The 2025 Timer Education Summit, held on January 28-29 at the University of South Florida Health CAMLS facility in Tampa, brought 120 timers from across the nation together for two days of education, innovation, and connection. With diverse education tracks tailored for both new and seasoned timers, the summit offered timers the opportunity to grow in the areas that interest them the most. Below are highlights from inside the Timer Education Summit.


Educational Tracks for Every Level
The Timer Education Summit offered two distinct tracks:
Introductory Track: Designed for those new to timing or onboarding new staff, this track provided an essential overview of RunSignup’s RaceDay Real-Time products and foundational industry knowledge. Attendees also had the chance to complete RunSignup’s Timer Certification courses, earning official certification status.
Advanced Track: For experienced timers, this track tackled complex challenges, shared advanced tips, and explored strategies for growing their timing business and new technologies. Participants gained actionable insights on optimizing RunSignup’s advanced features to elevate and streamline race day while increasing revenue.
Special Highlights

Celebrating 15 Years of Business
RunSignup is celebrating 15 years of innovation which has led to its current leadership position in the endurance industry. Our Founder, Bob Bickel kicked off the timer summit by sharing our employee-owned company’s foundational strategies and key milestones throughout the years. An essential part of RunSignup’s strategy includes a significant and ongoing investment and dedication to timers. We believe timers are the backbone of the race timing industry. The Timer Education Summit reinforced this commitment by showcasing advanced technology designed to help timers stay competitive and enhance the race experience.

Real-Time Version Five for 2025
Many sessions focused on emerging technology shaping the timing industry and new technology on the horizon from RunSignup. In particular, we shared plans for launching Version 5 of RaceDay Scoring Real-Time (a RUST rewrite for enhanced performance and chip timing integration with RaceJoy), RaceJoy Real-Time Version 5 (featuring advanced chip timing integration), and the Mobile Timing App Version 5 (introducing automatic photo uploads with bib auto-tagging).

Alan Jones Timer of the Year Award Winner: Fred Sommer, Sommer Sports
One of the summit’s key moments was the announcement of the 2025 Alan Jones Timer of the Year award. This year’s honoree, Fred Sommer, founder of Sommer Sports in Clermont, Florida, was recognized for his 42 years of innovation and leadership in the endurance event space. From pioneering triathlon timing to creating diverse race formats, Fred’s contributions have inspired countless participants and professionals in the industry.

All Four Timer Certifications
We shined the spotlight on the timers who completed all four timer certifications before attending the conference. These included:
- John Burke, Bay State Race Services
- Patrick Vasquez, Beach Bum Timing
- Eric Kramer, DRS
- Courtney Dziuba, FRESHJUNKIE Racing
- Crisp McDonald, GO Race Productions (instrumental in the origination of the timer certifications)
- Michelle Garr, Michigan Running Foundation
- Chuck Block, Michigan Running Foundation
- Tony Sapp, Negative Split Productions
- Ryan Jensen, Negative Split Productions
- Julie Stark, On Your Left Fitness & Timing
- John Adams, Presidential Timing
- Sarah Benedict, Road & Trail Events
- Jason Bigelow, Rotpac Racing
- Jamie Orr, Run the East
- Karen Haynes, Sea Knight TPS
- Lily Wu, Speed River Timing
- Brandon Wise, Wolf Creek Race Management
- Andrew Mascio, Wolf Creek Race Management
Thank you to all who have invested time in learning RunSignup’s RaceDay technology!

Timer Panel Insights
Our four timer panelists brought varying perspectives to the discussion. Panelists included Crisp McDonald (Go Race Productions), John Adams (Presidential Timing), Julie Stark (On Your Left Fitness and Timing), and Fred Sommer (Sommer Sports). Topics ranged from how and if they are helping events with their marketing efforts, their current largest challenges, use of remote timing and level of delegation, and ways they expand revenue opportunities with events. This is always a timer favorite and the panelists shared much valued insights.

Morning 5K Run with Live Tech Demo
Day two began with a 5K run along the Tampa Riverwalk. This wasn’t just any morning run—it featured a live demonstration of RunSignup’s RaceDay timing technology in action, showcasing RaceJoy’s new real-time timing integration with RaceDay Scoring for chip progress alerts. In addition, the RaceDay team showed off the soon-to-be-released Mobile Timing App V5 with automatic photo uploads for real-time bib taging and results integration. Special thanks to Fred Sommer for providing the timing equipment, chips, and manual labor!


Above are some photos of RaceJoy Version 5 and the Mobile Timing App photo Version 5 in action.

Roger Bradshaw Timer Sessions
Roger personally invited many Race Director timers so that he could meet with them and help them transition to RaceDay Scoring. Timers clearly flock to Roger and expressed appreciation for his continued support.
Networking and Collaboration
Beyond the sessions and activities, the summit provided ample opportunities for networking. Timers connected with RunSignup’s team for personalized consultations in the technology demo room and shared best practices with peers.
Until Next Time
The positive feedback from attendees has been great, and we are happy that the Timer Education Summit provided value timers wanting to offer a competitive timing business. We look forward to hosting this event again and continuing to support timers with the latest technology and education. For those who weren’t able to attend due to the event selling out, we’re sorry we missed you and encourage you to stay tuned for future opportunities to participate!
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