Yes, something similar has happened to me. When i ran the Miami Marathon a few years ago, the chip never registered my start time, only my finish time. So my "chip time" came up as my "gun time" which made no sense - it took several minutes extra to cross the start.

I emailed someone i found on the main website - i dont recall who, but eventually i heard back and they rectified the situation. For me it was helpful that i'd used my own stopwatch but also that i crossed the start with someone and could thus determine what the difference was between his chip and gun time to verify that my watch was accurate.

I realize that our situations are not exactly the same, but DO call / email someone who organized the race. If you had anyone you ran with or recognized names of people you ran against, its good to have that in your back pocket. Frustrating but hopefully you'll get it sorted out. So long as you are not trying to place, i'm sure the race director would understand...

Good luck!

It has never happened to me, but I think it happens a fair bit with the chip timing. For example, when you look at results online, lots of time there are partial times but no name. Weird. Last weekend I ran a race and got 2nd in my AG. When I looked at official results online, it listed me as first, but I saw a bunch of those partial entries. I am assuming whoever beat me had a chip problem. Fortunately (for her) the race directors sorted it out. So, contact the RD. They probably have part of your info and can sort it out.

quote:<HR>Originally posted by wayfool:
Hi all,

Thanks for the great anecdotes and advice. I got in touch with the race director and in conjunction with race photos and a serendipitous video clip my wife took of the finishing stretch, I was able to confirm my time. Thanks for all your help! It sounds like you were all able to satisfactorily resolve your problems as well... especially in the Boston Marathon story.

<HR>

Good for you, but due to people like you I have dropped another place in the official results.

Southern Man

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We're on a road to nowhere. Come on along.

quote:<HR>Originally posted by wayfool:
Southern Man,

I see your point. Your half was interesting in that your placing was determined not by your net time, but by your guntime. I thought for most races, that was the case only for the elites, but not for the rest of the runners. It seems strange to me that you finished behind several people even though your chip time was about a minute faster. Is this a new trend for races?<HR>

Official USATF rules require official results to go by gun time. I think it is the right thing to do. The only thing I am commenting on is that several names (3 to this point) have now bumped me down. I assume that was due to chip malfunction.

I don't really care about my placing though, I was just having fun. It was my own fault the gun time was so slow, as I was a late arrival and started far back in the pack.

Southern Man

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We're on a road to nowhere. Come on along.