Synthetic Start Passing
In RUFUS Race Manager (RRM), the Synthetic Start Passing feature ensures that every participant in a CLASSICAL race has a valid start time — even when their real START passing is missing. This typically happens in mass-start races when early detections or device bounce prevent some participants from being re-read as they cross the start line.
The synthetic start passing is automatically created by RRM’s passings core to guarantee timing continuity and accurate race classifications.
Configuration in Classical Races
To enable synthetic start creation:
Open the Race Dialog for your race.
In the Start Policies section, ensure the option “Auto-create lap 0” is enabled.
The following conditions must also be met:
The race must be of type CLASSICAL.
The race must have a START type checkpoint (we are measuring times at the start).
Once this policy is active, the system will automatically create synthetic start passings whenever a participant’s first valid passing in the race is missing its lap 0 start.
When a Synthetic Start Passing Is Created
A synthetic start passing is created under these specific conditions:
The race is CLASSICAL.
The race has a defined START checkpoint (lap_id = 0).
The option Auto-create lap 0 is enabled.
The participant registers a VALID passing at any checkpoint after lap 0, but does not have a valid START passing.
The participant is correctly assigned to a race (not an ORPHAN).
When all these conditions are met, the system automatically creates a synthetic start passing for that participant at:
race_start_time + 1 millisecond
This ensures that each participant has a continuous race timeline, allowing accurate classification and ranking calculations.
When It Is Not Created
A synthetic start passing will not be created in the following cases:
The race is not CLASSICAL (e.g., LAPS-based).
The race has no START type checkpoint.
The option Auto-create lap 0 is disabled.
The participant already has a valid start passing.
The passing is invalid (statuses such as TIME_INVALID, BOUNCED, EOTR, etc.).
The passing belongs to an ORPHAN (no participant → no race → no policies).
The Problem It Solves
In mass-start races, participants often stand on the antennas before the start signal. These early detections are marked TIME_INVALID because they occur before the official start time.
When the race begins, some participants leave the antenna area immediately — but their tags may not be re-read due to the device’s internal bounce protection. This causes them to have no valid start passing, even though they were the first to leave.
The Synthetic Start Passing automatically resolves this issue by inserting a virtual start record at the official race start time, ensuring every participant has a proper lap 0 reference for accurate timing and ranking.
Operating with Synthetic Start Passings
Synthetic start passings appear in RRM just like any other passing, but are system-generated.
You can view them in the Event Control View or in the Participant Passings section.
They can be deleted or manually invalidated if needed, though this is rarely required.
Summary
The Synthetic Start Passing feature ensures fairness and accuracy in CLASSICAL races by guaranteeing that every participant has a valid start time — even when no physical start passing was captured. By automatically creating a start at race_start_time + 1 ms for missing lap 0 passings, RRM eliminates common mass-start timing issues caused by pre-start reads and device bounce.
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