NOTES FROM THE EDITORNora Courtney - Customer Service Co-ordinator Gone are the days when Lynx System Developers, Inc. was solely a company that produced some of the world’s finest photo finish cameras. Today, Lynx offers a wide array of products and services that work with each other to offer our customers a true total event management package. Recent partnerships have included the International Skating Union, Disney’s Wide World of Sports, and Nike. These joint ventures are making use of the full potential of Lynx products and services. Read on to see what we have been up to lately. Nora |
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Visit with Lynx at the state of the art Disney Sports Complex. Lynx is delighted to announce their continued sponsorship of the track and field complex at Walt Disney’s Wide World of Sports at Disney World in Florida. This new deal means that Lynx will continue to be the official supplier of track and field timing equipment for a further five-year term. As part of the deal, Giles Norton, Director of Corporate Communication at Lynx, was invited by Jody Burkhart of Disney to visit the terrific Orlando facility in April and attend the Disney Showcase Invitational meet. While there, Giles installed the latest Lynx software and added a computer running ResulTV to the system configuration, which provided instantaneous results to the announcer and the press. The announcer, Doug Loftus, described the access to the information carried by ResulTV as ‘sensational’. One added feature of the new contract is the opportunity for Lynx to conduct multi-session FinishLynx training classes at the Disney Wide World of Sports facility. Space at these events will be limited and demand is expected to be high. Dates have not yet been confirmed, but possibilities include: Friday, October 6th and Saturday, October 7th, and December during the FootLocker cross-country nationals. If you might be interested in a weekend at Disney World that includes a major event, FinishLynx training and new product demonstrations, please contact Nora on 978.556.9781 to be placed on our priority list. |
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"What I'm hoping to accomplish is an electronically "open" event where all the information: declared athletes, start lists, and both track and field results are available to everyone, i.e. media, fans and athletes as soon as possible. This includes both through the Internet, and to the media and fans in the stadium. "With the mixture of CyberScoreboard for both in-house and global instant results, FieldLynx running a number of infield displays, a large video scoreboard and many video monitors, there should be no shortage of information channels. "Also the fact that the meet is drawn out over a long period of time will really let us concentrate on providing the quickest most detailed results service possible. I'm quite excited about the event and I'm looking forward to using some of the new technology and products from Lynx." |
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Lynx and Nike team up at the Penn Relays.
World Record holder Michael Johnson helps some young athletes with their ReacTime units at Nike’s Track Test Each year the Penn Relays attracts thousands of the country’s best track and field competitors, fans and coaches to its relay carnival. As in past years, Lynx equipment was used to provide fast and accurate results for all the events at the meet. However, this year Lynx added a new twist which generated more excitement for youngsters between 5 and 18. Lynx teamed with Nike to help provide results at the Nike Track Test. For those of you who have been to the Penn Relays in the past, you probably remember seeing the Nike Track Test near the athlete’s and coaches entrance. Nike sets up a variety of events such as the 30-meter dash, the high jump and the shot put. Kids of all ages are allowed to come and race their friends and test themselves at a variety of track and field events. In other words, kids get to "play" track and field. To add to the excitement, Lynx worked with Nike to make this event feel even more like a big-time track meet. We provided photo finish results of the 30-meter dash with times posted on a scoreboard right after they crossed the finish line. We also used our new ReacTime System to provide reaction times out of the starting blocks. These reaction times were posted on a scoreboard as well and allowed the kids to compare their reaction times to world class runners such as Marion Jones. Each night we uploaded results to www.cyberscoreboard.com so that kids could see their results and photos on the internet. This was a great opportunity for us to showcase our products and enhance the Penn Relays experience for the thousands of kids who participated over the three days. |
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Winning teams on the ice – and off.
