. They ran 3 distances -- .75K, 1.5K and 3K -- with number of entrants ranging from about 50-60 for the .75K to about 30-40 for the 3K. Agree with it, and a best method
  • Former Member
    Former Member
    Agreed, we used a printing stopwatch supplied by local track team, we did have two people doing order of finish to just be sure.
  • At our ocean swim in VA Beach, we use a stopwatch with a printer, and we have a backup timer with a watch writing down times. Swimmers are given a place card as they finish. Since everyone starts together, the place card is used to determine place within the age group. Awards can be given before the times are matched with the swimmers. We post the backup time sheet so that if swimmers remember their place, they can find their time. Official times are determined later when the tape from the stopwatch is used to match times and places. This has been successful for many years. We have about 120 entries, but it is growing again. The high was 206 when it was a national champinship.