Back in the 20th century, registrations for open water swimming events were largely done by paper and hard copy entry forms. And timing was done by stopwatches and old-fashioned timing pieces.

Dial forward to the 21st century, and registrations in the open water swimming community – and many activities – are offered, compiled, and managed online while timing and final placing is done wirelessly and via transponders, timing chips, and sophisticated computer systems running on customized software.

Jason Moody is one such vendor. He has traveled throughout North America to provide services at elite competitions.

A principal of Regetta Timing in Waltham, Massachusetts, he has provided the timing – including split times – for the FINA Open Water Swimming Championships, the Traversée internationale du lac St-Jean, and several open water swimming events including the USA Swimming National Open Water Swimming Championships.

When races like championship events are conducted, the athletes must quality and pre-register. Handling these registrations, timing, and results are all in a day’s work for Moody and his team. But add the same-day, on-site registration to the mix, and the value of a great technical team is a sight to behold.

As the lines of anxious athletes register only minutes before the start of the race, the staff must enter all the information online and then assign timing chips to each athlete. It is controlled chaos, focused fury, managed mayhem to get all the names, ages, addresses, divisions, heats, times, and places matched correctly to each individual.

But Jason, like his colleagues throughout the timing and event management business, stay cool, calm, and collected minutes before the start and remain so until each and every athlete’s correct timing and placing is compiled and reported.

Copyright © 2013 by Open Water Swimming