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The Head of the River Race - Intermediate times and statistics
Additions in 2006
Information has been added to the tables in 2006, and a new CSV file which groups all the data together is also available.
New field names, used in the CSV file are mentioned in THIS STYLE in the notes below.
It is hoped to convert files for previous races into the new format.
These notes have been revised, and have yet to be thoroughly checked (1 March 2006).
Introduction
While the primary purpose of the timing system is to determine the finishing
order and the overall times taken by crews, there is a wealth of information
which is available because intermediate times are recorded at Barnes BAR and the
ARA ARA at Hammersmith as well as at the start STA and the finish FIN.
The timing system at the start and the finish relies on four independent
systems, and a high level of accuracy is normal. Smaller teams of people and
less robust systems are used at Barnes and the ARA office. However, if mistakes
occur or crews' times are missed at these points, the timekeepers will be aware
of the problems, and will not publish unreliable times.
Clocks and systems used at start and finish
The single most difficult part of the timing data to obtain is the finish, partly because crews often come in groups (not necessarily in numerical order), and partly because Putney Pier restricts visibility from the University Stone. An accurate record is ensured by recording the entire race on video tape with time base, from which individual times are extracted. This process is lengthy, even though it is started soon after the first few crews finish, and complicated by difficulty of reading crew numbers which are often unclear on a frozen picture. This is aided by a commentary, which requires the tape to be running at normal speed, leading to frequent stops, with backward and forward tape movements.
In order to have provisional times available rapidly, direct computer input is
used, and this is normally accurate to about half a second, although this will slip when crews are close. It has been found that it is essential to have at least three data sources to ensure there is no doubt about the correct version when records disagree (timekeepers are human, and dealing with numbers at a rate of one digit per second for an hour and a half is very testing). Besides the two sets of data already described, the judges finishing sequence is put directly into the computer over a radio link, and a fourth set of data is captured by a conventional stopwatch and paper system.
These four sets of data are compared in a specially written computer program
which highlights differences for manual checking and correction, and this results in a finish pattern which has proved over the years to be a very sensitive indicator of possible errors.
The arrangements at the start are similar, with the exception of replacing the video
camera with a cluster of 4 digital clocks specially built for the race. The start is simpler than the finish as crews are generally separated, and in the correct numerical order, but four independent sets of data are captured (2 direct into the computer), and the computer program again highlights any problems.
There are further checks, with stopwatches which are carried from start to
finish several times during the race, and there are other checks in place to
ensure that at least three timing systems agree, within very tight limits.
Clocks and systems used at Barnes and ARA
Times are recorded using direct computer input and separately by digital
stop watches which are synchronised to GMT via radio clocks which pick up
signals from transmitters at Rugby. The GMT time at which the main timing
computer clock is started is also known, so timing along the course is
synchronised.
Timekeepers have difficulties at Barnes and the ARA if large numbers of
crews pass the points in short periods of time. Times are seldom lost as at
least two independent records of times are kept.
Checking of times using patterns and statistics
As already mentioned the time and sequence details form patterns at
the start and finish which are sensitive to errors, and this has been extended
to the race as a whole, so that possible errors are highlighted, and the
timekeepers check these to ensure that any errors are eliminated. Thus any
figures which may appear unusual will have been checked, and may be taken
as correct. If a crew is shewn in the Statistics as having similar deviations
to the crews in its immediate location in the finishing order, there is very little to question about the basic data and hence the conclusions almost certainly cannot be changed.
There is a pattern of deviations which can be generated in at least 2 different ways. This is when there are 2 adjacent deviations - e.g. Barnes - ARA and ARA - Finish which differ substantially from the surrounding figures, and have opposite signs. This can arise due to an error in a time - in this case at ARA - but this cannot happen without other disturbances to the pattern. The timekeepers have checked for these disturbances, and the time will have been replaced with an NTT if the operational records indicate good reason to question it. The other explanation is that the crew concerned had a materially different performance over a particular part of the course and the timekeepers believe that all such questions have been properly resolved.
More notes about variation of times are given here .
The definitive official finishing order can be found at
http://www.horr.co.uk/index.htm.
Charts and more statistics can be found at
http://www.horr.co.uk/charts.htm
Sequence in which crews pass each timing point
The full list for the current year is available in an
<ASCII> text file.
The following is an extract to assist in the interpretation of the notes below.
