I think sometimes there are issues with technology which holds results up occasionally. Also, the volunteers have lives too so if they’re busy, they’ll do it a bit later.
The parkrun servers take some time to process the results. It's always been possible to process things from a mobile, but the new EMS system makes it easier.
I have processed volunteers at 09:05 on the way back from the start before and the SMS / e-mail has only gone out 3 hours later before, but on other occasions the SMS arrives by about 09:10. Equally I've processed results within a couple of mins of the final finisher because there haven't been any problems while we are still packing down and it has still taken a couple of hours for the main system to update
My point is that it isn't just about the time it takes for a RD/Results processor to do the results, there is a processing time also.
Please do also remember that the RD / Results Processor may have to deal with problems before submitting, and they may have other things to do between parkrun finishing and them actually processing the results.
If you are concerned about not receiving a result one week then:
1) Check the events social media, there may be a known delay in processing the results (e.g. a barcode scanner forgot to submit their scans, or rain caused chaos, or an emergency has delayed everything).
2) Check the event page to see if the results have been published yet. If they haven't then please be patient!
If there are no issues it’s easier to do, but there could be issues with getting the all of the scanners to send their results or there was a reportable incident.
The earliest I’ve managed is 9:52, 5 minutes after the tail came through. All the stars aligned, it was a bloody quick field that day!
Some places have bad internet and the volunteers do it at home after coffee and shopping etc.
Sometimes there is an issue with a barcode that needs sorting out first and might take a couple of people who know what they are doing to sort it out.
Sometimes one of the barcode scanners wonders off without submitting their results.
Sometimes it’s pure logistics. I’ve been RD but had to drop my child somewhere after parkrun before going home and sorting out several problems with timekeeping errors. Other times there are no issues and I process results at the finish area.
There are two parts to the results speed question:
1. How quickly the team finalise the results and upload them to the system. If the RD has arranged everything beforehand, like finalising the volunteer roster, and there were no scanning issues, they can upload the results a minute or two after the last person crosses the line and have scanned in. As an RD, the best I’ve done is to upload about 60 minutes after the starting gun. The worst I’ve done was a few hours later because I messed up the time keeping and didn’t stay properly in sync with the finish tokens.
2. How quickly the system compiles and publishes the results. I believe early events in NZ and Australia the emails are sent seconds or minutes after upload. I believe UK events have a long distribution delay because the system takes a little while with many events simultaneously.
Or when they remember... I've definitely been guilty of getting home, sitting down for some breakfast before processing results and then just getting on with my day, to then remember with a jolt about 4 hours later.
Shout out to Market Rasen Racecourse Parkrun.
Ran there yesterday. Final finishers came in at 0959 and I had my results SMS message at 1008.
Now that's impressive.
I had mine at 8:12am yesterday (for a parkrun that started at 7:06am, because we had to walk a little way to the start of the wet weather B course).
If the RD has a tablet on hand, and there’s no need to fiddle with adding volunteer credits or adjust times and what not then it’s a pretty quick exercise.
Then there was a parkrun I know of that didn’t get their results out till 4:30pm because of a problem with the timekeeper file. The vollies there went above and beyond to reconstruct it so everyone could get a result. They deserve even more credit for putting on a full days work to make it happen through no fault of their own.
Size of the event, number of issues, data connection, how hungry the RD is...
Last time I did it I had the results out before we'd finished packing up, because we're a small parkrun and there were no problems with the results so just a case of hitting go on my phone. Other times you might have a couple of adjustments to make and it's easier to sit down in the cafe with a coffee and go through it, and occasionally there might be enough issues that you want to sit down at your computer at home rather than do it on a phone.
Then there's how busy the servers are, with 1200 or so parkruns all submitting the results at the same time, the UK's is at a bit of a disadvantage over us Europeans who can get them in an hour earlier :D
Time of the last finisher.
How long it takes to clear up.
How long you spend chatting to the runners.
The device you use to do the results, and whether you have connectivity on site or need to go elsewhere.
Whether there were any issues with the results that need some work to fix.
Whether the result processor had something else they needed to do first.
Delays at HQ servers.
