Timekeeping - primary duties

The primary duty of a timekeeper is to record the time it takes for an athlete to complete a race. 

You should arrive at a meeting at least half an hour before the first track event starts and find out who is the Chief Timekeeper to report to. You will be  asked what Level or experience you have - the Chief Timekeeper must know this in order to organise the team effectively.  If you are inexperienced, you should tell him/her, and you will most probably be paired with a more experienced colleague. You will also be asked if you are confident in taking two times. If not, do not be afraid to say so; we all had to go through the same situation when we first started.

The Chief Timekeeper will then ask you to time one or two finish placings - you do not time a particular athlete or lane. You may, for example, be asked to time fourth place in races up to and including 400m (sprints) and 4 & 10 in races over 400m. This means that you are required to time the competitor who crosses the line in 4th place (in sprints) and those in 4th and 10th in the longer races.

Having stopped your timer at the appropriate moment, you then wait until your colleague (if you are working with one) or the Chief Timekeeper asks you for the time recorded on your timer. All hand held times (as opposed to photo-finish) are returned in 1/10th sec. Your timer will show 1/100ths sec, so the time has to be adjusted (rounded up).

You should not, in the early stages, be asked to do additional duties such as calling lap times, taking lap splits etc. but it is in your own interest in learning the duties of a timekeeper, to watch closely what your colleagues are doing besides just taking times.  Click here to read about Secondary Duties.