What is an Individual Event?
This means a sports race that is announced for a longer period of time, such as a month or a full season. Athletes will register as normal for such a race, they will be on the start and results list. You will continuously sell entry fees (along with medals, restaurant meals, discount on accommodation, or other quirks) over that period.
Athletes will be able to start and finish the race at any time after receiving their start number. Athletes have two options how to measure their split and finish times. You can modify their times, delete them, assign DNS / DSQ status, etc. Individual Events provide a simple solution for troubled times such as a disease outbreak or just another part of your event portfolio.
Tip:
Individual Event = the entire setup which consists of Individual Races
Individual Race = every race within your Individual Event, athletes register to Individual Races
Launching an Individual Event
To launch an Individual Event you must have an Event Organizer profile within ORGSU. Register here.
You can set up an Individual Event either from an existing event or you can create a new one. Select ‘Virtual Event’ in the ‘Event type’ box on the main setup page and hit save.
Choose a date from – to according to the duration of the Individual Event. When you scroll down to the ‘Race Day’ part ensure that the date is the same as the “to” date you specified above.
It is not possible to enter the race day schedule (start time, finish times, etc.) as the event runs over a long period of time. All other settings are the same as for a normal event.
In any case, you need to order a timing license to be able to set up your Individual Event. For details see our Licensing section.
Registration
Registration happens in the same way as for a ‘real’ event. You can create the registration applet in the ‘Event – General Settings – Applets related to this Event’ page.
All newly registered athletes (or teams) do not have a starting number assigned by default. BIBs can be assigned either directly in the ‘Registration Table’ or on the ‘Venue Registration’ page.
Tip:
It is not advisable to use the ‘automatic start number generation’ function for assigning start numbers in an Individual Race.
Because athletes will be registering at different times, you will have to assign BIBs on an individual basis. To make sure you don’t miss any of your athletes registering, set up an automatic email to notify you.
This is actually the only main concern for you; Orgsu.com will do everything else.
Just to reiterate: BIBs allocation is the only thing during the course of your Individual Event that you need to do.
Whether BIBs are displayed on the start list is toggled on the ‘Start List and Settings’ page.
Once the athlete has registered and paid the entry fee, you must provide them with their start number and instructions on how to measure their times. Times can be measured in two ways and you should ensure that your athletes know what to do. The timing options are discussed later.
Here is an example email you could send to your athletes after they have registered.
Dear Athlete,
Thank you for your interest in the Individual Race Field Run as part of the … event
….
Here are the necessary details you will need to time your race with the Orgsu Tracking App:
Race ID: xxx xxx
Private Key: yyy yyy
BIB: look at the start list
The app is available on App Store or Google Play.
Please follow these instructions https://www.orgsu.com/7in1/gps-tracking/app-tracking to test your app.
If you experience any problems contact us for support.
When your start number is available on the start list (within a few hours after registration) you can go and do the race.
Log in to the app before the race and make sure
- you are using mobile data (not wifi for technical reasons),
- that you have turned on location services only using your device (not from wifi or bluetooth).
If everything is OK, Gathered and Sent will increase as time goes on. If Sent is staying on the same number check the previous points and try again.
Once you are ready, you can turn off the display and put the phone in a convenient place with a good “view of the sky” – in your hand holder, in the top pocket of your jacket, at the top of your backpack, etc. Now you are ready to race! Enjoy!
After reaching the finish line, please log out of the app with the LOG OUT button.
Alternatively, you can measure your times using your sports watch. Record your activity as usual and then export the activity in .GPX format. Then in your athlete profile on our website go to Race Details – Import of GPS locations.
Best of luck and we are looking forward to your performance,
Organizing team.
Tip:
If your race includes swimming, i.e. in a triathlon, ask your athletes to use the ‘Run’ option for the entire race. GPS locations are really inaccurate in Garmin devices in open water swimming mode.
Timing Points
Regardless of the timing method used for your Individual Race your must still specify the timing points which will be used to calculate the times.
On the ‘Timing Points Management’ page, enter the GPS locations of all the points you intend to add to the route (start, splits and finish line). These points are entered irrespective of uploading the race course (either uploading a .GPX file or manually drawing the course on the ‘GPS Tracking Settings’ page).
Timing points for an Individual Event are characterized by at least 3 items: Abbreviation, Title and GPS position:
At the bottom of the same page it is necessary to divide the race route into sections using these timing points.
By default, the name of the sport is used as a Title for each section. Click the green arrow to choose which timing point should be used.
You can see that the sections are clearly connected to each other and the timing points are used logically in sequence as they were entered.
Timing the Individual Race
Orgsu supports two ways to time an Individual Race: Orgsu Tracking App or via athletes’ own sports watches. It is up to the athletes themselves to decide which one to use. Sometimes the Orgsu Tracking App can’t be used (swimming) and athletes must use their watches.
In both cases don’t forget to tell your athletes where the start and finish lines are! 🙂
I. Orgsu Tracking App
Summary of the essentials:
- Athletes download the Orgsu Tracking App from App Store or Google Play.
- Athletes need to test that their phone works correctly with the App. The instructions are here.
- Athletes must be informed of their BIB, Race ID and Private key
- Using these credentials, athletes log into the app when they are standing on the start line. Athletes do not enter any start times or anything during the course of the race. All that is calculated automatically.
- Sometimes smartphones turn off applications running in the background to save battery life. It is therefore crucial to switch off any power saving modes before starting the race.
