Time Trial Track Chicago: Seven Questions with MATTS Official Bill Cassidy

Today, Doug Peterson sat down with Bill Cassidy to ask him a few questions about his new timing and points calculation program that MATTS wants to implement for events in 2013. For those of you who do not know Bill, he is the head MATTS Race Official at most Mid America Time Trial Series Events. Bill plays and integral part in the timing of MATTS events.

Bill busily calculating times at the Bryce Master 20k TT

Here is an excerpt of the interview with Bill:

How many years have you officiated in the MATTS Series?
7 years

What do you like best about officiating in the MATTS Series? I enjoy talking racing with the riders and like to help out where I can.

How do you prepare for each event that you time in an effort to avoid any potential pitfalls? When I know I will be doing the timing, I test my laptop, printer, and timing system to make sure they are working. I also get a list of pre-registered riders to input in my spreadsheet.

I understand that you have created a new timing and points program for the MATTS series. What was your motivation for doing this? I have seen many instances where the results take too long. There also seems to be way too many methods used to provide results. I thought a standard system would be easier, and more efficient.

Can you tell the MATTS Riders a little bit of how your new timing and points system works and what they can expect if you are timing an event? I use a simple Microsoft Spreadsheet that has formulas for calculating results. This has been used in the past with mixed results.My primary enhancements to this are the locking of cells that contain any information required to calculate results. The other addition is a program that runs a clock on my Laptop and inputs raw times directly to the spreadsheet. The result is instant results as soon as a rider crosses the finish line, i.e, his/her raw time is automatically entered in the spreadsheet. The only input required by the finish line official is to hit the "f12" key, then enter the bib number. I have a printer with me at the finish line and can print up category results as the complete. Sorting by category has been a problem in the past. I hope to avoid these by locking cells, and testing sort prior to race day. I used this system at Cherry Valley and verified that it works well. If we had someone to run results from finish line to registration, we could have had most of the category results posted before all riders were finished.

Is you program user friendly for officials and registration staff, please explain? I would say at this point it is somewhat user friendly. Starting the program and inputting rider names/cat/teams is very easy. The spreadsheet has drop down menus for Categories, rider names, and teams, so you can select that way if you are not sure about spelling. Those fields can also be manually typed. Starting the program and capturing times is also very easy. Hit "f12", then type in the bib number next to the time. Two areas where there could be problems - sorting the results by category, and fastest overall riders is something that takes more experience. Also, if you hit the "f12" key by accident, or enter in a wrong bib number, you must make a note of that in the sheet. I will be working on a macro to take care of sorting, the other potential problems require some experience with the system. I will bring this system to the Banquet for anyone that is interested in taking a look.

Do you have any suggestions to improve the MATTS Series in the future?

In addition to making this timing system standard (I could easily train any promoter to use it), I strongly suggest we require all riders to initial the registration sheet, or waiver if registration is done on a laptop, right next to the CATEGORY they are racing. Two rides require two signatures.
Require the promoter to include a second set of race numbers at the start line so riders that change start times can also get the correct Number for the time they actually started.

MATTS wants to thank Bill Cassidy for his hard work and taking the time to share his new timing system with us. With Bill's vision, the MATTS Series will continue to build on its high standards. In 2013, the goal is to make Bill's timing software a standard at all MATTS events, which would make for consistency in timing across all MATTS events and results made available before the last rider finishes. Wouldn't that be nice?