Ottavio Cinquanta, ISU President, and the winning women's relay teams Just prior to the second day’s competition at the World Speed Skating Championships in Sheffield, England, Aline Bussat – the ISU’s Media Coordinator – called a press conference at the Lynx timing station. Bussat had spent much of the previous day watching the Lynx team in operation and what she had seen had convinced her that the five-year partnership between Lynx and the ISU was really something special. The press release which Bussat
prepared talked about the "total management services" that she had
witnessed first-hand. These services effectively administered the entire
World Championships – heat formation, photo-finish, instantaneous results
distribution at the venue and around the globe via Lynx’s CyberScoreboard
website and the ISU’s own website. An added dimension to the "innovative technology" that Bussat was displaying to the press was the new Biography component of CyberScoreboard. Information is available for every athlete in the database and is a mixture of static information: birthplace, occupation, etc., and dynamic information: race results, personal best times etc. |
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A local High School benefits by knowing their neighbors. Kevin McGill, Director of Sales at Lynx, has just returned from an exciting trip to Texas. In an agreement with Texas Christian University, Kevin traveled down to conduct a training session for their operators and supervise those operators during a meet the following day. What made this a unique experience was that he also had a group from a local high school interested in learning more about Lynx join the training session. The staff at TCU was happy to host an extended training session that allowed another school to join. Cooperative efforts like the one that occurred at Texas Christian University can easily be arranged. If you know of a school or organization that would like to host and/or participate in such a session, please contact Kevin McGill with details. We hope to do more such events in the future. |
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WORLD RECORDS SET AT THE INAUGURAL GOODWILL GAMES
Lynx timing at two sport venues. Bulgaria’s Radanova sets the World Record… TWICE! The people at Turner Broadcasting were thrilled to see a World Record in the Women’s 500m at the inaugural Winter Goodwill Games. As was Evgenia Radanova, who now holds the World Record in the event at 43.873 seconds. In the final she smashed the World Record she had set only an hour before in her semi-final. She is the first woman to skate under 44 seconds for the 500.
Lynx "photo" as used by AP wire services After two days of Short Track Speed Skating, Lynx went on to time Cross Country skiing. Television and AP wire services carried the Lynx photo finish image of the US team of Nash and Wadsworth winning Gold in the Men’s 15K Cross-Country Relay. The US team edged out the Norwegian team by a few thousandths of a second. Both the close finish and the U.S. victory made for a great afternoon for the host nation’s spectators. |
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RESULTS AND ATHLETE BIO’S NOW ON THE WEB CyberScoreboard has fans in the timing profession as well as with spectators. Roger Jennings lets us know how he takes advantage of Lynx web technology. "CyberScoreboard is not only great for letting fans of the sport "watch" the meet from home, it is also a super way of distributing results instantly to many locations at once inside of a venue. "We are relying heavily on this technology at the NCAA meet at Duke University. Due to the long distance between our timing area, the NCAA games committee and the press/media distribution area, we will be relying on CyberScoreboard to get the info to all areas instantly after the completion of each race/field event. "The fact that no extra work is involved in formatting the web page and sending the information by hand will save us work and tons of time that can be better utilized during the event. "I've had many positive comments about the speed of results to CyberScoreboard; at the Duke Invitational this year a father who lives in New Zealand was able to "watch" his son who attends American University run the 1500m." |
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NEW RELEASE OF FIELDLYNX SOFTWARE Improvements have the engineers and customers excited. The Lynx engineers have just released a new version of FieldLynx. Two highlight features of the new version are the improved scoreboard interface and Metric to English conversions. Additions to the scoreboard/printer interface software now allow you to set options that can automatically display the name of the next competitor and the mark of an athlete. The new version of FieldLynx, like version 3.0 of FinishLynx, can also send custom messages to the scoreboard. With the FieldLynx interface from Hy-Tek, FieldLynx 1.2 works with Meet Manager versions 5.1 through 6.0. The older version 1.15 works with Meet Manager v. 5.1 up to but not including v. 6.0. The reason behind this version compatibility issue is the Metric to English conversion option that FieldLynx now offers. With version 1.2 of FieldLynx you can switch between Metric and English measurements, or English to Metric, with a tap of the stylus. Enter a High Jump mark in English measurement and see its equivalent in Metric in an instant. Current FieldLynx customers can download the new software from our web site at http://www.finishlynx.com/download/fieldlynx/index.htm. Anyone interested in learning more about FieldLynx, including the new price structure, should call Kevin McGill and he will give you all the information you will need. |
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All cameras shipped after April 24th will be the second generation of the EtherLynx 2000. "Twilight vision" sensors are the new standard on both color and black and white cameras. This technology offers almost 4,000 light sensitive cells in the camera. As a result, the camera is highly light sensitive and can be used in lower light conditions than before. Hardware and software changes have gone into this new product. Along with these changes in technology, the camera adjustments and alignment process has changed slightly. With the new color camera alignment has become simpler. When the new camera is combined with our new geared tripod head, even experienced users are finding the finishline faster and more accurately. The twilight-vision sensor makes for a more accurate set up on the finish line. The operator can clearly see when the camera is not perfectly perpendicular to the finishline. Gone are the days of the slightly off-swivel "aligned" camera. |
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Local athlete trains with the same equipment some of the top sprint coaches are using.
