Most of the stress in race week is not a timing problem. It is an information problem that could have been settled a month earlier, and it usually surfaces as a run of emails between you and your timer at the exact moment you have the least time to answer them.
Negative Split Productions sends every timing client a questionnaire once the agreement is signed. It is not paperwork for its own sake. It is the complete list of what we need to score your race, and a director who fills it in early buys back their own race week. This post is that list, in plain language, with the reasoning behind the parts that look like busywork and are not. If you have not booked a timer yet, the timing packages page covers what each package includes.
The short versionSeven things: who to reach on race morning, your schedule, your course, your awards, your race numbers, where and when to ship, and which add-ons you want. Most of it can still move later. One deadline cannot: race numbers are ordered the Friday three weeks before your event.
The seven things we ask for
Race day contacts. A name, a mobile number and an email for the person we call at 5am, plus at least one alternate. The alternate is the one people skip and the one that matters, because the primary contact on race morning is usually the person least able to answer a phone.
Your schedule. Every start time, every wave, and what happens between them. If the 5K goes off fifteen minutes after the 10K, we need that, because it changes how the finish line is scored rather than only when we arrive.
Your course. Distances, any splits or turnarounds you want captured, and roughly how wide your start and finish line are. An estimate is fine on the width, it just helps us plan what to load.
Your awards. Overall places, age groups, the age group breakdown, and anything unusual like team scoring or a masters division. This is what your results get scored against. Changing it later is a quick edit on our side, so just tell us when it changes.
Your race numbers. How many, how you want them grouped, and your artwork if we are printing them. Separate ranges for each distance are common, and a single run of numbers across everything works too.
Where and when to ship. A full address with a name or organization on it, and the date you want it to land. Bibs, chips and anything else physical all go to the one address.
Which add-ons you want. Participant tracking, an inflatable arch, a PA system, an announcer timing point, paid crew, or a referral to a vendor we trust. Each one is a yes or no on the form, and each one has its own lead time.
Two worth a moment before you fill it in
Most of the seven are quick to answer. These two are the ones where a little thought up front saves a conversation later.
How your numbers are groupedWe can score a single run of numbers across every distance, so grouping is not a timing constraint. Where it helps is out on the course: separate ranges per distance make it much easier for marshals to spot someone heading the wrong way. If you are setting your own course, that is your call to make.
The delivery date, not the race dateWhen you want the box to arrive is a different question from when your race is. Work back from your packet pickup rather than from race morning, and leave yourself a little room in case a shipment runs slow.
When each piece is due
The questionnaire goes out about 30 days before your event. Once you have it, the pieces have genuinely different deadlines, and only one of them is hard.
130 days out, the questionnaire arrives. Nothing is due the day you get it. This is just the point where filling it in costs you twenty minutes, and leaving it could cost you more.
2The Friday three weeks out, race numbers are ordered. This is the hard deadline. Quantity, sequence and artwork all have to be final, because the order goes to our bib vendor that day. We say Friday because races are generally on a weekend, so three weeks out lands on a Saturday.
3Two weeks out, the initial details. Schedule, course, awards and any add-ons you want. It does not have to be the final version, but it does have to be a real one.
4One week out, equipment changes close. After this point, changes to equipment and add-ons carry a race week loading fee.
5The Monday of race week, your box ships. Race numbers with the timing chips already installed, going to the one delivery address you gave us.
6Up to race day, the rest can still move. Schedule, course and awards can change right up to race morning, with one condition: we have to hear about it before we start setting up at the race site.
That timeline assumes your packet pickup is in race week. If you are handing packets out earlier than that, say so at the questionnaire stage rather than later, because every date above moves and the bib order moves the furthest.
What late information costs
Two of those deadlines have a price attached if you miss them, and both are worth knowing about now rather than finding on an invoice later.
Race numbers ordered lateOur bib vendor charges for rush production and expedited shipping. Past the Friday three weeks out there is not enough runway to avoid both, because the order still has to be produced, shipped to us, have chips installed, and then ship on to you by the Monday of race week.
Equipment changed in race weekChanges to equipment and add-ons inside the last week carry a race week loading fee. What it comes to depends on what is changing.
Everything else is free to move. Schedules shift, courses get rerouted, age groups get added, and none of that costs you anything as long as we know before setup starts.
Once the information is in, race morning itself follows a fairly predictable shape. We walk through the whole build, from the director arriving to the gun going off, in the race morning timeline.
Common questions
What if my numbers are not final when the questionnaire is due?Send what you have and tell us it is provisional. An estimate we know is an estimate is far more useful than a blank field, because it lets us plan equipment and crew while you finish registration. What we cannot work around is silence.
Why do race numbers have to be ordered three weeks out?Because four things have to happen in sequence after the order goes in. The numbers get produced, they ship to us, we install the timing chips, and then the whole lot ships to you in time for the Monday of race week. Three weeks is what that takes without paying our vendor for rush production and expedited shipping.
Can I change my award categories after I submit?Yes. Awards, your schedule and your course can all change right up to race day, as long as you tell us before we start setting up at the race site. What we cannot absorb is a change we hear about once the crew is already building your finish line.
What if my packet pickup is before race week?Then the dates above shift and we work them out together, so flag it on the questionnaire. Your box normally ships to arrive in race week, and a pickup earlier than that pulls the whole chain forward, starting with the bib order.
What if I am running a remote or do it yourself timed event?The information we need is broadly the same, but the equipment questions change and there are extra acknowledgements, because you are responsible for our hardware on site. How remote timing works covers what arrives in the box and which jobs are yours.
Planning a race?We time events across Texas and nationwide, and we will tell you what we need long before it is urgent.
