E-punch Concerns for Event Directors
by Robert Lewis
BAOC has now been using e-punch for over two years and it has become the norm for A-meets and most B-meets. Competitors understand the use of the system and count on it for fast accurate results and splits. Although there have been a few isolated problems with control units at events, most of e-punch has worked flawlessly and now contributes greatly to the enjoyment of the sport.
Now it's time to get more people involved in the administration of e-punch. After all, it's not rocket science. Although a few brave souls have ventured into the world of programming control units and printing out splits, most of the effort has been with a very small core group of people. This article is the first of a series in which the mysteries of e-punch will be explained. (They'll eventually be compiled into a BAOC e-punch guide but for now, they're individual articles.)
This first article does not so much describe how to run e-punch but rather outlines how e-punch affects various aspects of an event. The article should be seen as an add-on to the Meet Director's Guide. Let's look at the various areas.
Event Director
The Event Director and the BAOC e-punch Director jointly decide if an event is to use e-punch. It is mandatory that all A-meets use e-punch and is the "norm" for all B-meets. An event director needs to justify why a particular B-level event should NOT use e-punch. E-punch is not normally used at C-level events. Once the decision to use e-punch has been made, the next duty of the event director is to decide on which courses to use e-punch. All e-punch events use e-punch for advanced courses and some have it for intermediate courses. A few items should be considered when thinking about non-advanced courses. 1) Few "beginner" and "intermediate" competitors have his/her own e-punch stick resulting in an extra $2 cost per entrant to rent an e-punch stick. 2) Few "beginner" and "intermediate" competitors are listed in the BAOC e-punch archive (since they don't have their own sticks.) This results in a lot of manual entry on the day of the event. There is also a fairly small limit on the number of characters that can be entered as an e-punch competitor's name. This is a problem with groups. 3) BAOC has a limited number of e-punch control units and stands (see course setter below.) There is usually enough for advanced courses (and maybe also an intermediate course) but probably not enough for beginner courses as well. The event director should inform the e-punch team if (and if so, what time) pre-runners will go out. When programming controls, the e-punch team specifies a "wake up" time that needs to be before the pre-runners enter the course. For most courses, this is set as 7am. Likewise, a "shut down" time needs to be specified. For most courses, this is set as 4pm. Competitors cannot punch controls after shut down time. The remainder of the event directors duties are to ensure each of the following people/groups understand their e-punch duties.
Course Setter
At the time of this writing, BAOC owns 50 control units. With 3-5 units in repair at any given time, another 6 or so for special purposes (clear, check, start, finish), and another 3-4 as spares in case a unit goes out, course setters can plan to use up to about 35 control units across all courses. There is no problem with sharing e-punch controls across courses. E-punch units can be programmed as any number between 32 and 250. Plastic plaques (with the same range of numbers) are available to stick on the control to identify its number. The numbers chosen need to be the numbers printed on the control sheets. It doesn't matter which numbers are chosen, but it makes it easier for the e-punch team if consecutive numbers are used (they don't have to be consecutive on the course itself, just the total list of controls to be programmed.) The course setter needs to provide the e-punch team a list of each of the e-punch courses and their (ordered) list of controls (i.e., Red-Start-104-108-102-…-99-Finish). This needs to be done at least a day before the controls are needed for set out. This is usually provided to the e-punch team the Wednesday evening before the event.
Control Setout
The longer the time before an event that the units are programmed, the more prone to failure the controls seem to be. For Sunday courses, the e-punch team avoids programming the controls before Friday evening. Setout is then usually done on Saturday. Controls can be set out on stands or hung from branches. Control stands have Velcro on their tops and the control units have Velcro on their bottoms. Hanging controls on branches requires a special technique. Since the clip on the end of the control bag string does not fit through the hole in the control, a loop should be made in the string and passed through the hole. The clip can then be passed through the loop, allowing for easy hanging. Helpers involved in setout should avoid having cell phones near the control units. They should also refrain from attaching the units to the stands until the stand has been firmly placed in its final location.
Pre-runners
Pre-runners going out early on the day of the event should carry one or two "pre-programmed" units in case a bad unit is discovered. In such a case, the pre-runner should swap the control number plaques (so that the unit doesn't appear to change. The plaque is attached by Velcro), leave the replacement unit and bring back to the computer center the bad unit. The computer center will need to know which units were swapped out. The computer center will make the appropriate number change in the event database.
