Roger Mann punching a control
Roger Mann punching a control
In the past competitors carried a control card which they stamped with a pin punch. Designs of the punch pattern were varied at each control site. Checking the control card proved whether the competitor has visited the correct sites for their course.
In May 2000 BOK made a £10,000 investment to purchase Electronic Punching (EP) equipment. Using EP the control card is replaced by an ecard which the competitor dibs into a control unit at the start, at their allotted control sites and the finish. The ecard records the time at each control and the number of the site visited. This information is downloaded into a computer which checks that the correct controls have been dibbed and calculates the competitor's race time. BOK has continued to invest in this new technology and EP is now being used at most of BOK's events.
It is now 7 years since BOK became the first English Orienteering club to invest in electronic punching equipment [1], and much has changed in that time in respect of the system that we run.
The control units have been upgraded in terms of their internal hardware content, and also their external physical shape and dimensions. They are now smaller, lighter, and seem to be more robust than their predecessor. Since our last major upgrade over 18 months ago, there have been no hardware failures recorded with the BOK control units.
The computing environment used to process our results in the field is also significantly different to that which we started with. Initially we used just one laptop computer (occasionally two) with a single small printer to produce individual prints of split times for each competitor.
Now, after a few years of practice and refinement of our processes, we use a wireless network with three (sometimes four) laptops connected, 2 small printers for printing split times, and a bubble jet printer for on the day results printing for display. With this level of equipment and experience we have demonstrated the capacity to be able to manage results handling smoothly and successfully for the biggest events that are staged in the national orienteering calendar.
The early adoption of electronic punching proved fantastically successful for the Klub in the early days, with lots of neighbouring clubs keen to experience use of the new equipment at close hand, and as time progressed to hire the system to run their own events. The hire proceeds were so good, that within 2 years, the capital outlay for the equipment had been recovered in full.
The ongoing maintenance and support of this system is a significant challenge shared amongst several Klub members. If you have IT technical skills, and a bit of capacity to lend a hand once in a while, the Klub would be delighted to introduce you to the team which performs this support role. Please contact the Webmaster in the first instance to register your interest.
[1] For those new to electronic punching, a competitor carries a small electronic chip (dibber) which is dipped into electronic stations, which are located at each checkpoint set out on their orienteering course. The 'dibber' stores a list of the control stations and the times they were visited.
At the end of a course, the contents of the 'dibber' are downloaded into a computer. Each competitor is immediately given a printout that provides a summary of their performance. Full results may be displayed at the event and uploaded onto a website for scrutiny and analysis.
Our electronic punching system of choice was SPORTident (SI), equipment which is now used worldwide to identify, time and score competitors in many different types of event not just orienteering.