Final sequence list for 2006 Race : Prepared 31-Mar-06 10:43:50
..........Start .........Barnes ............ARA .........Finish
@SEQ #NUM GMT #NUM GMT #NUM GMT #NUM GMT
COD TGS COD TGS COD TGS COD TGS
@001 #001 11:37:14.10 #001 11:40:27.97 #001 11:47:34.91 #001 11:54:42.60
LDR1 18.73 LDR1 22.54 LDR1 27.08 LDR1 31.88
@002 #002 11:37:32.83 #002 11:40:50.51 #002 11:48:01.99 #002 11:55:14.48
IMP1 19.00 IMP1 18.12 IMP1 14.85 IMP1 9.04
@003 #003 11:37:51.83 #003 11:41:08.63 #003 11:48:16.84 #003 11:55:23.52
ZFG 14.63 ZFG 13.62 ZFG 15.90 ZFG 22.04
@004 #004 11:38:06.46 #004 11:41:22.25 #004 11:48:32.74 #004 11:55:45.56
MBC1 10.81 MBC1 16.11 MBC1 28.41 MBC1 38.00
@005 #005 11:38:17.27 #005 11:41:38.36 #005 11:49:01.15 #005 11:56:23.56
OXB1 11.77 OXB1 13.76 OXB1 9.38 OXB1 6.52
@006 #006 11:38:29.04 #006 11:41:52.12 #006 11:49:10.53 #006 11:56:30.08
TSS1 14.65 TSS1 21.62 TSS1 25.74 TSS1 30.92
@007 #007 11:38:43.69 #008 11:42:13.74 #008 11:49:36.27 #009 11:57:01.00
ZGS 6.90 ZVG 15.73 ZVG 8.37 LDR2 0.60
.... etc
This list is printed in sequence order (SEQ) for each timing point, and shows times of day (GMT) at which crews numbered (NUM) with short names (COD) passed each timing point and the gaps (TGS) between adjacent crews at each point.
The starting interval between crews is nominally 10 seconds, though there are some gaps of about two minutes before the new entries as well as between other sections because of the marshalling arrangements which are used above Chiswick Bridge and on the course itself, which has to be crossed by crews returning upstream to boathouses after racing.
The average starting interval during the 90 minutes taken to start all crews in the 1999 race was just under 14 seconds.
The time gaps between crews are notoriously difficult for oarsmen and coxes to judge during the race. "We gained/lost two or three lengths on so and so." is often heard after a Head Race. This table pin-points the gaps (TGS) between crews at the four timing points.
The following symbols are used to help search for information in pages:
- # indicates the number of a crew
- @ indicates the position of the crew in the race as far as one of the timing points
- $ indicates the sequence number for the crew at a location
- % indicates the position of a crew in a section of the race between two adjacent timing points.
If you wish to download a plain text version a page of results without notes for use in a text editor,
then click on the appropriate <ASCII> tag.
Crews in order of speed to each timing point
The full list for the current year is available in an
<ASCII>
text file.
The following is an extract to assist in the interpretation of the notes below.
Final elapsed times and positions for 2006 Race : Prepared 31-Mar-06 10:42:47
........Barnes ...........ARA ........Finish
PFR #NUM @TFR #NUM @TFR #NUM @TFR TBW GRP
COD TBF COD TBF COD TBF
@001 #001 03:13.87 #001 10:20.81 #001 17:28.50 1
LDR1 1.92 LDR1 4.20 LDR1 3.19
@002 #004 03:15.79 #003 10:25.01 #003 17:31.69 00:03.19 1
MBC1 1.01 ZFG 1.27 ZFG 7.41
@003 #003 03:16.80 #004 10:26.28 #004 17:39.10 00:10.60 1
ZFG 0.88 MBC1 2.88 MBC1 2.55
@004 #002 03:17.68 #002 10:29.16 #002 17:41.65 00:13.15 1
IMP1 1.44 IMP1 5.98 IMP1 9.85
@005 #015 03:19.12 #009 10:35.14 #009 17:51.50 00:23.00 1
ZHB 0.83 LDR2 0.97 LDR2 4.83
@006 #016 03:19.95 #018 10:36.11 #018 17:56.33 00:27.83 1
IMP2 0.02 LRC1 1.43 LRC1 3.76
@007 #009 03:19.97 #020 10:37.54 #016 18:00.09 00:31.59 2
LDR2 0.49 ULO1 1.21 IMP2 0.95
.... etc
The following information is shown
Sections
- Start - Barnes
- Barnes - ARA
- ARA - Finish
Data
- Crews in speed position order @PFR , with the cumulative times they took to reach each timing point TFR.
