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2Timer Help

Practical guides for humans, with structure that is easy for AI systems to parse.

Getting Started

Purpose

Walk through creating your first meet, loading participants, and confirming your timing setup is ready before race day.

Prerequisites

  • A desktop or laptop with a modern browser (Chrome or Edge recommended for File System Access API support).
  • 2Timer open at /app.
  • Optional: participant file (CSV, semicolon-format .txt, or RunSignUp export) and timing hardware directory accessible from this machine.

Step 1 — Create a Meet

From the home screen, use New to create a meet from scratch.

If your starting point is an existing file instead of a blank meet, the same home screen also offers Import options such as:

  • From 2T Backup
  • Hytek Semicolon Delimited

For a full comparison of those starting paths, see Starting a Meet.

The new-meet wizard prompts for:

  • Sport — Running, Cross Country, Indoor Track & Field, or Outdoor Track & Field. This controls time mode (gun-only vs. chip time), default display columns, and which features are available.
  • Genre — Refines the sport further (e.g. Road, Trail, Scholastic, Collegiate, Obstacle). Genre controls which default columns appear in results (team, age, city, grade) and sets scoring defaults for XC.
  • Name, date(s), and venue — Used in reports and exports.
  • Placement settings — Overall place by gun time (typical for road races) or chip time. Group place defaults to chip time and can be changed independently.

If you are creating a T&F meet, this is also the stage where 2Timer can start you with a Seeding profile, which gives the meet discipline-based default seeding behavior from the beginning.

Save the meet. You will land on the meet dashboard.

Step 2 — Add Events

Go to Events in the meet navigation. Each event needs:

  • Event number — Used for ordering, imports, and FinishLynx exchange. Keep numbers consistent with your HY-TEK or FinishLynx setup.
  • Name and distance — Displayed in reports and results.
  • Gender — Male, Female, or Mixed.
  • Division (optional but recommended) — Group events under divisions for structured reports (e.g., Varsity Boys, Open Women).

For Track & Field, choose the correct discipline (Sprint, Distance, Hurdles, Relay, High Jump, Pole Vault, Long Jump, Triple Jump, Shot Put, Discus, Javelin, Hammer, or Multi-event) so seeding, scoring, and display work correctly.

For multi-round events (prelims through finals), add rounds in the event editor and set the max entries per heat for each round.

Step 3 — Import or Enter Athletes

Go to Import and choose the source that matches your data:

  • CSV wizard — Flexible headers and delimiter detection. Maps columns to athlete fields interactively.
  • Semicolon entries — For .txt semicolon-delimited files exported from HY-TEK or other compatible platforms.
  • RunSignUp — Set up a RunSignUp connector first (see Connectors) then sync participants directly.

After import, check the summary counts and resolve any warnings (missing bibs, duplicate chips, unrecognized event references).

Use Athletes for roster cleanup and Entries to confirm each athlete is actually entered in the correct event. See Athletes and Entries.

For scored XC or T&F meets, do not treat team assignment as a cosmetic detail. Team codes feed:

  • team scoring
  • relay display
  • league-based report splits
  • double-dual league macros
  • team-lane seeding setup

If a team should remain in the meet but not count toward team scoring, mark it Unattached on the Teams page.

Step 4 — Assign Chips (chip-timed events)

If your timing system uses chip-to-bib mapping (e.g. disposable shoe tags that are not pre-mapped):

  1. Go to Chips in the meet navigation.
  2. Import a chip assignment file from your chip vendor, or enter mappings manually.
  3. Each chip ID must map to exactly one bib number.

Many rental chip systems provide a CSV with chip ID and bib pre-mapped; the CSV importer handles that format.

Step 5 — Configure Markers

Markers define the timing points in your course (start, finish, splits). Each marker belongs to an event and has a read window that sets the earliest and latest valid time for a read to be accepted.

  1. Go to Markers in the meet navigation.
  2. Create a Start marker for the gun time source and a Finish marker for the primary result.
  3. Set the earliest and latest valid finish times to define the read window. For a 5K, for example, that might be 10 minutes through 90 minutes after the gun.

The read window is the first line of defense against stray reads. See Markers and Reads for details.

Step 6 — Connect Timing Hardware

Go to Connectors and add a connector for your timing system:

  • FinishLynx — Choose the FinishLynx preset to import LIF/LFF and export PPL/SCH/EVT.
  • IPICO — Use the 3-location preset and assign start, split, and finish marker IDs.
  • MyLaps — Point to the folder where your decoder writes timing files.

Activate the connector. Incoming reads appear on the Reads page in real time. See Connectors for full setup details.

Step 7 — Test Before Race Day

Run a brief test with sample data or live hardware:

  1. Manually trigger a test read or use a test chip near the reader.
  2. Open the Reads page and confirm the read appears as Used or Pending.
  3. Check the Results for the affected event to confirm the entry updated.

If reads land with an error status (e.g. No Bib, No Marker), review the relevant marker assignment or chip mapping.

Setup details that are easy to miss

Before race day, also verify these sport-specific details when they apply:

  • XC meets: scorer/displacer settings and any ghost-runner rule your meet uses
  • T&F meets: seeding profile, event round counts, team scoring ladders, and scorer caps
  • Team-scored meets: Unattached teams are marked correctly
  • Team-lane meets: each team has the intended Lane Slot
  • Conference or head-to-head scoring meets: leagues are set up, or Generate Double-Dual Leagues has been run when appropriate

Verification Checklist

  • Sport and genre are set correctly (controls which features and columns appear).
  • Every athlete is linked to the correct event.
  • Bib numbers are unique within the meet.
  • Teams that should not score are marked Unattached.
  • Chips map to the correct bibs (if chip timing is used).
  • Each event has a start marker and a finish marker with sensible read windows.
  • A test read appears as Used in results.
  • Connector is active and logging incoming reads.

Related Pages

Metadata

  • Last Updated: 2026-04-18
  • Version: 0.6
  • Status: Active