Registration
Prior to an event, the meet director will announce which courses will be using e-punch. E-punch for a given course is "all or nothing." That is, if a course will be using e-punch, everyone on that course uses e-punch. If a competitor does not have his/her own e-punch stick, he/she will need to rent one. Registration will be informed of which courses are available and be provided with appropriate color-coded start stubs and two copies of the BAOC e-punch archive prior to registration opening. They will also be provided with a supply of rental e-sticks. During registration, if a person has his/her own stick, his/her name should be looked up on the archive list. If the name is found, registration should double check that the e-punch stick number is correct and then indicate on the list which course the competitor will run that day. If the name is not found, appropriate information (stick number, name, club, course) should be added to the blank lines at the end of the list. If a competitor does not have his/her own stick, registration should add appropriate information (rental stick number, name, club, course) at the end of the list. Two copies of the e-punch archive are provided so that registration can use one while the e-punch team enters information from the other into the computer database. Then the copies are swapped and the process is repeated. Information about a specific competitor only needs to be entered on one copy of the form. Each e-punch competitor should be provided with a color-coded start stub and told to fill out the form prior to approaching the starter for a start time. For e-punch stick rentals, registration should choose a starting number and work up from there. It is important to do this to ensure that the same stick does not get rented out twice at the same event.
E-punch Team (computer center)
The e-punch team has several responsibilities before and during an event. First, they must get the course information from the course setter (or event director). This information is used to program controls and set up the event database. The e-punch team programs the control units and makes arrangements to get them to the folks that will be setting the controls out for the event. Next, they set up the database with the controls, courses, and classes. The day of the event, the e-punch team is responsible for setting up the computer center (laptop and printer, attached to battery or electric outlet). They then receive one of the copies of the registrations sheets to populate the entries into the database. There is a column on the registration sheets to check off as each entry is made. The e-punch team is responsible for guiding competitors through the download process as well as collecting rental (yellow) e-punches after download. The e-punch team is responsible for ensuring split sheets are available for competitors and general results are printed out and displayed on a regular basis. Finally, the e-punch team is responsible for posting final results to the BayOnet for use on the web site and the bulletin.
Beginner Clinics
Especially for events where beginning and/or intermediate courses will be using e-punch, those giving beginner clinics should explain the e-punch process. Competitors should be shown how to wear the stick on his/her finger and how to punch at a control unit. Competitors should be told about using the clear and check controls prior to their assigned start time. They should be told that their "actual" start time is when they punch the start control. They should be told that, if they run into a control unit that does not seem to work (no light and/or beep), they should manually punch their map. They should be told that need to download their results into the computer and return their stick (if it is a rental) at the computer download station upon completing the course. They should be reminded that, as with non e-punch competitors, they need to be back at the finish line by the course closing time.
Starter
When an e-punch competitor arrives at the start line he/she should have with them a color-coded start stub with his/her name, car info, and e-punch number completed. The starter should add a "target start time" to the stub, based on the appropriate time gap for the event. This is a "target start time" in that the actual start time will be when the competitor inserts his stick into the start control. The starter should ensure that the number on the stick matches the number on the stub. The starter should remind the competitor to cycle through the "clear" and "check" punches to ensure data from all previous courses is removed from the stick. The starter should remind the competitor to use manual munching (on the map if fine) for any unit that does not seem to be working. The starter should make one last reminder to the competitor of the closing time on the course. At the "target start time", the competitor should insert his stick into the start control to begin his timing of the race.
Finish
Personnel manning the finish line should ensure that each competitor "punches" the finish control. They should then remind them to download results from their stick at the computer download station as soon as possible.
Results
Since e-punch results are provided by the e-punch team, the results crew need only be concerned with non-e-punch courses.
Webmaster
The e-punch team will send results in up to three formats. One format is a simple list of winners, their placements, and their times. The next format is a listing of individual leg and cumulative splits for each competitor. The final format is a "WinSplits" format (or a pointer to a WinSplits database) which provides detailed information on relative finish positions.
Control Pickup
During control pickup, there can be up to three items to be retrieved at each station-the electronic control unit, it's metal stand, and the control bag. The unit should be removed from the metal stand in the field and stored safely to avoid losing any of the units. Each unit weights approximately ½ pound (not counting the stand or the control bag.) Weight of the stands depends on which type of stands (if any) was used. The tag identifying which control number a unit was programmed as (which is attached via Velcro) should remain attached during pickup. This allows for the reading of data, if needed, from the controls. It should be noted that, for each event, a "turn off" time is programmed into each unit. At the designated time (usually about two hours after course closure) the unit will beep one last time and then shut off. This can be quite an experience for someone doing control pickup that has a pack with 15 of these units all shutting down at the same time.
As BAOC runs more and more events using e-punch, the above duties will become more and more natural to all the volunteers at an event. In most cases, e-punch lessens the work that has to be done at an event while making the event more enjoyable for the competitors.
