How to Run an Athletic Carnival with SplitFast

Running an athletic carnival involves dozens of moving parts — sprint races across multiple lanes, group finish events like the 800 and 1500 metres, field events happening simultaneously, volunteers in unfamiliar roles, and parents expecting to see results the moment their child crosses the finish line. SplitFast is designed to manage all of it from a single connected system.

This guide gives club administrators a high-level overview of the full carnival workflow, from setting up the meet in the portal the day before, to publishing final results on the day.

The System at a Glance

SplitFast connects three core components: the Wireless Timing Hub, one or more LiDAR Timing Gates, and an iPad running the SplitFast Timing App. All hardware communicates via long range wireless radio — no WiFi, no cables, no networks and no external infrastructure required. The Results Portal, accessed through any web browser at results.splitfast.com, is where you create and manage meets before the day and where athletes and parents view published results after each event.

For a full carnival, the Club Pack provides eight LiDAR gates — one per lane — covering up to eight athletes simultaneously in sprint events. The Field Events App, running on a separate iOS or Android tablet, handles jumps, throws, and high jump simultaneously with track events, with all results syncing to the same portal in real time.

Before Meet Day: Set Up the Meet in the Portal

The most important preparation happens in the Results Portal, ideally the evening before the carnival. Log in at results.splitfast.com and navigate to Meets, then select Add a Meet.

If you have run a similar carnival before, use the Copy from Existing Meet function. This pre-populates your entire event program, age groups, and volunteer requirements from a previous meet — saving significant setup time. Otherwise, build the program from scratch by adding age group rows and selecting events for each group from the sprint, distance, and field event categories.

During meet setup you will also configure your volunteer requirements. The portal organises roles into general meet roles (such as canteen and equipment setup), event officials (such as high jump and discus officials), and age group marshals. Once roles are defined, club members can sign up directly through the results portal or the Club Connect app — removing the need for the meet director to chase volunteers individually.

Before closing the portal, confirm that all club athletes are loaded in the members database. Athletes are filtered by age and gender when selected for each event on meet day, so having accurate records in advance saves time at the start line.

Morning Setup: Hardware in Under 20 Minutes

Arrive at the venue and begin hardware setup. Position the eight LiDAR gates on their tripods at the finish line — one per lane — with the LiDAR sensor facing across the finish line at approximately chest height, angled slightly downward. Power on the Timing Hub, then power on each gate. Gates connect to the Hub automatically via long range wireless; no alignment or reflector configuration is needed.

Open the SplitFast Timing App on your iPad. On the Devices page, confirm that the Hub and all eight gates are visible and connected. The app displays battery level and signal strength for every device, so any issues are visible immediately. A full hardware check before the first event takes only a few minutes.

The app will automatically sync all your meet details from the portal, including the event program you configured the night before. Your meet is ready to run.

Running Sprint Events: Multi-Lane Races Up to 400 Metres

For sprint events — 60m, 100m, 200m, 400m and relays — the SplitFast Timing App manages the full race workflow from a single iPad screen.

In Trial Setup, select your meet, choose the event (for example, Girls Under 13, 100 metres, Heat 1), and load the start list. Athletes can be assigned to lanes by drag-and-drop or barcode scanner. Once the start list is confirmed, tap Load Next to retrieve the trial and return to the Run page.

When athletes are set, the app issues the starting commands — including the "On your mark," "Set," and starting tone audio — through an external speaker connected to the Timing Hub via a 3.5mm audio jack. The start command triggers the timing system. As each athlete crosses the finish line, their gate fires and the result is transmitted to the Timing Hub and instantly displayed on the iPad screen.

Results can be reviewed and corrected on the spot — if athletes swap lanes or a gate is triggered by a spectator, the drag-and-drop editing feature lets officials fix assignments immediately. A single tap publishes the confirmed results to the portal and the Club Connect app, where athletes and parents can see them within seconds.

Running Group Finish Events: 800m, 1500m and Beyond

For distance events where athletes are not confined to lanes, SplitFast uses a single LiDAR gate positioned on the left side of lane one, angled toward lane three, with the detection range set to 2.4 metres. This covers both lanes 1 and 2, and reliably detects every athlete as they cross the finish line, regardless of where they finish across the track.

Setup follows the same workflow as sprint events — select the event in Trial Setup, load your athletes, and tap Run to begin the race. As athletes finish, they are marshalled into their order of finish and each athlete is assigned the appropriate finish position and time using a simple drag and drop.

Running Field Events Simultaneously

While track events are running, field events are managed on separate tablets using the SplitFast Field Events App, available on both iOS and Android. Officials record results for long jump, triple jump, shot put, discus, and javelin by entering distances directly into the app. For high jump, the app manages successive bar heights, athlete attempts, eliminations, and passes — including options for various elimination protocols — automatically ranking athletes as the event progresses. It even gives a suggested start height for each individual athlete based on previous performance. This is a real time saver!

All field event results sync to the same Results Portal as track results in real time, giving a complete, combined view of the meet without any manual data transfer or paperwork.

End of Meet: Review, Validate, and Publish Final Results

When all events are complete, the meet director reviews results in the portal. Any anomalies can be corrected before results are marked as final. The portal automatically identifies new personal bests and club records, flagging them with a NEW badge on the dashboard. Points are calculated and the season standings are updated.

Athletes and families can view their full results, personal bests, and points through the Club Connect app. The meet director can also export a complete results file for distribution or submission to a governing body.

What This Means for Your Club

From first sprint to final published result, the entire SplitFast workflow is designed to reduce the administrative load on meet directors and volunteers while delivering a more professional experience for athletes and families. Meets that previously required hours of manual paperwork, result entry, and announcement management now run in a fraction of the time — with fewer errors and real-time visibility for everyone involved.