Event Management

OpenSplitTime provides tools for analyzing and fixing problem Efforts. This section discusses how to use the Effort screen and the Effort Analysis screen to decipher and fix many problem Efforts.

As described in Problem Efforts, you should check the Problems Report screen (Admin > Problems) regularly. Problems should be monitored and corrected during the Event as time permits. Problems can be fixed after the event has concluded as well.

When you find a problem Effort, click on the Entrant name to visit the Effort screen. All of the Entrant's Split Times will be listed. Note the Split Times that are marked as questionable or bad.

As you review a problem Effort, try to determine which Split Times are problematic. This is not always as easy as it sounds. Consider the following example:

Assume we have a 50-mile course with aid stations at Mile 10, Mile 20, Mile 30, and Mile 40. Suppose an Effort shows a starting Split Time at 06:00, a time into Aid 1 at 08:30, and a time into Aid 2 at 09:00, and suppose that OpenSplitTime has marked the Aid 2 time as bad.

The Aid 2 time was flagged as bad because 2.5 hours is a reasonable period to travel from Start to Aid 1, but 30 minutes is not long enough to travel from Aid 1 to Aid 2.

But this does not necessarily mean the Aid 2 time is faulty. In fact, there are two possibilities. One possibility is that the Aid 2 time is incorrect and should be much later. The other possibility is that the Aid 1 time is incorrect and should be much earlier.

A faster Entrant might cover 20 miles in 3 hours. If the Entrant was recorded with an incorrect time at Aid 1, the Aid 2 time may be correct although it was flagged as bad.

A slower Entrant might cover 10 miles in 2.5 hours. If the Entrant was recorded with a correct time at Aid 1, the Aid 2 time would be correctly flagged as bad.

In the above example, you might be able to make an educated guess as to which time is faulty, or you may be able to ask your timing crews to verify by checking their paper records, or you may be able to verify using GPS tracking. If you are still unsure, it is best to wait until the Entrant is recorded at Aid 3, at which time it should become clear which of the two Split Times (Aid 1 or Aid 2) is faulty.

Sometimes it is not obvious which Split Times are problematic, even after all times have been recorded for an Effort. In these cases, the Effort Analysis screen is often helpful.

From the Effort screen, click the Analyze Times tab to view the Effort Analysis screen. This screen presents columns of data showing actual and expected times for each completed segment and the differences, shown in Over (Under) format, for each segment. Times that are longer than expected are shown as a number of minutes without parentheses, and times that are shorter than expected are shown as a number of minutes surrounded by parentheses.

Expected times are determined by using the farthest recorded time for the Effort, finding other Efforts that reached that farthest point in a similar amount of time, and averaging and normalizing the segment times for those similar Efforts.

The Effort Analysis view provides insight into which segments were relatively fast and which were relatively slow for a given Effort. But when the Effort contains problem Split Times, it can often reveal which of the Split Times are faulty and which are valid.

For example, assume we are viewing an Effort having a starting Split Time and five additional Split Times. The Aid 1 Split Time is marked as good, the Aid 2 and Aid 3 Split Times are flagged as bad, the Aid 4 Split Time is flagged as questionable, and the Aid 5 Split Time is marked as good. From the Effort screen, it is not immediately apparent which Split Times are causing the problems.

We click the Analyze Times tab to reach the Effort Analysis screen. Here we look at the Segment Over (Under) column and note the following:

• Aid 1: (3m)
• Aid 2: 54m
• Aid 3: (59m)
• Aid 4: 1m
• Aid 5: 6m

The actual times recorded for Aid 1, Aid 4, and Aid 5 are close to what we would expect for this Effort. The Aid 2 segment, by contrast, is much too slow, and the Aid 3 segment is much too fast. This tells us quite a lot about this Effort.

It is highly unlikely that this Entrant was actually nearly an hour past due into Aid 2 and then nearly an hour early into Aid 3. It is much more likely that the Aid 2 time is wrong. We should return to the Effort screen by clicking the Split Times tab, and then delete the Aid 2 Split Time by clicking the Delete (trash can) icon corresponding to Aid 2. OpenSplitTime re-evaluates the Effort, and all Split Times are now marked as good. When we return to the Effort Analysis screen, the Segment Over (Under) column now indicates that all actual segment times for the Effort are close to expected segment times:

• Aid 1: (3m)
• Aid 2: --
• Aid 3: (5m)
• Aid 4: 1m
• Aid 5: 6m

We now have a hole in our Split Times for this Effort. We can use the Raw Time tools or other resources to try to fill in the hole.