Run an athletics meeting,eighteen disciplines in one afternoon
Track events, field events and the combined events stand side by side, each with their own age categories. Athletes enter per discipline, you can see how full each one is, and the results work themselves out per category.
One sport, three kinds of result
You pick the discipline and the way it is counted follows from that. There is nothing to set, so there is nothing to set wrongly.
Track: times in, results out
Every track race is timed and the fastest wins. There is no such thing as an untimed track event: the rules require a time to be recorded for all finishers, by hand if it comes to that.
- Sprints, middle distance, long distance, hurdles and the steeplechase
- Race walking, timed like any other track event
- 4x100 and 4x400 relays, four athletes to a squad
- Did not start, did not finish and disqualified stay apart
Field events: every trial stays on the card
Six throws do not add up to anything. Five of them are history and one of them is the result, and the longest distance or the highest clearance wins. A foul and a pass are not zeroes, they are recorded as themselves.
- High jump and pole vault
- Long jump and triple jump
- Shot put, discus, javelin and the hammer
- Every trial is kept, not only the best one
Combined events: the total adds itself up
A decathlon or a heptathlon is neither a time nor a distance but a sum. Every discipline is worth points from the scoring tables, the points are totalled and the highest total wins.
- Decathlon and heptathlon as disciplines of their own
- A running total, with the highest winning
- No ceiling, because the tables are open at the top
- The points per discipline are entered by hand
What an athletics meeting needs
From the first entry to the last result, in one registration system.
Disciplines and entries
- Eighteen disciplines, from the sprints and hurdles to the shot and the combined events
- Its own entry fee, capacity and closing date per discipline
- Categories by age and gender, settled before the first entry arrives
- Relay squads of four athletes, entering as a squad
- A waiting list as soon as a discipline fills
- Withdrawals and transfers without separate paperwork
Timetable and start lists
- Track races and field events side by side on the same day
- A heat’s start list is fixed before any results can go into it
- Several days and several venues inside the same meeting
- Clashes in the timetable are flagged before you publish
- Every athlete sees their discipline and their time on their phone
Entering results
- Times per heat, for the whole field in one go
- Trials per athlete in the field events, with fouls and passes kept apart
- Points totals for the decathlon and the heptathlon
- A result per category alongside the overall one
- A correction stays visible in the log
Two things that belong on a results sheet are not recorded yet: the wind reading that goes beside a sprint or a horizontal jump, and the difference between a did not start, a retirement and no valid trial in a field event. All three of those arrive in the result as the same thing.
Athletics meeting questions
What is the difference between athletics and running on PlayTour?+
They are two sports, and the line between them is the stadium wall. Running is the road and the wood: one distance, a mass start, a chip time and a finish sheet. Athletics is the stadium programme: heats with a start list, lanes rather than a field, and for half the programme a result that is a distance or a height rather than a time. So a 10k through the village goes up as running, and a track evening with the 100 metres, the shot and the long jump goes up as athletics. The 5000 metres on the track belongs here too, because a transponder is not allowed on the track and the time comes off the photo finish.
Can I put a track race and a field event in the same meeting?+
Yes, and that is what this sport is for. Every discipline is an event of its own with its own entry fee, capacity and start time, and every discipline brings its own way of counting with it. Pick the high jump and it is a measured event, pick the 400 metres and it is a time. There is nothing further to tick.
How is a tie in a field event settled?+
That is one to check by hand today. The rules separate two equal best marks on the second best trial, and in the high jump first on the number of jumps at the final height. PlayTour keeps every trial and breaks a level mark on the number of failures across the whole competition instead, which is a different rule. Where a shared place decides a prize, the jury goes through it themselves.
How many trials does an athlete get?+
Your own competition rules decide that, not the system. The rule is six trials, or three with three more for the best eight, and a federation may specify fewer. PlayTour takes the trials you enter and counts none of them, so a card with seven throws on it is simply accepted.
I am an athlete, what is here for me?+
You find the athletics meetings listed on PlayTour and enter per discipline with a free account. Paying online is coming soon; until then the organiser collects the entry fee itself.
Two sports that look alike
Not sure where your event belongs? Here is the difference in one line.
Organising an athletics meeting?
Tell us what you are putting on and which disciplines are on the programme. We will go through the rules and the timing and open athletics up, and you will hear from us when it is done.