- Crew Code (COD), Time Gaps (GIT) between crews at each timing point.
- Time by which each crew was beaten by the overall winner (TBW)
- Group (GRP) into which each crew has been placed for statistical purposes. Crews finishing within 30 seconds of the winner are placed in Group 1, the next 30 seconds in Group 2, and so on.
The following symbols are used to help search for information in pages:
- # indicates the number of a crew
- @ indicates the position of the crew in the race as far as one of the timing points
- $ indicates the sequence number for the crew at a location
- % indicates the position of a crew in a section of the race between two adjacent timing points.
If you wish to download a plain text version a page of results without notes for use in a text editor,
then click on the appropriate <ASCII> tag.
Overtaking Information
The full list for the current year is available as an
<ASCII>
text file.
The following is an extract to assist in the interpretation of the notes below.
Final Overtaking list for 2006 Race : Prepared 31-Mar-06 10:42:43
#007 ZGS SB -#008 -#009 BA -#010 -#011 -#012 -#013 AF -#015 -#017 -#018 -#014 -#019 -#020
#008 ZVG SB +#007 AF -#009
#009 LDR2 SB +#007 AF +#008
#010 DUB1 BA +#007
#011 ZBM BA +#007
#012 ZHR BA +#007
#013 ZPA BA +#007
#014 ZWL SB -#015 BA -#016 AF -#017 -#018 +#007
#015 ZHB SB +#014 AF -#016 +#007
#016 IMP2 BA +#014 AF +#015
#017 LDR3 AF +#014 +#007
#018 LRC1 AF +#014 +#007
#019 LRC2 AF +#007
#020 ULO1 AF +#007
#022 OXB2 AF -#023
#023 KRC1 AF +#022
#024 ZBY AF -#025 -#026
#025 HEN1 AF +#024
.... etc
This list shows the crews involved in overtaking in the three stages of the race:
- SB - Start to Barnes
- BA - Barnes to ARA
- AF ARA to Finish
Example : Crews are shown in numerical order in the left hand column. If crew nnn overtakes crew
mmm between Barnes and ARA, and then is overtaken by ppp and overtakes qqq between ARA and
Finish this is shown as
nnn BA +mmm AF -ppp +qqq
Crews not shown on the list were not seen to have exchanged positions with any other crew at the
timing points, though they may of course have over-taken and then been caught by the same crew,
or vice versa between timing stations.
Crews whose times at an intermediate point are dubious and are shown perhaps erroneously to have
been involved in overtaking, are shown *xxx in this list.
Crews involved in overtaking both ways round (aaa takes bbb, then bbb takes aaa) are shown with
<<< to the right of the second passing, and have their numbers under-scored with ^^^^.
Group Information
The full list for the current year is available as an
<ASCII>
text file.
The following is an extract to assist in the interpretation of the notes below.
Final Group data for 2006 Race : Prepared 31-Mar-06 10:42:43
Group Crews Start Barnes ARA
in to to to
Number Group Barnes ARA Finish
0 408 18.54% 40.29% 41.17%
1 6 18.62% 40.62% 40.77%
2 18 18.58% 40.49% 40.92%
3 55 18.57% 40.38% 41.05%
4 66 18.52% 40.33% 41.15%
5 75 18.49% 40.22% 41.30%
6 58 18.49% 40.20% 41.31%
7 52 18.51% 40.29% 41.20%
8 78 18.62% 40.28% 41.10%
.... etc
The numbers shown are the percentages of the total time for the race taken by the groups of crews split into half-minute batches. The crews whose overall times are within 30 seconds of the winner are allocated to group 1, the next half minute to groups 2, and so on.
Group 0 consists of all the crews in the race.
It is noticeable that the faster crews (those in low-numbered groups) go off more steadily than slower crews (though faster in absolute terms, of course), and that these faster crews spend fractions of their whole course times in the middle phase of the race between Barnes and the ARA.
Putting it another way, the weaker crews tend to go too fast off the start, and perhaps have enough energy to do a relatively fast final burst. They go relatively slowly over the middle part of the race.
Crews in numerical order
The full list for the current year is available as an
<ASCII>
text file.
The following is an extract to assist in the interpretation of the notes below.
