Configuration (race flow)

One race

“Only one race at a time, without a waiting list”. One race is active: every start is for it. With Start = clock at zero, a second start restarts it (restart), unless it follows the first by less than the double start time. The emergency race exists only in this mode.

Multiple races

“Several races at once with waiting list”. Each start starts the waiting race with the lowest order (and the other teams of its team pursuit), or all of them with Same start. Passings go to each athlete's race. This is the mode for training and long track (pairs, quartets).

Time trial

“Start at regular intervals”. Each athlete has their own start: race start + interval × their start position. An athlete without a start position is skipped.

Automatic

“ChronoFEED starts races/sessions automatically.” In FINISH, this mode loads races like Multiple races; the number of races per sequence is given to SIM, which simulates the starts. FINISH does not give starts on its own.

Start = clock at zero

“Every start resets the race clock to zero. Like a new start.” In “One race” mode: a second start signal restarts the race from zero (its laps are lost). Unchecked, a start on a race that has already started is ignored (the log says so). Imposed in competition.

Auto-assignment Competition

“On the first crossing, each transponder goes to the athlete at its start position (Position column of the transponders).” A transponder that belongs to nobody but carries a start position in the database (Transponders, Position column) is given, on its first crossing, to the athlete in that position in a loaded race. Nothing is assigned when the session is read: the transponders written in a .cfevent or an .evt are kept, and neither usual codes nor athlete records are used. This is the default mode; no effect in training.

Assignment after start only

Sub-option of the automatic mode, visible in that mode only. Assigns only to races that have started: the athletes of the previous race, still on the track, do not take the transponders of the next one. A false start or a restart removes the assigned transponders.

By the transponder's usual code

“When the session is read, by kits: start position, cap colour and event type (e.g. 3_BLANC;2_TEAM_1). Mostly for long track.” In long track, the transponders belong to the lane, not to the athlete. A transponder's usual code (Transponders, Usual code column) is split at “;”: each part puts the transponder in a kit. Words are read regardless of case.

Examples of usual codes:

Two transponders with the same code (one per foot) become the athlete's transponders no. 1 and no. 2. Sets rotate: pair 1 takes set 1, pair 2 set 2… and, with 40 sets, pair 41 takes set 1 again; mass starts take the sets in turn. This mode applies to every race of the session (JSON, .cfevent, .evt); the log names each athlete left without a transponder, and the Assignment tab shows them with an alert.

Transponders from the athlete record

“When the session is read, each athlete gets transponders no. 1 and no. 2 from their record, in all their races. No transponder on the record: none.” The record is the one in History → Athletes (filled in by hand, or by the athlete import with the Transponder #1 and #2 columns), found through the athlete's reference. An athlete with no record, or whose record has no transponder, gets none (those of the file are removed): the log says so, and the Assignment tab shows them with an alert. Neither usual codes nor start positions in this mode. Database unreachable: the file's transponders are kept, and the log says so.

Automatic loading

“ChronoFEED handles race loading”: after each reload and each end of race, FINISH loads the next ones in the list, in order, of the same distance as the first non-raced race. In One race mode: the next one only when no race is left in the tabs; a finished race keeps the track for its whole delay before closing, then closes, and only then is the next one loaded (the displays get the end of the race before the next one). “Load” by hand is still immediate. Also in the File menu and the status bar.

Number of races to load

From 1 to 20 (− and + buttons), visible in multiple races and automatic mode, whether automatic loading is checked or not. A change applies to the next group in “Grouped” mode. Right-click on the “Auto-load” box in the status bar: 1 to 8.

Continuous

As soon as a race finishes, the next one is loaded: there is always the same number of loaded races.

When the track is free

The next ones are loaded only when no race is loaded or in progress any more. Each finished race closes on its own, after its delay.

Grouped

The races loaded together form a group: a finished race waits for the others (“Finished — waiting for the group”); when all are finished, a single closing delay starts, then they become raced together and the next group is loaded. If the next race carries a group code from the file (G1, G2…: Group column of the list), the group is made of all the non-raced races with that code, whatever the number to load: in long track, a pair on its own, then two pairs sharing the track, without touching anything. “Next” on a race replaces it with the next one in the list; “Finished” closes it, and the group continues without it.

Start interval

In time trial: the gap between two athletes (60 s by default).

Number of races/session

In automatic mode: the number of races a sequence starts. It is used only by SIM.

Double start if <=

In “One race” mode: two starts closer together than this duration (300 ms by default) count as one. The second is recorded as a “double start” in the Starts tab.

Same start

“Start assigned to ALL loaded races (e.g. pursuits)”: a single signal starts all the waiting races. A team pursuit with one race per team starts together even without this box.

