JUDGING AND LAP SCORING

 

Judging and Lap Scoring

It is recommended that the Judges shall work in the following way:

 - the Chief Judge will take the 1st to finish the event;

 - the first judge will take the 1st and the 2nd;

 - the second judge will take the 2nd and the 3rd;

 - the third judge will take the 3rd and the 4th;

 - the fourth judge will take the 4th and the 5th;

 - the fifth judge will take the 5th and the 6th;

 - the sixth judge will take the 6th and the 7th;

 - the seventh judge will take the 7th and the 8th;

 - the eighth judge will take the 8th;

The Chief Judge will then take the results from each judge and determine the placing of the

athletes.

The Chief Judge will then go to the Chief Timekeeper to note the times on the event sheet.

For the long-distance races, a record will be kept lap by lap. This enables to check if any

athlete has been lapped and it also enables to indicate to the athletes the number of laps

remaining.

Several lap counters will be available. They should record the approximate time at which each

athlete completes each lap of the race.

Under no circumstances should the judging be done “in lane“.

It has been noticed that in major competitions, because automatic timing is being used, it is

not been thought of having finish judges, nor even backup timekeepers. This is a mistake.

Indeed, from 800 metres, the races are not run in lanes and the athletes all arrive in lanes 1

and 2. Of course, the athletes wear a number on the shorts, but sometimes these numbers do

not adhere very well to the material and they fall off during the race. This also happens in case

of rain. They can also be hidden behind the hand of the athlete or behind another athlete.

When all the athletes keep their shorts numbers and they are visible, the Chief Photo Finish

Judge can easily determine the placings. In the opposite case, the Chief Finish Judge must

communicate the placings to the Chief Photo Finish Judge.

Furthermore, in long-distance races and especially from 5000m upwards, some runners are

lapped. In this case it is necessary that:

 - the judges in charge of the lap counting indicate to each runner the number of laps

remaining till the end of the race.

 - a picture is taken of every athlete crossing the finish line so that a time can be determined

even if the athlete has run too many laps.

For these long-distance races, the Track Events Chief Judge must have checking cards kept

in order to know the running order of the athletes and the number of remaining laps they each

still have to run.

The final lap shall be signalled to each athlete, usually by ringing a bell.

There is a simple method which can only be used by experienced judges. It is to write down

the bib numbers in the order of crossing the finish line of the athletes and to take note of the

withdrawals.

This method is not to be used for the 20km and the 1 Hour events.

Starting: 15 runners.

Withdrawals: No. 57 (7 laps go), No. 23 (3 laps to go).

In the first laps when the athletes are still in groups it is difficult to write down the bib numbers.

In this case, the number of competitors should be counted in order to find out if there are as

many athletes left as at the start. This number should then be written down in the appropriate

column.

With 6 laps to go: runner No. 23 been lapped, a line should be drawn after the last athlete

remaining in that same lap.

With 4 laps to go: runner No. 32 has been lapped.