Since OpenTrack’s inception, leagues have been at the heart of what we do. What started off as a results system developed to handle the ever-growing Surrey League in 2015 has expanded into a competition management system used across Europe to handle everything from club opens to national and international championships.
OpenTrack can handle the most intricate of scoring setups with ease, with up-to-the-minute team scores, when paired with live results. Team management has never been more straightforward, and licencing checks done on entry can prevent any awkward points deductions after the event.
This year’s National Athletics League made the most of this, with live team scores across five matches, giving athletes, spectators, and coaches access to the information they need instantly, whether trackside or on the other side of the world.
Having started off with bespoke coding, we are now developing a general-purpose system to manage leagues. This will allow the people managing the league to set up and control the different divisions and categories; to define the numbers allocated to each club; to collect payments if needed; and to handle the essential communications which go out to all the league clubs. It will also allow us to work out the season scores - not an easy task when the matches have varying structures throughout the season.
Persistent numbers, reused through the season, are key elements for many leagues. These can carry the sponsor’s brand, and mean that start lists are simply not necessary. Our screens let team managers allocate these at the start of the season, or the first time somebody wants to run.
This means that the results team just needs to capture the bib numbers and times; this can be done the traditional way with pen, watch and clipboards, with barcodes, or with chips. Either way, once the bibs and times are pasted into OpenTrack, the team scores, as well as the overall season standings, are available immediately.
The first to use the new general-purpose system is the Oxfordshire Cross Country League, whose first match is in November 2022.
To see if OpenTrack can simplify the management of your league, get in touch!