AUSTIN RUNNING

For Najera, timing is everything

RunFar has grown into a timing mainstay for Austin races

By Brom Hoban
AMERICAN-STATESMAN CORRESPONDENT
Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Raul Najera is a former 4:15 miler for the University of Texas-Arlington, so he's used to checking his time on the stopwatch.

But Najera — who owns RunFar, the race timing company based on South Lamar Boulevard — checks times for a lot more people now.

Though Najera, 41, continues to run, you won't often spot him in the thick of a race. Instead, you'll find him in one of RunFar's vans at the finish line of any Austin running competition.

RunFar, which formed in June 2003, has grown along with Austin as the annual number of races has increased.

That first year, Najera said, RunFar timed about 90 events. In 2007, it was at 215 events.

"We started out doing one or two races a weekend, and evolved to doing between eight and 10," Najera said. "We can do up to six events in a day."

RunFar contracts up to 20 people in Austin, Dallas and Houston to man the events, and relies heavily on technology to get the job done.

"I started timing in 1999 (before RunFar). We had runners finish in a narrow chute, and we'd pull the tags off the race bib in order of finish," he said. "We had a keypad and printer tape and we'd punch in the time manually."

RunFar now uses the ChampionChip timing system, a small transponder that tracks the runner's time as he or she progresses toward the finish line. Once a runner crossing the finish-line timing mat, separate software calculates pace and ranking. The live finish results can be instantly uploaded from one of RunFar's laptops to a Web site.

And though there are glitches, it's usually not the timing equipment.

"Right now, the only mistakes are human error," Najera said. "The technology is pretty strong."

A year ago, RunFar expanded its services to include online race registration. Last fall, it partnered with Kimbia Software of Austin, which specializes in web-based "donation" applications, to provide online registration, Najera said.

"The owner Thon Morse, is a runner, and he thought he could develop a race registration system that was simpler and more user-friendly then the two big ones — Active.com and sign-me-up com," Najera said.

So far, about 25 events have joined, including the Dallas and Houston Turkey Trots and the 3M Half-Marathon.

Registrants will get a chance to use the system for the upcoming Zilker Relays, set for Aug. 29. There, four-person teams race around the perimeter of Zilker Park, each running one 2.5-mile loop (walkers do a 1-mile loop) before handing off to their teammate.

RunFar will also be introducing the new ChronoTrack system there — a new technology with disposable tags which contain a little microchip embedded into the race bib, instead of a plastic chip tied to you shoes.

As race-timing technology continues to evolve, Najera sees some exciting prospects.

"I think what will happen is that we'll have special permanent checkpoints on different courses that will track your progress if you are wearing a ChampionChip.

"There will be underground antennae, and as you run over them — say on Lady Bird Lake trail — you'll see an outdoor LED display board showing your stats. You'll log into a site called timepoint.com and track your progress. There are already a handful of locations around the world using this technology."

Upcoming races

Moonlight Margarita Run, 8 p.m. Thursday at Veterans Dr. Go to www.townlaketrail.org.

Balance 5K for women, 8 a.m. Saturday at Auditorium Shores. Call (512) 638-0813.

If you have news or race listings pertaining to Central Texas running, e-mail Brom Hoban at bhoban@earthlink.net.

Brom Hoban | Austin running