This year’s Huntly Championships will mark a new stage in technological development for the club. In conjunction with Aberdeenshire Council we are piloting  electronic timing for the races. Racers will have a chip strapped to their ankle similar to that seen in World Cup Events. The chip will register when the competitor goes over the start and finishing line.

Coming to an ankle near you

The chip can also be used to generate split times and do lap counting – the bane of longer Huntly events over the last few years. The aim is to pilot the system in 2 or 3 races this year and hopefully have a fully automated system next year. This will probably involve permanently installing timing loops or a pipe for them in the rollerski track.

The system has already been used for cycling and triathlon events, but applying it to rollerski racing where there will be many races in one day and the layout of the Huntly track poses technical challenges for the timers.

Eileen, Sandy, Hilary and Claire can’t put their feet up as they will be responsible for the official timings this year and FIS regulations require a manual backup for any electronic timing system.