Taking a Race Number Out of Service

What this guide covers

A race number board can stop working: the tag no longer reads, the print is illegible, the board is cracked. When that happens you take the number out of service so that it is never handed out again, and, if a participant still has it, you let them know a replacement is coming.

This guide explains the choices the screens offer when you do that and what each one causes. For the screen specifications see Stock Return and Bulk Flag and Dispose; for the step-by-step recipe see the Number & Tag Runbook.

The three states that matter here

State Meaning

In stock

On our shelf, available to hand out.

Issued or in use

Assigned to a person. Issued means we assigned it to one of their entries; it may be in their hands, or still on the registration desk waiting for them. In use means they have raced with it, so we know they have it.

Unfit for service

Taken out of service. It will not be handed out again, and the system will not assign it to anyone automatically. It may still be with the person who had it, or on our shelf.

Where the board physically is matters, because the system cannot see it. When we assign a number to someone’s entry, that is a plan, not a hand-over. If the person never collects it, it is still on our desk even though the system shows it as issued. The system treats a board as confirmed with the person only once it has appeared in results, or once it has been on their entry for an event that has already taken place.

Why a flagged number needs a replacement by hand

Once a number is unfit, the automatic assignment will not quietly give the person a different number: the organiser decides what to issue. If the person is entered for upcoming events with the flagged number, those entries are left without a usable number until someone assigns a replacement. That is why the participant has to be told.

Two ways to flag, and what each one assumes

Scanning the board

On the stock return screen, choose the Flag unfit session and scan the damaged boards with the reader. Because you scanned it, the board is in your hand, so the screen treats it as returned as well as flagged: the person is no longer recorded as its holder, their upcoming entries no longer carry it, and no email is sent. Nobody needs to be told about a board they do not have.

Typing or selecting the number

Typing a number on the stock return screen, or selecting numbers in the stock list and choosing Flag unfit, means you may not have the board. A participant who reports that their board gave no results at the weekend still has it at home. In this case the number is flagged but the person stays recorded as its holder, and the screen offers to notify them.

The Notify choice

Each typed or selected number has a Notify checkbox.

  • It is ticked by default when the number has a holder.

  • It is greyed out when the number has no holder; there is nobody to tell.

  • Untick it when you know the person never received the board, for example a number assigned to a future entry that the person has not collected yet.

Ticking the box does not guarantee an email. The system still checks that the person has an upcoming entry with that number; if they have none, nothing about their entries changes and nothing is sent. The results view shows, per number, whether a notice was queued and, if not, why: no holder, no upcoming entry, declined by you, or judged never handed over.

If you leave the choice alone, for example when flagging through a spreadsheet or the API, the system decides by itself: it notifies only when it is confident the person has the board, which means the board has been raced with or has been on one of their entries for a past event.

What the participant receives

An email to the address on their entry, with the parent or guardian copied where the entry has one. It says, in plain words, that we suspect a fault with their number board that could stop us from timing them, that the organiser will give them a replacement before the start, and that they should collect it at registration and not race with the old number again. It lists the upcoming events we had planned to use the number at, and it invites them to reply if they have questions or need the new number sooner.

The email is sent shortly after you flag the number, not at the moment you click. If the board is returned or disposed of before it goes out, it is not sent.

One email goes out per flagged number. A participant whose two boards are both flagged receives two.

After flagging

  • Assign the replacement. Open the person’s upcoming entry and assign a new number. Until you do, the entry has no usable number and the person has been told to expect one.

  • Dispose when the board is back. When the flagged board is physically returned, or was scanned in, dispose of it from the stock list or the return screen’s Dispose these shortcut. Disposal is permanent.

  • A board that stays with the person. A number flagged while the person still has it keeps them as holder until it is returned or disposed. That is correct: the system records who has it, even though it must not be used.

Common questions

I flagged a number by mistake.

Flagging can be reversed by an administrator; disposal cannot. Tell the administrator before the person is contacted if you can; if the email has already gone, contact the person directly.

The person says they never got an email.

The stock activity screen shows the batch, and the number’s history shows whether a notice was queued and why not if it was not. The most common reason is that the person had no upcoming entry with that number at the time.

Does flagging change past results?

No. Results already recorded against the number stay as they are.