To Run as One or as a Group?

One of an Organisers Conundrums is whether to organise the run by setting competitors off every minute OR as part of a group of 8 (for eg.). There are many emotional factors affecting this decision making but from a data entry point of view I thought I would break this down into numbers so to aid the decision making process.

Risk - what can go wrong?

Clocks not working - in both cases there is always a chance for a button to be pressed accidently causing a watch to stop or reset or pause. However the knock-effect for the individual starting basis is greater - as the clocks are continually running. For the groups there are three or four clocks all recording one cohort so if one clock doesn’t work it won’t cause a big issue. There is also the option to use a free app to record the group running developed by the team @ Park run. Link HERE

Data entry - Both methods are prone to data entry issues - however conducting the run in groups reduces the chances of errors by 2/3rds!

Lost Running Slips - This is only a problem for the Individual Starting Basis as a print finishing sheet is a larger bit of paper and easier to store on a clipboard.