Race timing that works when it counts

You can time with tags on shoes or chips in bibs, have our crew on site, have us support remotely, or self-deploy Barefoot Lite, at any scale. We build the setup around your event.

From small community events of around 100 people to races of up to 50,000 participants, on hardware proven at that scale.

Yes. Barefoot Lite is self-deployable, reusable-tag timing with live tracking that you can run yourself, without a crew.

Yes. Live results and real-time tracking are available for athletes and spectators, including on remote courses.

Yes. Supporters can follow their runner in real time from anywhere, and athletes get instant, shareable results as they finish, which lifts the whole experience of your event.

Yes. Sponsor branding and placements can carry across the live tracking, results pages and finish-line screens, so your timing becomes an asset you can package for partners.

Yes. Registration and timing share one system, so entrant data flows straight into results with no re-keying and one accountable team.

A race timing system records each participant’s time automatically using RFID chips and readers instead of stopwatches. Every entrant wears a chip on their bib, shoe or ankle. Antennas at the start, finish and any split points detect the chip and record a timestamp against that bib number. Timing software matches those reads to the entry data, then publishes results, splits and placings.

Most Australian and New Zealand timing providers quote per event rather than publish a price list, so the figure depends on your setup. Five things drive it: participant numbers, how many timing points the course needs, whether tags are disposable or reusable, travel and accommodation for crew, and how much on-site support you want. Point-to-point and remote courses cost more than a single start-finish line.

No. Nothing obliges you to chip-time a race, and plenty of events are still timed accurately with stopwatches, finish tokens and a spreadsheet. The practical trigger is finish-line density rather than field size. Once finishers start arriving in clusters, or you’re scoring several distances, waves and age categories off one line, manual timing starts producing errors and slow results.

Yes, and it starts to make financial sense once you’re running enough events to spread the equipment cost. Owning a system means an upfront outlay plus tags, the time to learn the software, and someone competent operating it on the day. For one or two events a year, hiring a timer is usually cheaper and lower risk. Organisers running a full calendar often bring timing in-house.

Often, yes. When registration and timing sit on different platforms, entries usually close several days out so the participant file can be exported, cleaned and loaded into the timing software. That costs you the late entries that arrive in the final week. Where registration and timing run on one system, the data is already there, so entries can stay open longer and race-day entries flow straight into results.