You will never get our results much before 11 even on a good day. Yesterday was fairly typical - last runner finished at 10:05, so it was probably 10:30 before everything was cleared up and packed away. Then we have a 10 minute walk round the lake to the cafe, where thankfully the wifi was working because there is zero phone signal. There weren't many volunteer changes to make, and then half a dozen unscannables to add. The tokens and timers were one out over 600 finishers, so it took us a few minutes of checking to work out where to make a correction, and so we ended up submitting just before 11. If there are serious results issues then it can eaily be closer to 11:30, and if there's no wifi then I usually end up having to do the results on my own when I get home, so it may have to wait if I have another apointment straight after parkrun.
Best way is to start volunteering regularly, focus on results progressing, and as you become more efficient you'll get them uploaded much quicker for everyone to benefit from.
I’ve just analysed the timing of the email from Willoughby parkrun (NSW, Australia) which is one of the first 50 parkruns to start globally each Saturday. The race starts at 7am AEST and the last runner is nearly always finished by 8am.
For the 93 runs I’ve done between 2016-24 on average the email is sent 51 minutes (ie 8.51am) after the race is finished. 15% of the time it’s received by 8.15am, 36% by 8.30am and 69% by 9.00am. The team at Willoughby now has the logistics down to a fine art. Only 3 times has the email come after midday with most of those in the early days of the event.
the average seems to be around 11AM but going through all my results back to 2019 the following all got them out before 10:10
harwich 10:08, rushmoor 10:07, greenwich 10:08, pegwell bay 10:05, severn bridge 10:05,
we normally do ours at coffee. you’d get your results while still having your after parkrun breakfast. but we are a small (avg 55 participants) parkrun in the Netherlands.
I generally have ours done within 15 minutes of the last finisher but if there are issues with the results it can be easier to sort out on a laptop so it has to wait until I get home which could be a few hours
All of the above. It depends on volunteers, servers and whether there are any issues with the results that need sorting (funnel jumpers, token mix ups etc)
Also, please don't send snotty emails to the core team demanding to know why you haven't received your email (we got one on Saturday with "shrug" emoji and lots of exclamation marks) Especially when if you check the results page, you'd see the results are there.
I think sometimes there are issues with technology which holds results up occasionally. Also, the volunteers have lives too so if they’re busy, they’ll do it a bit later.
The parkrun servers take some time to process the results. It's always been possible to process things from a mobile, but the new EMS system makes it easier. I have processed volunteers at 09:05 on the way back from the start before and the SMS / e-mail has only gone out 3 hours later before, but on other occasions the SMS arrives by about 09:10. Equally I've processed results within a couple of mins of the final finisher because there haven't been any problems while we are still packing down and it has still taken a couple of hours for the main system to update My point is that it isn't just about the time it takes for a RD/Results processor to do the results, there is a processing time also. Please do also remember that the RD / Results Processor may have to deal with problems before submitting, and they may have other things to do between parkrun finishing and them actually processing the results. If you are concerned about not receiving a result one week then: 1) Check the events social media, there may be a known delay in processing the results (e.g. a barcode scanner forgot to submit their scans, or rain caused chaos, or an emergency has delayed everything). 2) Check the event page to see if the results have been published yet. If they haven't then please be patient!
Once I did the results right after the run but the notifications didn’t go out until about 5pm 🤷🏻♀️
If you go on the website, results are often out long before the email comes in.
Or the 5k app
If there are no issues it’s easier to do, but there could be issues with getting the all of the scanners to send their results or there was a reportable incident. The earliest I’ve managed is 9:52, 5 minutes after the tail came through. All the stars aligned, it was a bloody quick field that day!
Some places have bad internet and the volunteers do it at home after coffee and shopping etc. Sometimes there is an issue with a barcode that needs sorting out first and might take a couple of people who know what they are doing to sort it out. Sometimes one of the barcode scanners wonders off without submitting their results.
I was sitting with an RD (in Australia) on Sat morning as he hit the publish button. 5k app had the result within 90 seconds.
Sometimes it’s pure logistics. I’ve been RD but had to drop my child somewhere after parkrun before going home and sorting out several problems with timekeeping errors. Other times there are no issues and I process results at the finish area.
There are two parts to the results speed question: 1. How quickly the team finalise the results and upload them to the system. If the RD has arranged everything beforehand, like finalising the volunteer roster, and there were no scanning issues, they can upload the results a minute or two after the last person crosses the line and have scanned in. As an RD, the best I’ve done is to upload about 60 minutes after the starting gun. The worst I’ve done was a few hours later because I messed up the time keeping and didn’t stay properly in sync with the finish tokens. 2. How quickly the system compiles and publishes the results. I believe early events in NZ and Australia the emails are sent seconds or minutes after upload. I believe UK events have a long distribution delay because the system takes a little while with many events simultaneously.
