Last Saturday the Dutch Coast Race was held and timed with the latest version of CloudTimer. The Dutch Coast Race is an international surfski event, organised by Surfski Holland. About a hundred competitors from fifteen countries paddled from Castricum to Schoorl, a distance of about 22 KM. It took the winner, Sean Rice from South Africa, a little bit over 1 hour and 19 minutes.

The first mass start event

For CloudTimer, it was a milestone event, as it was our first official mass start race. A mass start race has very different technical challenges then a time trial race type (as canoe slalom). While the start is very easy, the challenge is at the finish line. The app and its operator have to handle the finishers in a more or less random finish order, and the athletes cross the finish line in groups or at a very close interval.

CloudTimer worked well and the results were published both on the internet, and results screen at the finish line almost instantly. Both during and after the race the, frequently visited, results viewer showed all athletes who were still on course or already finished. The Results Viewer not only enables a broad audience to follow the race, but it also helps the race organisation to display its sponsors.

We are constantly improving the app, and this race again learned us some important lessons on how to do further app development. But it also confirms the value of the CloudTimer platform as a very useful tool for small to mid size events of any kind.

You can check the results of the Bollen Boys Dutch Coast Race at at https://results.cloudtimer.nl/dutch-coast-race.html

We would like to thank the SurfSki Holland organisation for a great event at a very high and professional standard. We are looking forward to being there next year again!