![]() ![]() So you are the last line of defense, that takes a load off….but don’t think that your job is any less critical than that of the touchpad or the pickle. You and a compadre are behind the blocks, waiting with either a Dolphin (we’ll talk about them later) or a Mark 1 Mod 1 Standard Black timing Stopwatch getting the times, and then either writing them down for a runner to pick up, or not (Dolfin timing). The digital system receives the start time from cables connected to the Starters Horn push button, and when pushed, the pickle terminates the timing for that lane, establishing and official time to back up the touchpads.ģ. This term will be familiar to almost anyone dealing with ordinance in the military, particularly aviation, as a weapons firing button is usually referred in slang as a ‘pickle’. The Pickle: In most facilities that host USA Swimming meets, there is one hub that receives all signals and feeds them into software from the pads and also from cabling and pushbuttons (2 per lane) that are called the ‘pickle’ buttons. If the swimmer, however, hits the wall on top of the pads, or without the requisite force to immediately trigger the stop signal, this is called a ‘soft touch’ and the system will roll back to the secondary timing system.Ģ. These pads are pressure sensitive, and will receive a pressure signal and relay that to the electronic timing system (also repeated onto the scoreboard if you have one), which will serve as that swimmer’s official time. The Touchpads: when you go time, the starter giving the Timer’s briefing (you should definitely go to the timer’s meeting if you are first time timer, or are the first timer in a shift of timers, regardless) will refer to the ‘pads’, which are a set of plates as wide as the lane and about 3′ deep. Here’s what those usually are in the average meet:ġ. The timing systems are called (by USA Swimming, not me, they’d never trust me to make up the rules!) primary, secondary, and you guessed it, tertiary. In most pools the times are determined by multiple, redundant systems with the human element being the final tiebreaker in the event the automatic systems are not functional. Actually this guide is probably good reading material for just about anyone who times, because some of you folks out there that think you are the bomb at timing? Not exactly. ![]() We are going to get you up to speed with this ultimate timer’s guide for idio…um, I mean newcomers. And God help you if you’ve never timed at ALL before! You may as well just put the I’M AN IDIOT T-SHIRT on right now….I kid, I kid. Depending on the facility that hosts your meets, your timing will be more or less so like your summer timing experience. ![]()
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