Last August 4th, the 82nd edition of one of the historical events of canoeing in Spain was held: the International Descent of the Sella River. A total of 790 boats gathered in Ribadesella for an exciting race to the very end.
The president of the Sella predicted a week before the event a new record, and although finally the promise was not fulfilled, the canoeists did not make it easy for 321 Go, official timers of the race.
The race was led from the start by four K2’s that advanced a short distance from each other to a very tight entry to the finish line, finally led by the tandem formed by Milín Llamedo and Pedro Vázquez.
In the men’s K1 the entry to the finish line was even tighter, to the point that the judges decided to award a joint victory to Borja Estomba and Guillermo Fidalgo: they both crossed the finish line exactly with a time of 1:12:27.
Want to know how the 321 Go timers timed this race with timingsense technology? Then keep reading!
Two finish lines floating in the air
The race had two distances (15 km and 20k m), each with its own finish line: the Llovio finish line and the Ribadesella finish line. Four TSOne boxes and one TS2 box were used for the timing of the race.
One of the main difficulties was hanging the timing equipment of the finish lines, with the boxes and antennas, in the air. At the finish line of Llovio, under a 15-meter high bridge, a crane was used to assemble the infrastructure you can see in the picture below.
How were the tags placed in the canoes?
Disposable tags were used for timing the Descent of the Sella River. Although this tag is perfect for this type of competition, during the timing tests that took place before the competition, problems were detected in the reading of the carbon canoes, due to the conductivity of this material. In these tests two tags were used: the first one was placed on the canoe, attached to the bib; and the second one was raised and placed on a triangular bib. The picture shows both options.
The second option, the elevated tag, is the one that gave the best results, so 1,000 triangular-shaped bibs were prepared to guarantee the best reading rate.
Results at a glance via Live App
Those attending the event and anyone interested in the International Descent of the Sella River could follow the results live through the multi-race application 321Go Live, available for both Android and iOS. Through it you could consult the results updated instantly, follow the participants and upload photos of the test.