#Final numerical order list for 2006 Race : Prepared 31-Mar-06 10:42:59
.........Start ........Barnes ...........ARA ........Finish
#NUM - COD - CLB
@PFR @TFR @PFR @TFR @PFR @TFR TDR
STA %PFS %TFS %PFS %TFS %PFS %TFS OTI
PRZ DFG DFR DFG DFR DFG DFR GRP
NPD $SEQ GMT $SEQ GMT $SEQ GMT .
TBW
#019 - LRC2 - London II
@014 03:23.60 @012 10:43.95 @012 18:11.75 6
S.1 %014 03:23.60 %010 07:20.35 %014 07:27.80 1
V 0.72 1.21 -1.72 0.47 1.02 -1.67 2
$019 11:41:16.05 $019 11:44:39.65 $019 11:52:00.00 $018 11:59:27.80
+00:43.25
#020 - ULO1 - University of London I
@008 03:20.46 @007 10:37.54 @009 18:03.02 6
S.1 %008 03:20.46 %007 07:17.08 %012 07:25.48 1
V -0.80 -0.31 -1.46 0.72 2.27 -0.39 2
$020 11:41:25.90 $020 11:44:46.36 $020 11:52:03.44 $019 11:59:28.92
+00:34.52
#021 - WRR1 - Worcester I
@039 03:27.43 @046 11:00.66 @053 18:45.60 36
%039 03:27.43 %049 07:33.23 %071 07:44.94 .
JA -1.54 -1.24 -1.34 -0.29 2.90 1.54 3
$021 11:41:37.16 $021 11:45:04.59 $021 11:52:37.82 $021 12:00:22.76
+01:17.10
#022 - OXB2 - Oxford Brookes University II
@087 03:31.86 @067 11:07.72 @080 18:59.56 39
S.2 %087 03:31.86 %063 07:35.86 %095 07:51.84 1
P 0.87 0.61 -3.74 -3.28 2.89 2.69 4
$022 11:41:47.56 $022 11:45:19.42 $022 11:52:55.28 $023 12:00:47.12
+01:31.06
#023 - KRC1 - Kingston I
@034 03:26.28 @019 10:51.49 @020 18:25.11 24
S.2 %034 03:26.28 %017 07:25.21 %027 07:33.62 1
P 0.92 1.41 -2.27 -0.05 1.37 -1.35 2
$023 11:42:05.41 $023 11:45:31.69 $023 11:52:56.90 $022 12:00:30.52
+00:56.61
#024 - ZBY - Banyoles CN (Spain)
@061 03:29.36 @055 11:02.96 @060 18:47.38 17
%061 03:29.36 %051 07:33.60 %067 07:44.42 2
OS 0.06 0.36 -1.69 -0.63 1.65 0.28 3
$024 11:42:13.66 $024 11:45:43.02 $024 11:53:16.62 $026 12:01:01.04
.... etc
The following information is shown
- Line 0 : Crew number NUM code COD and Club Name (CLB)
- Line 1 : Crew Position PFR and Time TFR in Race from the start as far as each timing point.
The figure in (TDR) column indicates the total deviation in rank position for the crew for
the three parts of the race when compared with its final position. If the crew maintained a
steady position for all three sections of the race, this 'TDR' would be zero. A high 'TDR'
indicates large change in position, which may be caused by a crew blowing up, or by bad
steering or a problem in some part of the race.
- Line 2 : Status(STA); Position (PFS) and time taken (TFS) by crew for section of race between adjacent timing points. Total absolute deviation of these positions TCP from final position is shown on the right if it is non-zero.
The figure in the (OTI) column indicates the number of overtaking incidents the crew was involved in, as indicated by the sequence in which
crews pased timing points.
- Line 3 : Prizes PRZ for which crew was entered.
The group (GRP) to which each crew is allocated is fixed in half minute intervals from the time of the fastest crew over the course. (Crews within 30 seconds of the winner are allocated to group 1, those between 30 seconds and one minute to group 2, and so on.)
The spread of the group numbers in the final order gives an overall view of the variability of strength of crews from year to year, and also indicate the fortunes of new entrants.
The two times given in ss.hh for each each location indicate the
deviation of the performance of the crew relative to all crews in the same half-minute
final-time grouping (DFG) and relative to all crews in the race (DFR), for each
section of the race. This figure is obtained by multipying the crew's overall time by the
average proportion of the course time taken for each section of the race by all crews in the
same group GRP (for DFG) and for all crews in the race (for DFR).