Some of Trevor Graham's élite athletes work out with ReacTime Sotirios Pintzopoulos of North Reading High School writes, "My experience with the ReacTime starting block system has been great. Throughout my indoor season I used the equipment almost daily up to my trip to New York City for the National Scholastic Championships, sponsored by New Balance. "The more I worked with the equipment the greater improvement I saw in my starting performance." Sotirios modified his leg positioning and the block placement after studying the information he obtained using ReacTime in order to improve his performance. To read the full text of Sotirios and his coach’s work with the equipment visit our web site at http://www.finishlynx.com/products/reactime/reactime_in_my_high_school.htm. Note: Sotirios is in good company in his work with ReacTime. Top sprinting coach Trevor Graham, whose athletes include Tim Montgomery, Joe Styles, Marion Jones and Chandra Sturrup, has also been using the system for several months. |
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FEEDBACK -SATURDAY NIGHT PANIC Lynx Tech Support gets another thank you from the field. A message from the "ridiculously grateful Yale coaching staff" of Sarah and Dan. Late one night before a meet, their DOS computer crashed. As the clock ticked towards midnight they got Kevin Holden on the phone. Kevin helped them reinstall DOS on their machine (luckily they had DOS install disks on hand) and then get Lynx running. "You are definitely a champ in our eyes. Thank you so much for your time and infinite patience during our Saturday night ordeal. The program worked wonderfully, and we executed a very efficient meet thanks to you." RAIN OR SHINE Wayne Shook of Wheeling Jesuit University has no doubts about Lynx. "After using the Lynx system in extreme conditions such as cold temperatures, continuous rain and high winds, I know Lynx is the system to use." NO REST FOR LYNX OPERATORS Henry Tudor of Athletics Southland, New Zealand keeps his Lynx system working round the clock. "Our classic black and white system is currently working overtime. Last Saturday was Day 1 of the Southland T&F Championships. Monday through Wednesday night the system was used at the all NZ Cycling Championship. Thursday it was used for athletics and Friday back to Cycling. Saturday afternoon saw Day 2 of the Southland Championships and Saturday night was the last of the all NZ Cycling. Sunday we will use the system again for children’s track and field." One day off in nine? This crew is very busy indeed. |
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If you have not already heard, read on. A few months ago we mailed out a proposal to all the Lynx High School customers. We called it the "Domino Proposal". In short, we asked that our customers give us a list of 5 potential new customers who have expressed an interest in Lynx over the years. We would send a letter to those people letting them know about Lynx and what we have to offer. In return, if anyone on the customers’ list buys a system from us by June 1, 2001, the school that supplied the name of the new customer would earn $600 to be spent on any Lynx manufactured product, hardware or software. For every sale from the list a school will be rewarded. The potential is there to earn up to $3000 in Lynx credit. We are now expanding the Domino Proposal to all Lynx customers. Reap the rewards of talking about Lynx with fellow enthusiasts. For more information, please contact Nora Courtney at 781-935-6959 or email at nora@finishlynx.com. Please note that the benefits of this scheme are only available to those customers who sign up for the scheme by submitting their 5 names to Nora – and it does not apply to system updates and upgrades, only new customers. |
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Most Software Engineers are stuck in front of their computer monitors - one of ours got to go to the Caribbean for some time in the field. Frank Monsalve of Lynx traveled to South America and the Caribbean Islands for three events in April. Frank’s trip, in which he was both training operators and timing events, ended with the 29th CARIFTA Games. CARIFTA is a high quality Juniors meet with competitors coming from the Bahamas to the north to Trinidad & Tobago to the south that attracts a number of college recruiters from the US. The Games, held for the first time in Grenada, took place over Easter weekend at the new state of the art National Stadium. The new Lynx system, allowing for database integration and the ability to drive a new scoreboard, contributes to the high caliber of the facility.
One of Jamaica's 64 medal-winning performances at the CARIFTA games The new technology was readily accepted by all involved, from the starter to the newly trained operators. All previous meets held on the island had been hand-timed. The administration of this meet was a leap forward in technology for the island of Grenada. |
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FINISHLYNX
HALL OF FRAMES RECORDS FALL IN 2000HS Sports timed two World Records earlier this year at the CGU Grand Prix Meet held in Birmingham, England. While a local team of operators timed a new American Record at the New Balance Meet held at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston.
NIKE TRACK TEST AT FRANKLIN FIELD – see www.cyberscoreboard.comWhile the action went on inside the Penn Relays, the Lynx team at the Nike Street Dash timed 2000 runners and had a great time doing it. Whether it was teams relaxing after their competition, or athletes taking their first run on a track, kids of all ages participated in the fun.
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Roger
Jennings of Flash Results gives us a glimpse of what will happen at the
Trials.
