III. Special Cases Affecting Chip Timing in Events

Special situations in chip timing tasks are quite common, and the main ones are as follows:

Chip miss-readings, where a participant passes a timing point but the timing device does not register the reading. There are many reasons for this, which will not be listed here. A missed reading means the participant has no raw data at a certain timing point, which leads to errors in the subsequent calculation of results.

Chip multiple readings, where a participant is not supposed to pass a timing point but is still recorded. This is mainly caused by the proximity of the race course to the timing device of another lane. This situation is quite common and has a significant negative impact on the calculation of results. For example, in a turnaround course, if there is a timing point before the turnaround, and the participant's route after the turnaround is very close to this timing device, it is possible for the chip to be read again after the turnaround. Similarly, in this turnaround course, if there is a timing point after the turnaround, and the participant's route before the turnaround is near the timing device, the participant might be read prematurely. If this situation is not addressed properly, and the results are calculated directly, it is very likely to lead to incorrect results.

These various special cases are bound to occur in real events, and timing personnel must have certain capabilities to handle these cases.