A positive variation indicates that the crew went slower than average over the section, a negative score that it went faster.
NB - the total deviation for each crew is zero, so these scores indicate relatively slow and fast parts of the course for the crew, NOT overall speed.
It is interesting to note that weaker crews sometimes go quickly off the start and
near the finish, while the better crews perform relatively better in the middle of the race.
- Line 4 : The sequence (SEQ) and the time of day (GMT) as HH:MM:SS.HH (GMT), at which each crew passed each timing point.
The variability of performance of a particular crew over the three stages of the race can be
seen by tracing its positions (PFS) at Barnes, ARA and the finish with a pair of lines drawn in the
manner of a traditional bumps chart. A flat line indicates steady performance, while a steeply
sloping line would indicate variation.
More notes about variation of times are given here .
The following symbols are used to help search for information in pages:
- # indicates the number of a crew
- @ indicates the position of the crew in the race as far as one of the timing points
- $ indicates the sequence number for the crew at a location
- % indicates the position of a crew in a section of the race between two adjacent timing points.
If you wish to download a plain text version a page of results without notes for use in a text editor,
then click on the appropriate <ASCII> tag.
The CSV file - new in 2006
The csv file contains all the data from which other lists have been compiled.
Data for crews that have been disqualified or awarded time penalties have been suppressed.
The field names consist of six letters each.
| The first three letters |
| CRE | | Crew information |
| STA | | Data for the Start |
| BAR | | Data for Barnes, or the part of the race from the start to Barnes |
| ARA | | Data for ARA, or the part of the race from Barnes or the Start to ARA |
| FIN | | Data for Finish, or the part of the race from ARA or the Start to the Finish |
| RAC | | Data for the Race |
| The above codes are followed by three more letters, making six-letter column headings: |
| The Crew headings are: |
| CRE | ARA | ARA code for Club. Not available here for all clubs. |
| CRE | CLB | Club Name |
| CRE | CRN | Crew entry within Club |
| CRE | ROM | Crew Entry (Roman Numbers) |
| CRE | NPD | Status (Blank or DNS=Did not Start; PEN=Penalty time awarded; DISQ=Disqualified) |
| CRE | LTP | Last Timing point for crew. (This will by 4 for crews that finish. 3 indicates that Start, Barnes and ARA times were taken, but that the crew did not finish.) |
| CRE | CLA | Classification |
| CRE | PRZ | Prize Eligilibity |
| Timing headings are appended to place codes (STA,BAR,ARA,FIN,RAC) |
The notes here refer to several crews.
MyCrew is the crew we are interested in
Faster is the crew which beat MyCrew by one place in the race or the part of the race being considered.
Slower is the crew which MyCrew beat by one place in the finishing order of the race or the part of the race being considered.
Earlier is the crew which passed a timing point immediately in front of MyCrew.
Later is the crew which passed a timing point immediately behind MyCrew.
Fastest is the crew which was fastest in the race or the part of the race being considered.
| | TBW | Time Behind Winner | The time by which Fastest beat MyCrew |
| | GRP | 30 second Group | Crews are put in groups according to overall times |
| | TCP | Total Abs Change in Positions | The total number of places MyCrew went up or down between timing points |
| | OTI | Overtaking Incidents | An estimate of the number of overtaking incidents involving MyCrew |
| | TIM | Time Taken | |
| | SEQ | Sequence Number | If the Sequence numberof MyCrew is n, that for Earlier will be n-1 and of Later will be n+1 |
| | GMT | Time of Day (GMT) | Time of Day that MyCrew passed a timing point |
| | HUN | Time of Day in 1/100 Seconds | |
| | TFS | Time for Section in 1/100s | Time taken to cover a section of the race |
| | PFS | Position for Section | Position obtained in time order |
| | TFR | Time for Race from Start | Time taken for Race from the start to a timing point |
| | PFR | Position for race from start | Position in race from the start to a timing point |
| | DFG | Divergence from Group Average | Divergence of time for MyCrew compared with all crews in the group |
| | DFR | Divergence from Race Average | Divergence of time for MyCrew compared with all crews in the whole entry |
| | TBF | Time Gap in Time Order | The time by which MyCrew beat SC |
| | GIS | Time Gap in Sequence | The gap between MyCrew and Later at a timing point |
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