Actual Time vs Watch Time – what’s the difference?

When entering rider results, a time keeper has two options, Actual Time or Watch Time, as follows:

• Actual Time – the actual result for the rider for that event
• Watch Time – the time on the stop watch when the rider passed the finish line

When recording results using Actual Time, the time recorder would simply enter the result for that rider based on their own calculation. A time recorder would also record a result using Actual Time if they wished to override the Watch Time calculation.

When using Watch Time, ResultSheet will automatically calculate the Actual Time based on the following:

1. The time the event stop watches are synchronised
2. The duration of time between each rider pushing off
3. The rider number
4. The Watch Time entered when the rider has completed the event

For example, for an event starting at 6pm, the first rider is rider #1 and riders are pushing off every 60 seconds:

• Time keepers would synchronise watches at 6pm
• The first rider would have a number of #1 and be pushed off at 6:01
• When rider #1 completes the race, a Watch Time of 28:31 is recorded
• When rider #5 completes the race, a Watch Time of 31:21 is recorded

Based on each rider number, ResultSheet knows when each rider started and can therefore subtract the start time from the Watch Time. For each rider example above:

• Rider #1 went off at 6:01, so their actual time is 28:31 – 01:00 = 27:31
• Rider #5 went off at 6:05, so their actual time is 31:31 – 05:00 = 26:21

Therefore, for Watch Time to be calculated correctly each rider number must correspond with the time they are pushed off in conjunction with the interval between riders starting. For an event with riders starting at 60 second intervals, rider #15 needs to start 15 minutes after the stop watches are synchronised. For an event with riders starting at 30 second intervals, rider #15 would need to start at 7:30 minutes after the watches are synchronised.

When setting up an event, either Watch Time or Actual Time can be selected as the default recording method but this can be overridden by the time keepers for each rider if required. For example, if a rider was recorded with Watch Time but the time keeper needs to add a penalty, they would select Actual Time for that rider and record their time including any penalty given.