All marathon times to be reviewed
Errors in the timing system for the race are far more common than first suspected
Honolulu Marathon officials will review video of all 24,300 runners who finished the race to make sure their recorded finish times are accurate.
The move comes in the wake of a snafu with a new electronic timing system that malfunctioned, apparently because of heavy rain on Sunday.
Earlier this week race officials began comparing video with finishing times logged in the database after they realized that some of the times were inaccurate.
All the finishing times reviewed were off, either by a few seconds or as many as 70 seconds, Honolulu Marathon Association President Jim Barahal said.
Now, officials will cross-reference every second of video with the database to get accurate times for everyone who finished the race, a task that could take up to 500 man-hours.
"The degree of confidence in the results is small enough that we are probably going to have to look at each finisher," said Barahal. "Most people's times are probably fairly accurate. But in this game, fairly is not good enough."
Heavy rain on Sunday caused electrical shorts within a new electronic timing system used in the 35th annual Honolulu Marathon. SAI Timing's David Simms has said the equipment was not weatherproofed as well as it should have been.
Barahal has said the system was successful in other races and that it proved more portable than the previous ChampionChip system, which involved the use of heavy mats.
"We're not going to use SAI next year," Barahal said.
A system has been set up to review the video and compare the times with SAI's database.
"We do need a team of detail-oriented people who are looking at working long hours," Barahal said. He added that they may have to bring in officials from the association's Japan office for more manpower.
"One second of video takes one minute of work," Barahal said. "We weren't anticipating to do this. I doubt it's ever been done anywhere. But we're fortunate that we do have the video."