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Run a pack heat with a bib collector

A step-by-step walkthrough of the two-person pack flow, one operator flagging times and one recording bibs.

Finish crew3 min readUpdated August 18, 2026

A pack heat has no lanes, so finish capture splits into two jobs that run side by side: one person records when each runner crossed, another records who they were. This walkthrough covers both positions from setup through committing results.

Before the heat

On the starting line device, set up the heat as usual, choose the pack heat style, and set the classification (gender, age group, event). You do not assign bibs to lanes, because there are none.

Optionally attach the expected runners for the heat. This is the set of athletes you think will be in it, and it buys two things: bib autocomplete for the recorder, and one-step no-show handling afterward. If your meet has a heat sheet, this is filled in for you along with the expected field size.

Choosing your function

Both finish operators join the meet in the Finish Line role, then pick a function on the pack finish screen:

  • Flag Times — the sequence timer.
  • Bib Recording — the recorder.

Tap Ready once you have chosen. The toolbar indicator changes to show your function (Pack Timer or Pack Rec) so it is obvious at a glance who is doing what.

Position 1: flagging times

One large tap target, a live count, and the last few times. That is the entire screen, on purpose.

Tap once for each runner as they cross. Every tap captures the finish instant and assigns the next ordinal, which is never reused. The running clock on screen counts up from the gun so you can see elapsed time, but you never do arithmetic.

Two corrections are available:

  • Undo last — removes the most recent tap, available briefly right after it happens.
  • Void #N — after the fact, marks a crossing as void. It does not renumber the ones after it.

Tap on the torso, not the bib. You are recording a crossing, not identifying a person. Do not hesitate to confirm who it was. The recorder handles identity, and a crossing you are unsure about is still a real time.

If you are ever unsure whether you double-tapped, tap anyway and void it afterward. An extra crossing is trivially removable; a missed one is not recoverable.

Position 2: recording bibs

The recorder sees one row per crossing, in ordinal order, each showing its derived place and elapsed time as soon as the gun and the crossing are both known:

Place  Ordinal  Elapsed     Bib
  1       1     0:58.21   [ 102 ]
  2       2     0:59.07   [ 118 ]
  —       3       —       (voided)
  3       4     1:01.44   [  77 ]
  4       5     1:03.90   [     ]

Fill in a bib per place. If expected runners were attached, typing autocompletes against them. Validation runs inline as you go: an unknown bib, a gender or age-group mismatch, and a duplicate bib within the heat each flag immediately, with duplicates outlined in red on the offending fields.

If you have a helper at the chute, the Scan Bibs grid photographs each finisher, one slot per crossing labeled by place. Each photo is read automatically to pre-fill the bib, and the photo rides along with the result so the record keeper can check it later. A per-row camera icon reopens a single photo for correction.

Committing the results

Tap Record. You can commit the whole batch at the end (normal) or incrementally as you go.

On commit, each non-voided crossing becomes a complete result row with its official time computed against the gun. Those rows are indistinguishable downstream from lane-heat results: the record keeper, the public results page, and every export format treat them identically.

An empty bib on a committed row is fine. It records as a real time with an unknown identity, and the record keeper can attach an athlete to it later.

Common situations

SituationWhat to do
More crossings than expected runnersCommit anyway. Extra crossings are real times; identify them after.
Fewer crossings than expectedCommit, then mark the missing expected athletes as no-shows.
Two runners cross togetherTap twice in the order you saw them. Fix the order afterward if you got it wrong.
You lost count of who is whoKeep tapping. The recorder and the chute photos sort out identity.
A crossing was not a finisherVoid that ordinal. Places renumber, ordinals do not.

After the heat

Everything is correctable from the record keeper's device: swap a bib, reassign a place, or attach an athlete to an unidentified time. Nothing you commit here is final.

Did this answer your question? If something here is wrong, missing, or out of date, tell us at support@finishlinetimer.com and we’ll fix it.

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