False start

“False start for ALL loaded races”. The box is kept; FINISH does not use it yet: the False start button applies to its own race only.

Laps completed or time elapsed

“Automatic finish”: a race in which all active athletes have done their laps becomes finished; it stays displayed during the delay before closing (“Closing in N s”), then becomes raced and leaves the screen. Unchecked, nothing closes on its own: you have to use Finished. Imposed in competition.

Delay before closing

How long a finished race stays on screen (and on the displays) before becoming raced. Passings are still accepted during that time. In One race mode, the next race is loaded only after this delay.

Limit laps

“Limit the number of recorded laps to the race's number of laps”. Checked (the default, and always in competition): an athlete who has done all their laps has finished; if they keep skating, their passings at the finish line are ignored.

Unchecked (training): each passing after the finish adds a lap, with its times (lap time, cumulative time, speed, split times), to the athlete's laps: you see them in the race detail (History), in the Excel file (one more “Lap N” column, one more row on the Laps sheet) and on the scoreboards. Their ranking and final time stay those of their finish. The photocells still expect them for these laps. The .LIF file and the overall standings keep none of them. A race where everyone has finished then no longer closes by itself, even with automatic finish (“Extra laps: “Finished” to close”): close it with Finished, or let training's closing of inactive races do it.

Next race increment

Next button: the race sent back to the list takes its order plus this value (often 1.5 or 5.5), to land a few races further down.

Athletes without a lap

“Disable athletes without a lap when others have already finished” (races of three laps or more): an entered athlete who never passed stops holding up the end of the race.

Default min/max

The minimum and maximum lap time for races that do not have their own (0 s = none), with the action when a lap falls outside the limits: Do nothing, Report, Do not add (min) or Add (max). A race keeps its own limits (Options tab), and so does an athlete (record, Athletes tab). In training, the athlete's min/max is also used for lapping and the displays.

Unassigned transponder Training

“An unassigned transponder becomes an athlete (training mode and free session only)”. The passing of a transponder that belongs to no athlete adds an athlete “CHIP, ZD0011” to the training (bib: the transponder code), with readable colors and the image of the transponder. It goes neither into the athlete database nor into the event list; it does laps, lapping and display rows like the others. The log reports each transponder that became an athlete. See the scenario Free practice.

Starting gun

What the starting gun connected to the equipment (signal 255) does, depending on the session's activity:

• Competition (demonstration, maintenance): a single option, Race “Start/false start generation”: the shot starts the race, or restarts it (false start), depending on the management mode.
• Training, two choices: RAZ “Start for all (reset laps in progress)”: the shot resets the lap in progress of every athlete on the track to the time of the shot; at each athlete's next passing, the lap is timed exactly from the shot. Loaded races waiting for their start are started. Laps already done do not change. — ON/OFF “Activation/deactivation (ON/OFF)”: each shot switches the session between the active phase (ON) and rest (OFF); the session starts at rest, the first shot starts the ON phase. All laps are kept and annotated: a lap is ON if it lies entirely within an ON phase. An OFF lap stays in the grid (“invalid” in the history, not valid in the database) but counts neither in the best lap, nor in the averages, nor in “Lap min/max”, nor in the best times on the track. The phase is shown large in the ribbon (ON/OFF phase) and broadcast to the scoreboards. No race starts on the shot.

Only the equipment's gun behaves this way: the manual start and a replayed start always give a start. A passing received less than the minimum time after the shot is ignored, as usual. Lapping is not affected. ChronoFEED-COACH does not receive the ON/OFF annotation yet.

Reset started laps

Gun set to ON/OFF (training): each shot also resets everyone's lap in progress to the time of the shot (ticked by default), so that laps fall exactly within one phase. With RAZ, this is what the shot always does.

Auto-close

“Close a race when no passing is received in it for the “if inactive for” duration” (20 min by default; a number alone counts as minutes), provided at least one athlete has done the Min lap(s) (2). The delay is counted from the computer's receipt of the last passing, never from the decoder's time. The race is finished as if by “All finished” and saved. This is the setting for training sessions (imposed in training).

Open races

“Open race management per race”. Kept; FINISH does not use it yet: a race is open through its race sheet (Open race) or because it is an emergency race.

Open race, add athlete (Single race mode)

“Started race only”: in an open race, an athlete who crosses the line is added only after the start. Unchecked, everyone who crosses the line joins the waiting race (warm-up included).

Open race, reclosing

“Re-closing a race opened after its start”. Checked: an open race of one lap or less does not finish on its own when its athletes have crossed the line (others can still join); it is closed with Finished or by auto-close. The duration next to it, like Close after on the race sheet, is kept but not used yet.