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Live Results Recording

You can record both track and field events live during your meeting.

Field Events

Methods for recording field events differ between horizontal events (e.g. javelin) and vertical ones (e.g. high jump).

To start, navigate to the event you wish to record for. Once you have opened your event page, you should see a start list. If none exists, you will need to create one; please see the documentation on seeding.

Vertical Disciplines

A complete video demonstration is below, but please also read the documentation to get a full understanding of the process:

From the event page, you can start to record jumps by clicking the RECORD button.


You will be taken to this screen:


Before recording any attempts, we need to set a height. Click the RAISE button and enter your required height.

After this, click the line for the athlete making an attempt. The names will be in the order of the start list seen on the event page. A RECORD button will appear:


When you click RECORD you will see the following:


  • R - Retire from event
  • - - Pass this height
  • O - Valid clearance
  • X - Foul

Once you have recorded the attempt, move onto the next athlete and follow the same process.

As shown below, the colour for each athlete changes as their attempts are recorded.

If you make a mistake and record an attempt incorrectly, you can delete the most recent attempt for an athlete by clicking the X button and then confirming the deletion.


You can then record a new attempt.

To raise the bar, click RAISE BAR and set the new bar height. If you get it wrong, you can delete the height by clicking red X next to it.

To finish the competiton, click FINISH. If the competition finishes with all athletes fouled out, it will automatically end.


Horizontal Disciplines

A complete video demonstration is below, but please also read the documentation to get a full understanding of the process:

Click the RECORD button. The recording screen will have your athletes in start list order. Click the row of the athlete you want to record an attempt for:


The RECORD button will appear. Click it. From the pop-up box (as seen below) fill in their jump details.


Wind:

  • Negative example: -1.2
  • Positive example: 1.2

Foul: Click the F button.

Pass an attempt: Enter "-" in the "Distance" box.

Exit this athlete: Click the X button

When done, click the ✓ button.


You can then move onto the next athlete. If you make a mistake, click the X button to delete the attempt.

It is possible to skip all remaining athletes in a round if many wish to pass. Simply click the >NUMBER button.


If you wish to finish the event early simply click FINISH.


Track Events - Photofinish Integration

OpenTrack provides integration with FinishLynx, TimeTronics/MacFinish, Seiko, Swiss Timing, & Alge. To integrate with one of these, navigate to the TV and Photofinish tab of the management screens and click on the Integrate button corresponding to your system.

Live results integration allows results to be publicised almost instantaneously, improving athlete and spectator experience.

A complete video demonstration is below, but please also read the documentation to get a full understanding of the process:

OpenTrack Uploader Setup

To integrate with photofinish, you need the latest edition of our uploader. On the right-hand side, click Latest EXE file and download the program. Your firewall may attempt to block this, so it could require an override. Once downloaded, open it:


  • Mode - Select the photofinish program you are using
  • Folder - Designate a folder where the uploader will look for results files. This folder needs to be accessible by photofinish, either on their machine or over a shared network drive
  • URL - The URL of the competition (finishing with the slug)
  • Email/Password - Your login details

When each item is correct, it turns green, as seen above.

Next steps:

  • Click the download files button. This will download start list files for your photofinish system to the folder specified above.
  • Click the Auto Download button if you want the files to keep updating whenever changes are made. This will make the program slightly slower but no changes will be missed and you can get a dynamically updating start list.
  • When ready to send results to OpenTrack, click the Click to begin uploading button. The program will look in the specified folder every couple of seconds. Once a results file is created, the program will recognise it and send the results live up to the result page for that event within seconds. Nothing else needs to be done, other than marking results as official when ready.

Resolving Credential Issues

If you have trouble with logging into the uploader, then you may need to delete your _OTRUpload.ini file (usually in your top level documents folder, i.e. C:\Users\yourusername\) and let the uploader recreate it.

Working Without the Uploader

If you don't have consistent internet access, or are having trouble with the uploader, you can still use OpenTrack's photofinish integration functionality — it's much easier than copying results across by hand!

To download photofinish files for your meeting, head to the TV and Photofinish management screen, and select your chosen photofinish software.

In the Download Manually box, simply download the files you need, unzip them if necesary, and place them in the directory that your photofinish program is looking at.

To upload manually, simply scroll to the bottom of the page and use the 'Choose file' feature to select your chosen results file from your photofinish directory, and then click the Submit button to have it processed automatically.

FinishLynx

If using FinishLynx, there are some settings we recommend.

FinishLynx version

We recommend use of FinishLynx version 12.20 or later. You can check your version number by clicking on 'Help', then 'About', in the grey bar at the top of Lynx.

OpenTrack Configuration

When using FinishLynx integration, you will see the options on the left-hand side of this screen:


  • License field contents - Choose what details to include on the PPL file
  • EVT file includes field event - As it says
  • EVT file should exclude completed events - The EVT file will keep updating to remove completed events and "tidy up" your file
  • EVT file includes people? - As it says
  • EVT/PPL files include full club name - When ticked, full club name given rather than OpenTrack code

Unicode

As OpenTrack is used all over the world, we encode the text for photofinish files in Unicode. You will want to select the Unicode options within your photofinish software so these can be seen in the files which FinishLynx writes (the LIF and PPL files). This can be found in File | Options | Database | LIF Code Set, as shown.

Additionally, you will need to select the correct encoding ('utf_16_le_bom' as shown) on the OpenTrack uploader to ensure the EVT and PPL files will be processed correctly.

Please note that any EVT or PPL files downloaded directly from the OpenTrack site will not be encoded - you can however encode these in a text editor like Notepad++.

Timing Precision

OpenTrack needs time given in thousandths to break ties, as this is important for seeding across multiple rounds, as well as breaking ties for position.

You can do either of the following:

  • Change File | Options | Results | Default Precision to thousandths or smaller, which changes the precision you see in your Lynx results, with File | Options | Database | Time Precision set to <on screen>
  • Change File | Options | Database | Time Precision to thousandths or smaller, with File | Options | Results | Default Precision set to hundredths as normal

Autosave

We recommend turning on auto-save, which will cause the LIF files to be written every few seconds. This allows OpenTrack to know within a few seconds that the race has started, and also to display the winners to the public as you are timing the later runners. This is hidden in an advanced menu - press and hold Ctrl + Shift while clicking File | Options, to reveal all FinishLynx settings, and select as below. We suggest a frequency of 5 seconds. Then you won't have to worry about saving results after each race.

TimeTronics/Macfinish

Encoding

TimeTronics is capable of handling files with accents without any kind of encoding — when running the OpenTrack uploader, set encoding to 'no encoding'.

Alge

If you have downloaded the meetxml file from OpenTrack, a right-click in the meet browser element of Alge will give you the option to Import a New Meeting, and add the details of your meetxml. Using the update option later on in the meeting will allow you to update Alge with any changes.

To ensure your results files will be sent to the correct place, open ATL Exchange Settings from the top left of your meet browser and ensure the OptiXmlExport AutomaticExportDirectory is set to the same location as in the OpenTrack Uploader.

Recorder for XC and Road Races

How to easily record your results, if you don't have photo finish or chip timing for your Cross Country or Road Races.