Yesterday I was part of the volunteer timing team for the Head of the River race. It was run in good conditions. The temperature was about 8-10 degrees, with a slight North Easterly breeze.
The Head of the River has a unique timing system that they have developed over the years. They produce "Quick Results" from a combined tablet and laptop system; and then final times from a video camera at the Finish. They describe the system here: How we time the Head of the River Race.
My role was Spotter at the Finish, working together with the very capable Patrice. Last year we found that the Motor Vessel Interceptor was unable to lay an anchor, so this year a buoy was laid by the PLA. This was a success and we remained in one place throughout the race.
Patrice and I worked together by identifying the crews up ahead, but then giving them to the timers as they approached the line. I think this was a success. Otherwise if you call out crews too far ahead, the timers are busy with the ones approaching the line and can't absorb the information about the ones further up.
The race timing went very smoothly. We had few missing bow numbers, and few bunches of finishers. There were only three or four groups that were difficult to time. I heard from one of the senior umpires afterwards that the marshalling went very well, which I think is probably related.
As far as I know the "Quick Times" were out quickly, and the final times not much later. Congratulations to the HoRR timing team!