Glossary
Short definitions for terms used throughout these docs. The how-to guides link back here the first time they use one of these words.
Aid Station
A checkpoint along the course, staffed by a captain and volunteers, where runners check in and check out as they pass through. Every aid station is set up in the web admin ahead of race day; the check-in app lists them for volunteers to pick from at the start of a shift.
Device Time vs. Server Time
Every check-in app scan gets two timestamps:
- Device time — the phone or tablet’s clock when the scan happened.
- Server time — when Race Command’s servers received the record.
Race Command always displays and sorts by device time. This matters because a station with no signal keeps working — it queues scans locally and syncs them later — and device time preserves the real moment the runner passed through, even if the sync itself happens minutes or hours afterward. See Edit an Event Time if a device’s clock was wrong and the recorded time itself needs correcting.
DNF vs. DNS
- DNF (“Did Not Finish”) — the runner started the race but didn’t
complete it: pulled by medical or a captain, or withdrew on their own.
Every DNF requires a reason, logged as a
dnfevent on the runner’s timeline. See Mark a Runner DNF. - DNS (“Did Not Start”) — the runner never started at all. Unlike DNF, this isn’t derived from a timeline event — the race director sets it directly on the runner, typically race morning, and, if the race is already underway, clears any start-line scan the runner already had.
Neither status is free-typed: DNF comes from an actual dnf event on the
timeline, and DNS is an explicit flag the race director sets on the
runner. Either way, it’s not something anyone types in by hand, so the
check-in app, web admin, and public live page stay in agreement on a
runner’s status.
Event
One entry on a runner’s timeline: a single check-in, check-out, DNF, pass-through, start, or finish, each with its own timestamp and a record of who recorded it. “Event” here means a timeline entry, not the race itself — these docs always call the race “the race.” Events are what you hide or edit the time of when something was scanned wrong.
Live Roster
The list of every runner in a race with their current status — not started, en route, at a given aid station, finished, or DNF — updated continuously from check-in events. It’s the data behind the public live page and the roster views in the web admin and check-in app.