Minden Booster Club Purchased Fully Automatic Timing System for Whippet Track and Field

Track season is about to begin and the Minden High School track and field team is getting ready with a Ful- ly Automated Timing (FAT) system from Eagle Eye pur- chased by the Minden Booster Club.

“This will allow our meets to be ‘official’ with our times,” MPS Activity Director Jason Strong said. “It’s a fully automated timer so we no longer use stop watch- es. It takes the human element out of it so it’s exact, it’s precise.”

The system uses cameras and lasers to provide fully automatic timing and race management for timed rac- ing events. Runners wear a number that is sensed by the system as they cross the finish line recording the most accurate time possible. In addition, photo finish timing cameras provide a reliable, definitive result for close contests.

“Coach Wheelock has been setting it up in his room and learning about it in preparation of the upcoming

track season,” Strong said.
FAT equipment has been around for quite some time,

but in the last few years it has become more main- stream. The equipment has become standard for any meet results to be considered official making it essential for hosting conference and district meets.

“I think it’s something that they’ve known they want- ed to do for several years. Knowing that, the Booster Club has been banking some of their funds,” Strong ex- plained. “It gave the coaches and us time to figure out which system we wanted.”

The coaches and district researched their options comparing prices and reviews.

“There’s a couple main companies that do these tim- ing systems. One of them is Eagle Eye and one of them is Linksys. We got the system with enough cameras we can flip things around and do whatever we want with it,” Strong said. “We did a lot of research and for the same

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