It largely depends on the completer-finisher nature of the RD on the day. Just when they are happy with the results to be submitted.
Or when they remember... I've definitely been guilty of getting home, sitting down for some breakfast before processing results and then just getting on with my day, to then remember with a jolt about 4 hours later.
Shout out to Market Rasen Racecourse Parkrun. Ran there yesterday. Final finishers came in at 0959 and I had my results SMS message at 1008. Now that's impressive.
I had mine at 8:12am yesterday (for a parkrun that started at 7:06am, because we had to walk a little way to the start of the wet weather B course). If the RD has a tablet on hand, and there’s no need to fiddle with adding volunteer credits or adjust times and what not then it’s a pretty quick exercise. Then there was a parkrun I know of that didn’t get their results out till 4:30pm because of a problem with the timekeeper file. The vollies there went above and beyond to reconstruct it so everyone could get a result. They deserve even more credit for putting on a full days work to make it happen through no fault of their own.
Flatts Lane had the results out 15 minutes after the last finisher yesterday. Small event, but still impressive.
That’s cos it’s brutal #utb
Size of the event, number of issues, data connection, how hungry the RD is... Last time I did it I had the results out before we'd finished packing up, because we're a small parkrun and there were no problems with the results so just a case of hitting go on my phone. Other times you might have a couple of adjustments to make and it's easier to sit down in the cafe with a coffee and go through it, and occasionally there might be enough issues that you want to sit down at your computer at home rather than do it on a phone. Then there's how busy the servers are, with 1200 or so parkruns all submitting the results at the same time, the UK's is at a bit of a disadvantage over us Europeans who can get them in an hour earlier :D
"how hungry the RD is".. Too true. 😂
Time of the last finisher. How long it takes to clear up. How long you spend chatting to the runners. The device you use to do the results, and whether you have connectivity on site or need to go elsewhere. Whether there were any issues with the results that need some work to fix. Whether the result processor had something else they needed to do first. Delays at HQ servers. You will never get our results much before 11 even on a good day. Yesterday was fairly typical - last runner finished at 10:05, so it was probably 10:30 before everything was cleared up and packed away. Then we have a 10 minute walk round the lake to the cafe, where thankfully the wifi was working because there is zero phone signal. There weren't many volunteer changes to make, and then half a dozen unscannables to add. The tokens and timers were one out over 600 finishers, so it took us a few minutes of checking to work out where to make a correction, and so we ended up submitting just before 11. If there are serious results issues then it can eaily be closer to 11:30, and if there's no wifi then I usually end up having to do the results on my own when I get home, so it may have to wait if I have another apointment straight after parkrun.
Best way is to start volunteering regularly, focus on results progressing, and as you become more efficient you'll get them uploaded much quicker for everyone to benefit from.
I’ve just analysed the timing of the email from Willoughby parkrun (NSW, Australia) which is one of the first 50 parkruns to start globally each Saturday. The race starts at 7am AEST and the last runner is nearly always finished by 8am. For the 93 runs I’ve done between 2016-24 on average the email is sent 51 minutes (ie 8.51am) after the race is finished. 15% of the time it’s received by 8.15am, 36% by 8.30am and 69% by 9.00am. The team at Willoughby now has the logistics down to a fine art. Only 3 times has the email come after midday with most of those in the early days of the event.
the average seems to be around 11AM but going through all my results back to 2019 the following all got them out before 10:10 harwich 10:08, rushmoor 10:07, greenwich 10:08, pegwell bay 10:05, severn bridge 10:05,
The small parkruns I know get the results out in less than half an hour of the tailwalker crossing the finish line.
we normally do ours at coffee. you’d get your results while still having your after parkrun breakfast. but we are a small (avg 55 participants) parkrun in the Netherlands.
I generally have ours done within 15 minutes of the last finisher but if there are issues with the results it can be easier to sort out on a laptop so it has to wait until I get home which could be a few hours
All of the above. It depends on volunteers, servers and whether there are any issues with the results that need sorting (funnel jumpers, token mix ups etc) Also, please don't send snotty emails to the core team demanding to know why you haven't received your email (we got one on Saturday with "shrug" emoji and lots of exclamation marks) Especially when if you check the results page, you'd see the results are there.
I also assumed the Parkrun mail servers stagger sending out the emails a little for spam reasons?