fsTimer

Free, open source software for race timing

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Free, cross-platform race timing with fsTimer

fsTimer is free, open source software for race timing that is under active development. It is cross-platform, meaning you can use it on Windows, Mac, and Linux (and more!). It handles all aspects of timing the race, including registration, recording times, and printing results. It was designed for doing timing at small to medium charity 5k races, but could be used for a variety of race types.

Some fsTimer features

• fsTimer is, and always will be, 100% free. If you are organizing a charity 5k, you don't want to blow all of your donations paying for professional race timing. fsTimer makes it easy to do your own race timing using volunteers.
• fsTimer will run on Mac, Windows, or Linux, meaning your volunteers will be able to run it regardless of their computing preference.
• Has a built-in database for adding and editing registration information.
• Allows you to use multiple computers for day-of registration, and then automatically merges the information collected on each computer. No more long lines the morning of the race!
• Can import pre-registration information from a spreadsheet.
• No need for expensive RFID tags.
• Only laptops are needed for timing, which is great for races held in places without power outlets (like in a park), and no Internet required.
• Supports using a USB barcode scanner to check in racers at the finish line.
• Automatically generates nicely formatted race results, including automatically computed divisional results based on the registration database.
• Supports races with multiple laps and automatically computes individual lap times and ranks by total time.
• Supports races with handicaps, or multiple start times.

Using fsTimer for your race

We developed fsTimer to time our charity 5k, since it didn't seem right to spend more than $1000 for a professional race timer when that money could be better used to buy food for the hungry. We have used fsTimer for races of up to 500 people. For larger races than that, you probably want to consider RFID tags just for the logistics.

When using volunteers and free software, there is always a chance of catastrophic failure. That said, we have successfully used fsTimer to time races for a few years now. If you are running a for-profit, non-charity race and cannot tolerate a chance of failure, you might be better off paying the professionals and getting the associated guarantees.

If you think fsTimer might be right for your race, then download the software (it's free!), read the documentation, and try it out! If you do use fsTimer for your race, we would love to hear about it - please send us an email at admin@fstimer.org! This software is under active development, so we are especially interested in hearing about new features that would be useful to you.

Questions? Problems? Bugs Unanticipated features? Send us an email, at admin@fstimer.org.
Check out the code base at Github.

Copyright 2016 Ben Letham.