Possibilities
In principle, competitions with mass starts are carried out either with gross/gun time (the time starts for all participants from the “starting gun”) or with net timing (the time starts for each participant from crossing the start time measurement point). A combination of the two variants (e.g. overall ranking with gross time, category ranking with net time) is possible.
For competitions in which participants start individually or in groups, the following starting variants are possible. If you have planned a different variant for your competition, contact us - we will find a suitable solution!
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Single start - fixed order and start time
The following options exist for the starts of competitions with individual starts (e.g. individual time trials, triathlons with individual starts):
The starting order of the participants and the respective starting time are fixed
- In this case, no separate time measurement point is required at the start - the time begins to run from the fixed start time
- At the start, the next participant and the start time are shown on a display and a countdown runs until the start. The display also shows the next participants including their start time
- In this case, the start intervals can also be different (e.g. for starts with a time delay from a previous competition - “Gundersen method”).
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Single start - start interval
The start interval is predetermined (e.g. a participant starts every 30 seconds), the participants start in a fixed or arbitrary order
- A separate timing point is required at the start - the time begins to run from the moment the respective participant crosses the starting timing point (net timing)
- The countdown to the next starter is shown on a display, and the last seconds before the start can also be supplemented by an acoustic signal (beeper).
- If necessary, the start interval can also be changed in the meantime (e.g. different interval for the last 30 participants)
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Rolling start
- In the case of rolling starts (e.g. when assigning start number blocks to start windows - start numbers 1-50 start between 10:00 and 10:15, start numbers 51-100 between 10:16 and 10:30) the participants start in the assigned start time window
- A separate timing point is required at the start - the time begins to run from the moment the respective participant crosses the starting timing point (net timing)
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Block start
- With block starts (a certain number of participants start at a fixed start time), all participants in the assigned starting block start at the same time
- Variant 1: Gross timing (the time starts from the respective start time) - no separate timing point is required at the start
- Variant 2: Net timing (the time begins when the respective participant crosses the starting timing point) - in this case, a separate timing point is required at the start