- Athletes log off the app after they have finished the race. It is not necessary to log off exactly when they cross the finish line. After they have caught their breath is fine!
II. Using sports watches
Summary or the essentials:
- Athletes start their watch when they start the race and stop their watch when they cross the finish line. That is a pretty standard procedure that most athletes would do anyway.
- If your Individual Race includes swimming, ask your athletes to use the ‘Run’ mode for the swimming section.
- After the race athletes must export their activity into a .gpx file. See here how to do so for different brands: Garmin, Polar, Suunto
- If your athletes recorded their race as a Multisport (Garmin) they won’t be able to export their route to .gpx. They will export it to .fit file format and then either you or they must convert it to .gpx here: Convert .fit to .gpx
- After the race, athletes must log in to their athlete profile on your website. Inside their profile go to ‘Race Details’, select the race they just raced and import the .gpx file in Import of GPS locations.
- An alternative to the above point is that athletes send you their .gpx/.fit files and you import them on ‘Import of locations from GPX file’.
- The system will recognize if the locations don’t match the GPS locations of the race and won’t allow their import.
Tip:
Make sure that you have upgraded your website with our applets. Applets are not created automatically and you must create them on ‘General Settings – Applets related to selected event’ page. For more information see our Applets section.
Still on the page ‘Timing Points Management’, click Save and open Tracking Settings which will open a box with configuration for timing your Individual Race.
There are two important parameters which must be specified regardless of the timing method chosen, namely How often to send GPS and Perimeter. The minimal value for How often to send GPS is 1 second and for Perimeter 20 metres.
Based on the type of sport (expected speed of movement), these parameters will vary.
A 10 second interval and a 50-metre radius are selected in the 2 km run in the screenshot above. For a road bike race, it would be logical to increase the radius to 150 meters. For a race with walking poles, the radius can be reduced to 20 metres with a 20 seconds interval.
General rule of thumb: The faster the race the longer the perimeter should be. Don’t exceed 200 m though.
‘Enable Timing by Tracking’ must be set to ‘Yes’ for an Individual Event.
Clicking on CPS time evaluation will open a table with all timing points and the selected time determination method.
It is necessary to state that the accuracy of the calculation of technical times depends on the technology used. Timing with the smartphone app carried by athletes is very affordable and inexpensive, but accuracy cannot be compared to chip timing.
Tip:
If some athletes request for their times to be corrected (maybe their watch says something slightly different) it is possible to manually alter their technical times. You can do all this magic with technical times and more in the ‘Technical Times’ table.
Race publication and selling entries
The publication of the race and the sale of entries can be carried out like for any other race. You can use the ‘Race Calendar‘ , ‘Race Detail‘, or the ‘Race Registration‘ applet. If you are using only the ‘Race Registration’ service, always publish the start list separately. Do not lose your valuable internet traffic generated by the start list (about 40%).
Athletes can also be added to the start list manually from both the ‘Event – Registration Table’ and the ‘Event – Venue Registration’ page.
To be able to sell entry fees or sell items in your Eshop you will have to make a decision. Either you configure your own Payment Gateway and receive money directly to your bank account, or we will collect money on your behalf and send you the money in monthly installments. For details on how to set up a Payment Gateway see here.
Invitation to the race and taking part
Once you’ve set everything up (feel free to email us and we’ll check your configuration), you can send your athletes an invitation to register to your Individual Race. This invitation is about informing your athletes what you are doing and why. Why do you offer an Individual Race? Is it somehow related to current events? Athletes like to be entertained, so entertain them! (With taste of course.)
Tip:
An Individual Event can be changed back to a normal, mass event at any time and timed in a classic way (Timing App, chips, etc.).
Example of a possible invite
Dear Athlete,
We have prepared for you an alternative (new event) to our traditional Race around the Park. We will not cancel our race, because we want to keep you motivated to train and stay healthy.
On our website… www… you can now register for the race. As a bonus, (examples: discount on accommodation in the cottage, coffee, participant t-shirt…) are included in the entry fee.
After entering the race, we will send you your starting number by e-mail and instructions on when and how you can complete the race.
Thank you and we look forward to your participation and your performance.
Organizing Team
Results
When the Individual Event is over (time expires when you disable entries on ‘General Settings – Entry Fee’ page), then you can publish the unofficial and official results.
To do this, use the ‘Results’ applet (‘General Settings – Applets of the selected event’). Here is what the configuration page for applets looks like:
Installing this applet on a web page will provide an interactive results viewing service. See details on installing applets on your website in our Applets section.
On the ‘Results – Results Printing’ page, unofficial (or official) publication must be enabled:
Publishing the results applet dynamically displays both net and cumulative times, selected categories and columns:
The function of printing results to PDF offers wide possibilities for creativity. You can work with event and sponsor logos, columns title, choice of competitor statuses etc.
Series
If you want to announce a series and calculate its ranking, then an Individual Event can be counted into the series only after its official results have been published. For details announcing a series, see our Series section.
Licensing
As stated in the licensing policy, Orgsu will normally invoice 10 times the agreed operating fee from the purchased license value, unless otherwise agreed. If the organizer has a standard 4% license that applies to classic events, then for virtual events it will be 40%.
For example, the starting fee of £ 10 for a virtual race will be divided between 40% of Orgsu (£ 4) and 60% of the organizer (£ 6).
The price per athlete is £ 1.2 without VAT. The price of the timing and tracking license stays unchanged.
For a race with 100 athletes the price would be about £ 150.
