On race day · Penalty zone official
Running the penalty zone
Under TR 54.7.3, an athlete with three red cards from three different judges must stop in the penalty zone for a set time before carrying on. As the zone official, you stamp each athlete in and out. The system tells you who is due, counts down their time, and shows you when they may leave.
Only in penalty-zone races. A race set to DQ only has no zone:
three red cards disqualify straight away (TR 54.7.1), and the zone screen will refuse that
race's bibs with "This race has no penalty zone".
Before the race
- Check you're on the panel. The administrator puts you on the meet's judging panel as a penalty zone official. Without that, you can sign in but you won't see a race.
- Sign in at racewalk.deltasportstechnology.com on the Official tab, using your permanent code and 6-digit PIN. Pick your language first if you want to.
- Stay signed in all day. One login covers every race of the meet that you're assigned to.
- Use a phone or tablet with the screen kept awake, and charged. The countdown is easiest to read on a tablet.
- The race must be started by the chief judge or administrator before any bib will be accepted.
Your phone's clock doesn't matter. Every time is stamped by the server in the meet's own timezone.
The screen
Open 20 km09:14:32
Penalty Zone
41
COSTA A.
ENTERS
PENALTY
ZONE
PENALTY
ZONE
LEAVES
PENALTY
ZONE
PENALTY
ZONE
CONFIRM
In the zone now
3 RC Bib 57 — must enter zone120s required
IN ZONE Bib 1874s remaining
IN ZONE Bib 63MAY LEAVE
| Part | What it does |
|---|---|
| Bib box | Type the number. The athlete's name appears underneath when the bib is valid, so you can check it against the bib in front of you. |
| ENTERS / LEAVES | Choose one. Tap it again to deselect. |
| CONFIRM | Lights up once you have a bib and an action. The time is stamped when you press it. |
| 3 RC must enter zone | This athlete has three red cards and is due in. The time they'll have to serve is shown on the right. |
| IN ZONE …s remaining | In the zone now, with a live countdown. |
| MAY LEAVE | Time served. Release the athlete, then stamp them out. |
The list updates by itself as judges' red cards come in, so you don't need to refresh.
Step by step
When an athlete comes into the zone
- Type the bib and check the name that appears.
- Tap ENTERS PENALTY ZONE.
- Press CONFIRM as the athlete crosses into the zone. Their time starts from this moment.
- You'll see "Bib 41 ENTERS penalty zone", and the athlete moves to IN ZONE with a countdown.
Tip: you can type the bib and choose ENTERS as the athlete approaches, then press CONFIRM exactly as they arrive.
When their time is up
- Wait for MAY LEAVE beside their bib, then release the athlete.
- Type the bib, tap LEAVES PENALTY ZONE, and press CONFIRM as they leave.
- They drop off the list. On the chief judge's board their zone time shows as served.
The system won't stop an early exit, so you have to. If you stamp LEAVES
before the countdown ends, it is recorded as it happened, and the chief judge and recorder
can see the times. The screen informs; the zone official enforces.
What you say to the athlete
Only that they must serve their time in the zone. Don't tell them why, or which judges carded them.
How long they stay
The time is set automatically from the race distance (TR 54.7.3). Nobody types it in.
| Race distance | Time in the zone |
|---|---|
| up to 5 km | 30 seconds |
| up to 10 km | 1 minute |
| up to 20 km | 2 minutes |
| up to 30 km | 3 minutes |
| up to 40 km | 4 minutes |
| over 40 km | 5 minutes |
When something goes wrong
| You see / it happens | What to do |
|---|---|
| No signal (OFFLINE banner, or "No network — queued") | Carry on. The entry is kept on your device and sent automatically when the connection comes back. It keeps the time you pressed CONFIRM, not the time it got through (for dropouts of up to two hours). |
| "Bib 41 is already in the penalty zone" | They were already stamped in. If they've actually left, you probably missed the LEAVES stamp. Do it now, and give the recorder the real exit time. |
| "Bib 41 is not in the penalty zone" | There's no open entry to close. The ENTERS stamp was missed or went to another bib. Tell the recorder both times. |
| Wrong bib, or stamped at the wrong moment | You can't edit or delete zone times from this screen. Note the bib and the correct times and pass them to the recorder, who fixes them on their board. |
| Name stays at Unknown Bib | Check the number. Otherwise the athlete isn't in a race you're assigned to, or the race hasn't been started yet. Ask the recorder. |
| An athlete listed as must enter zone doesn't come in | Under TR 54.7.3 that's the chief judge's decision. Tell them straight away. The closing checklist will also flag the athlete as still owing zone time. |
| Two penalty-zone races are running at once | Stamping works for both: the bib decides which race it belongs to. But the In the zone now list follows only one of the races (the first one set up in the meet). Keep a paper note of athletes from the other race, or ask the recorder to watch their countdown. |
What happens around you
- A fourth red card from another judge disqualifies the athlete (TR 54.7.5). The system applies this by itself, and the chief judge looks after telling the athlete.
- The public posting board shows who is due in and who is serving, by bib only, never by name.
- Your in and out times go into the In/Out columns on the chief judge's board and onto the official summary sheet.
- When the race is closed you lose access to it immediately. If you're assigned to another race that's still running, you carry on with that one.
For the recorder: correcting zone times
On the recorder's board, right-click (on a tablet, press and hold) an athlete's In or Out cell:
- Change a time that was stamped a few seconds late, using 24-hour time.
- Add a visit the zone official missed, for example when two athletes arrived together.
- Clear the Out time to put the athlete back in the zone, for example if they were stamped out a lap early.
- Delete a visit recorded against the wrong bib. The times disappear from the board and the summary sheet, and the audit log keeps a note.
Zone times are a record, not a rule: changing them never disqualifies anyone by itself.
Quick reference
In bib → ENTERS → CONFIRM as they arrive
Wait for MAY LEAVE
Out bib → LEAVES → CONFIRM as they go
Mistake tell the recorder: bib + correct times