Race 13 is starting while Race 12 is still being judged.

At a small meet, one computer and one operator do everything — the races give you time. At a busy event they don’t: Race 12 needs judging, Race 13 is walking to the start, the commentator wants Race 11’s times. Squeeze all of that through one machine and the judging gets rushed — and rushed judging is how close finishes go wrong. The solution sounds simple: more computers. The interesting part is what must be true for that to help instead of hurt.

Divide the work, not the race

A multi-desktop workflow puts each job on its own connected workstation: recording operator, judge, approval-and-publication. Capture never stops because judging is happening. But the rule that decides everything: you may divide the work; you may never divide the race. Every workstation must see the same meeting, race identities, evidence, and approval states — one shared record from several desks. The moment two computers each hold “their own copy” of Race 12, you’ve created the possibility they disagree.

The network is now timing equipment

Once workstations cooperate, the cables and switches between them deserve the same respect as the camera cable. Two questions separate robust from hopeful: does every station know when it’s stale — a silently frozen screen is the dangerous kind — and what still works alone if the network fails? Recording must continue locally; judging and publishing can pause, then reconcile deliberately. Lion Timing Advanced connects and synchronises workstations over the same live race data.

Next in the Academy: A recorded finish is not yet a result →