RACE RESULT and mika:timing showcase greener, more efficient on-demand bib printing and transponder programming at RUNNING USA conference.

February 28, 2022

Race Directors today are facing increased pressure to reduce their environmental impact and save money. Since the start of the pandemic, runner “no-show” rates have been increasing, which means event more unused bibs, packet materials and timing transponders thrown in the trash after an event – a substantial waste of money and materials.

Orlando, FL /ENDURANCE SPORTSWIRE/ – Race Directors today are facing increased pressure to reduce their environmental impact and save money. Since the start of the pandemic, runner “no-show” rates have been increasing, which means event more unused bibs, packet materials and timing transponders thrown in the trash after an event – a substantial waste of money and materials.

At the Running USA conference last week, timing technology provider RACE RESULT and leading timing company mika:timing demonstrated a new solution: on-demand bib printing and transponder programing. By printing bib numbers and programming transponders on demand at the expo, electronic and printed material waste from no-show runners is eliminated. This brings not only a much greener solution, but also represents a significant cost savings to events.

On-demand bib printing and transponder programming also allows teams to operate with 50% less staff or volunteers not just at the expo, but also in the process of preparing, sorting, and transporting the runner bibs to the expo. The result is also more flexibility for both the expo team and runners, who can queue at any counter at the expo to pick up their start packets. It’s even easy to have packet pickups at multiple locations, such as local sponsors or running stores. The on-demand printing keeps the flow of packet pickups moving and lines short. By experiencing an easy and efficient packet pickup, runners will spend more time browsing with vendors and sponsors at the expo. Late data entries or corrections can be done on the fly and printed, together with personalized runner instructions, on the bib numbers. Timing transponders are programmed efficiently with RACE RESULT Chip2Go machines. Pickups are faster and retrieval errors are virtually impossible. The expo is the runners’ second point of contact with an event and modern customer-friendly support is of great importance.

Harald Mika with mika:timing shares: “We’re excited to be able to showcase our sustainable and efficient solution for on-demand bib printing. We’ve been doing on-demand printing at large events for years and saved over 115,000 bibs in two major events last year alone. Being able to combine this with the RACE RESULT technology to program timing transponders on the fly at the expo really makes this solution cutting edge. We recently implemented this at a World Marathon Major last October. The positive feedback we have received from other race directors around the world looking to bring this solution to their events has been great and we look forward to working with some new races in the future.”

About mika:timing

mika:timing, based in Bergisch Gladbach, is a full-service partner for organizers of local, national and international sports competitions. The company is the market leader in Germany and one of the leading service providers worldwide. mika:timing manages approximately 400 events per year in the sports of running, triathlon, cycling, SwimRun, inline skating, cross-country skiing, enduro motocross as well as obstacle races. Many of the major international marathons, for example, use the services of mika:timing. The service provider accompanies organizers throughout the entire project, advises in the planning phase, takes over participant and data management and is on site with an experienced team, modern equipment and proven technology for timekeeping and presentation of results in the highest quality. mika:timing has a branch office in Switzerland (mika:timing Switzerland) and is represented in Sweden with its subsidiary EST. Since the beginning of 2022, mika:timing is also represented with a subsidiary in the USA. For more information, visit www.mikatiming.de.

About RACE RESULT

RACE RESULT is the innovation leader in the market of sports timekeeping technology. With headquarters in Germany and eight offices around the globe, RACE RESULT offers a complete timing package – from race numbers and event supplies to timing transponders and systems using active or passive timing technology including timing and scoring software. For more information, visit www.raceresult.com.