As many of you know, we use a paper timer to record race times. As racers cross the finish line, their time is printed on a slip that resembles a receipt. When each racer is in the chute, they give their race tag with their bib number on it to the volunteer who keeps them in finishing order by slipping them on a wire clip. After all racers have finished, I copy the times to the appropriate finisher - in the order that they finished.

On this day, due to the rain, the paper timer failed to advance and a number of times were printed on top of each other. I noticed the error after the 33rd runner had crossed the line. I then had to manually advance the paper after each time was printed. The timer had 100 laps of memory, so I thought I could retrieve the times after the fact, however, was unable to do so (it was the first time I used this particular timer). I called several people who have used the timer in the past, but none knew how to use the memory funtion. I called the company, but could not get in touch with anyone who knew how to fix my problem.

I want to stress that the order of all finishers is accurate. Again, I apologize for the inconvenience. In future races, I will use at least two timers (one of which will have a memory function that I am familiar with).

Thanks for your understanding.

JP