We are excited to announce our new photo-based timing solution that puts big-race technology within reach of every race budget. Using phones or tablets you already have on hand, your race can now deliver the real-time data and finish line coverage once reserved for the largest, best-funded events in the country.
Photos captured at the finish line or anywhere on course now deliver two things at once: a shareable image for the participant, and a timestamped, bib-tagged data point that feeds directly into results and participant tracking.
What Photo-Based Timing Gives Your Race
Photos captured at the finish line or anywhere on course now do two jobs at once: they become a shareable photo for the participant, and a timestamped, bib-tagged data point that feeds straight into results and tracking. That one change opens up a few things races have historically had to pay a lot more to get:
Real-time mile splits, from checkpoints that never had timing equipment before. Backup timing and verification for RFID-scored finish line results, so a missed chip read doesn’t become a scramble. Live participant tracking, powered by every photo-based checkpoint you add. And unlimited race photos, each one deliverable to participants and spectators in near real time and integrated with their results.
It’s a natural fit for small races and remote trail and ultra events working with limited budgets, and a low-cost way for any race — regardless of size — to add extra checkpoints along the course.
This may sound simplistic, but is gets the point across: the timing device is already in their pocket. What was previously only available at the largest events, like the New York City Marathon, can now be available at every race. A local 5K or a remote ultra can offer mile splits, live tracking, and finish line photos using the phones and tablets their team is already carrying.
How It Works, Briefly
The technology seamlessly runs across RunSignup’s RaceDay Real Time products. It starts with the free RaceDay Mobile app, which captures photos at designated points on the course using a phone or tablet. Photos upload automatically and are tagged for bib numbers with a time stamp, then stream into RaceDay Scoring as timing reads roughly every 30 seconds. From there, the data flows straight to participant results pages, tracking text notifications, and RaceJoy’s live participant tracking.
Chip reads always take priority over photo reads when both exist. Photo-based timing complements RFID precision rather than replacing it, adding a layer of data that was previously too costly for most races to achieve.
It’s a seminal moment for race timing in that sense: timing possibilities now extend across the entire course, not just the finish line, generating far more data for races to use — more progress alerts through text messages, more live tracking through systems like RaceJoy. And it still does what timers have always used photos for — confirming a finish when a chip doesn’t read — only now that process is automatic.
More Data Points, More Live Tracking
Each photo-based timing point can feed directly into the participant tracking options already available with RunSignup. Races can send progress updates through text message alerts or in-app notifications in RaceJoy, and spectators following along in RaceJoy see participants move across a map view as they cross each photo-based point on the course. The more photo-based timing points a race deploys, the more tracking participants and spectators receive — a handful of phones becomes a course-wide tracking network.
Unlimited Photos, Delivered Within Seconds
Photo-based timing is built on RunSignup’s free RaceDay Photos platform, which gives races unlimited photo uploads at no cost — and every photo can carry a chosen sponsor’s logo or watermark, creating a new sponsorship asset at each checkpoint. The RaceDay Mobile app puts the whole process on autopilot: photos are captured automatically, tagged by bib, and delivered to participant results pages within moments, without anyone touching a computer. That near real-time delivery gives spectators more than pace and progress — they see what the participant is experiencing at each point on the course, as it happens.
Available Now
The RaceDay Photos timing stream is available now in Beta for all RaceDay Scoring Certified Timers, at minimal added cost — just the phone or tablet you already have. RaceJoy is available exclusively through RaceJoy Certified Timers. If you’re a race director, talk to your timer about adding a photo-based checkpoint at your next event. Timers with questions can contact soren@runsignup.com or reserve one-on-one time here.
Timers are able to complete timer certifications at their own pace and can access instructions here.