What is StatLap?
StatLap is a track and field timing system that runs on two phones you already own, and a results website that publishes what they time. It is made for the practices and meets that would otherwise be hand-timed.
StatLap, not StatLab
StatLap, with a P, is for track and field: laps, lanes and stats. StatLab, with a B, is a statistics tool with nothing to do with running. If you searched for a phone timing system and landed on a spreadsheet, you were one letter off.
How it works
- One phone stands at the start. It listens for the gun and marks the moment it fires, so the clock starts from the signal and not from a thumb.
- A second phone stands at the finish line, on a tripod, filming across the line. When a runner crosses, it reads the time from the video, lane by lane.
- The two phones agree on one clock over the network. The finish phone shows each lane's time as it happens, and the meet's public page gets it at the same moment.
- Every time is labelled app-timed, on the screen, on the results page and in every export. That label is not something a coach can turn off.
What else is in it
- Speed gates
- The finish phone on its own, timing a flying ten or a forty from the moment the runner enters the picture.
- Manual finish
- One phone, tapped as each runner crosses, for the days there is no second phone. Still started by the gun.
- Workouts
- Reps and rests for one athlete or a group, with a sheet to paste and a session the coach can send to the club.
- Film Room
- Slow motion, frame by frame, angles and a form check, on the phone. Nothing uploads.
- The results website
- Public pages for every meet, athlete and club: times, personal records, rankings, a posts page for the club, and a message thread between a club and its athletes that a parent can read.
What it is not
StatLap is not a certified fully automatic timing system, and it does not claim to be. A meet that needs a certified mark needs a certified system and an operator, as it always has. StatLap is for everything else: the practice, the time trial, the dual meet, where the alternative is a stopwatch.
How accurate it is, in numbers from real tracks, is a page of its own. Accuracy. The page an athletic director signs off on is another. For athletic directors.
How it compares
Coaches usually already know one of these. Each is a different kind of thing, and the difference is the point.
- StatLap and Freelap
- Freelap is hardware for training splits: transmitters placed on the track and a chip the athlete wears, read by an app. StatLap uses no hardware beyond two phones, times a whole heat lane by lane from the finish line, and publishes the results. A club that owns Freelap keeps using it for splits; StatLap is for the race and the results page.
- StatLap and FinishLynx
- FinishLynx is a certified fully automatic timing system: a line-scan camera, an operator, and marks that count for records. StatLap is not certified and is not sold as a replacement for it. It is for the sessions that would otherwise not be timed at all.
- StatLap and Single-phone timing apps
- Most phone timing apps do the whole job on one phone. StatLap splits it in two: one phone hears the gun, the other reads the line, and they share one clock. The time does not depend on a thumb at either end, and the finish phone sees every lane, not one runner.
- StatLap and Video coaching apps
- Video coaching apps are for technique. StatLap's Film Room covers slow motion, angles and a form check on the phone, free, and it is one tool in a timing system rather than a video platform of its own.
- StatLap and Results sites
- Results sites publish times from meets timed elsewhere, and an athlete's page there is the record of a season. StatLap publishes what its own phones timed, as it happens, and a club can paste its roster from a results site in five minutes.
Who it is for
- High school and club coaches who time practices and dual meets themselves.
- Performance and speed coaches who want a forty or a flying ten with a real clock, and the video beside it.
- Parents, who read every result without an account.
What it costs
The timing apps, the Film Room and every public results page are free. A club pays for one thing: publishing times from the phones to its website as they happen. The pricing page says exactly what the plan includes.
Questions
- Is StatLap the same as StatLab?
- No. StatLap is a track and field timing system and results website. StatLab is a statistics tool. The names differ by one letter and nothing else.
- Does StatLap need any hardware?
- Two phones and a tripod for the finish phone. There are no transmitters, chips, cables or cameras to buy.
- Is StatLap fully automatic timing?
- No. Every StatLap time is labelled app-timed. It is not certified, and a meet that needs certified marks needs a certified system.
- How much does StatLap cost?
- The apps and the results pages are free. A club pays only to publish times from the phones to its website as they happen.
- Can parents see results without an account?
- Yes. Every meet, athlete and club page is public and stays public.