Customer Snapshot
- RaceDay Tools Used: CheckIn App, Photos, Results, Scoring
- Location: Garden State Plaza Mall
- Total Participants: 300+
Racefaster Through the Mall offered runners a race and exciting opportunity to race indoors at the Garden State Plaza Mall in Paramus, New Jersey. This 5K event took participants on 7 half-mile loops around the second level of the mall, provided real-time split updates and electronic communications after each lap. By moving the race indoors, organizers were able to create a weather-proof experience that kept participants out of the cold while still delivering all the energy and excitement of a traditional outdoor race.
Planning the Event with Visuals
Racefaster aren’t traditional race directors. They are a custom branded sneaker and apparel store, youth and school running program, and produce popular races throughout the year. Using Canva, Racefaster and Tristate Timing built mockups to illustrate how the race would look inside the mall. These visuals provided a clear and compelling representation of the event’s potential.
Promoting the Event
Promotion for this inaugural event was a true effort between the timing company, Racefaster, and the Garden State Plaza Mall.
- Grassroot Branding: Tristate Timing got hands-on with branding, adding their logo and QR codes to tablecloths and other surfaces to for quick, easy access to race results.
- Mall-Led Promotion: Garden State Plaza Mall played a major role in promotion, securing local media coverage, including a feature by News 12 New Jersey. They also handled much of the physical branding, including printing signage and constructing a start truss for the race.
- Email Marketing: Racefaster used Email V2 and their email list to get the word out to their loyal customer base.
- Engaging Visuals: The mall’s logo was integrated into the lap counter display on race day. Using Agee’s public display feature, lap counts were shown in a clean and user-friendly format—enhancing the spectator experience and reinforcing the partnership with the mall.
Race Day Execution
Executing a timed race inside a shopping mall brings unique challenges – tight space for participants, radio waves bouncing off hard surfaces, and short, continuous laps that required thoughtful setup and quick problem-solving.
- Chip Start and Reader Configuration: Racefaster Through the Mall used a chip start system, configured with Agee and RaceDay Scoring software. Due to the hard surfaces indoors, radio waves bounced more than usual, complicating read accuracy. The team adjusted by placing the side panel antenna strategically near a truss to avoid early reads. Despite high density at the start line, very few chip reads were missed thanks to the placement and bistatic configuration of backup reader
- Real-Time Adjustments: The timing team identified that the initial start time had been misconfigured, capturing the first read rather than the last start line read. This caused some early lap times to be inaccurate, requiring manual corrections. RaceDay Scoring was used extensively post-race to verify lap data, and update winner results.
- Hardware Setup: A dual-monitor setup allowed one screen to display lap counts to runners via Agee, while the other ran RaceDay Scoring for data verification and real-time updates. Agee also auto-triggered a DSLR camera on chip reads, capturing over 1,400 images—though these were manually uploaded post-race.
- Software Observations: The team noted that Agee works hard processing reads during dense chip starts, while RaceDay Scoring required more time input management but offered deeper flexibility. Together, they provided a powerful combination—one focused on participant-facing displays and another on data integrity.
- Lessons and Enhancements: This indoor race highlighted the importance of setting proper read gaps, real-time correction workflows, and having robust backup systems. While dense chip starts may still cause delays in processing, features like Agee’s auto-save and RaceDay Scoring’s flexible read editing enabled a smooth experience for most runners.
