NEW: Photo-Based Timing Reads for Timers

Photo-based timing is available using RunSignup’s RaceDay Timer technology; RaceDay Scoring along with the free RaceDay Mobile app. Photos captured with RaceDay Mobile are now automatically converted into timing reads: every bib-tagged photo becomes a read with a bib number and captured timestamp that flows directly into your scoring setup, about 30 seconds after the shutter clicks.

Photo-based timing is designed to complement your chip timing system: RFID reads from systems like RACE RESULT or MYLAPS stay the source of precision, while photos add a new layer of data for timers.

Timer Operational Benefits

This new photo capturing capability brings three backend operational benefits to RaceDay Scoring Certified Timers:

New timing points from hardware you already own. An Apple or Android phone or tablet device running RaceDay Mobile at a water station or turnaround becomes an on-course split point, with no additional timing equipment.

An automatic backup at the finish line. When a chip doesn’t read, a tagged photo can fill the gap — no chasing down photographers or cross-referencing clock photos. Assign the stream as a Backup Stream and chip reads always take priority; photo reads are only used when no Main stream read exists for that participant at that location.

Visual confirmation built into scoring. Open any photo read in the Raw Reads view and the built-in viewer shows the full-resolution image alongside participant info, bib number, timestamp, timing location, and Used/Ignored status. Confirm the bib with your own eyes and keep or ignore the read with one click — all before awards are announced or participants check their phones for results.

Race Director, Participant Benefits

This all leads to timers’ ability to offer a new level of participant tracking and increased photos all throughout the course – without the need to purchase additional hardware. By adding on these abilities, you can open new revenue streams and continue to differentiate from timer competition.

Expanded participant 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, 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.

Photos are no longer just shareable memories. They are real-time reference points for your timing data. On-course photos are something races without a dedicated photo budget rarely consider, but now it is a reality using hardware already in your inventory.

How Photo-Based Timing Works: From Photo to Timing Read

How to use this new feature is straightforward:

1. Capture. Use RunSignup’s RaceDay Mobile’s Photo Mode to take photos at the finish line or anywhere on course. Choose Timed Interval for a steady cadence or Race Timing Trigger to fire the camera off chip reads from RaceDay Hub where a timing mat is positioned prior to the camera position.
2. Upload to Auto Tag. Photos automatically stream to RunSignup from RaceDay Mobile into designated album/locations, where Tagily scans each image for bib numbers. This happens automatically upon upload, before RaceDay Scoring ever sees the data.
3. Stream and Score. In RaceDay Scoring, add a RaceDay Photos stream and select the photo album/location it should stream from. Every 30 seconds, the app checks for newly tagged photos based on last seen timestamp. Each tagged bib becomes a timing read stamped with that photo’s capture time.
4. Review. Open any photo read from the Raw Reads view to see the image, verify the bib, and ignore or unignore the read right from the viewer.

If a photo read is being used for scoring, the viewer displays a clear warning reminding you that photo times are approximate and that a chip or Main stream read should be preferred when one exists.

Note: The RaceDay Photos stream is currently in Beta. We are actively refining it based on timer feedback.

A New Kind of Finish Line Backup

How many times have you used a race photographer’s photos to confirm a finish time for someone whose chip didn’t read? In larger, high-density events this is not uncommon, but it means chasing down a photo (once it’s available), finding a clock in the frame, or cross-referencing a nearby runner’s time.

Photo-based timing handles this automatically. In the Raw Reads view, you can see at a glance which participants have a photo read but no chip read at the finish. Open the photo, visually confirm the bib, check the participant details, and decide whether to keep or ignore the read — minutes after the finish, not hours.

Beyond the Finish Line: On-Course Splits Fuel Live Participant Tracking

Timers can also use this new photo-based data capturing for any other on-course checkpoints they may want to capture such as the course turnaround or water station. It serves a dual purpose; the race participants receive action shots of themselves on the course and the timer receives another verification point without extra timing equipment on the course at those locations.

Timers can use these additional splits to feed progress alerts via email and text using RunSignup’s notifications. RaceJoy Certified Timers can use this as a low-cost solution to deliver more timing-integrated participant tracking in RaceJoy so that all participants can be tracked.

In RaceDay Scoring, create one RaceDay Photos stream per album and assign each to the appropriate timing location. Photos from your finish line album go to one stream; photos from a mid-course album go to another. Each becomes its own set of split data.

Next Steps: How to Get Started with Photo-Based Timing

The easiest way to try photo-based timing is at a race where you already use RaceDay Mobile for photos:

1. In RaceDay Mobile, set up Photo Mode and choose your album.
2. Configure your auto-capture method: Timed Interval for a steady cadence, or Race Timing Trigger if you are connected to RaceDay Hub.
3. In RaceDay Scoring, add a RaceDay Photos stream. Select the same album and assign it as a Backup Stream for the appropriate timing location.
4. Start capturing. Photos upload to RunSignup, Tagily tags the bibs, and reads flow into RaceDay Scoring within about 30 seconds.

Not using RaceDay Mobile for photos yet? Give it a try at your next finish line. Organizers you have a strong relationship with are a great resource: offer photo capture at one of their events, help them add participant value, and see how photo data integrates with your chip reads. Have an on-course staff member capture photos at a turnaround or water station, then use those results as an example when pitching this service to other customers.

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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. 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.