Photo-Finish cameras and software record the athletes as they cross the finish line. Times are accurate to a hundredth of a second.
To anyone watching a race, it is sometimes difficult to determine who the faster runner is. Some races can be very close.
Here is an example of 2 runners from DJSS competing for 2nd and 3rd place. They are both very close and are running very fast but it can be clearly seen in the photo that Daniel DaRosa was ahead of Kaed Blake even if only by 5/100ths of a second!
The next photo shows a very rare occurrence in a Photo-Finish race. The 2 girls from Harry Camsell School finished at exactly the same time! Results are officially recorded by when the athlete’s chest crosses the finish line. When you look at the 2 girls, the evaluator’s red line clearly demonstrates the tie. The evaluator even zoomed in for a closer look (which is possible with the software) and the results were a perfect tie of 10.73 seconds!
Lastly, even though technology is great, it’s never perfect. During the meet, the entire town’s power went down. This meant our Photo-Finish cameras and software went down with it! However, the races did not stop. Our indispensable timing volunteers continued to record the races. They have tirelessly recorded the results of races for many years with their trusty stop watches and we wish to say thank you!
