Announcer's Window

Platform: 🖥️ Desktop only

See also: Results

When you need this

You're providing live commentary at a competition and need real-time access to participant data, split times, and class progress. The Announcer's window gives you a dedicated view optimized for keeping the audience informed as runners finish and results change.

Opening the Announcer's Window

You're ready to start commentating and need to launch the announcer view:

  1. Click on an event in the event list to open the event options modal
  2. Click Announcer's window

The Announcer's window opens in a separate window with its own layout optimized for live commentary.

Toolbar

The top-right toolbar gives you quick access to navigation and display controls while commentating:

  • Left/right chevron arrows — navigate between classes. Tooltips show "Next class: [name]" / "Previous class: [name]". You can also use CTRL+Arrow Right/Left.
  • Plus icon — opens a new Announcer's window for the same event (CTRL+N)
  • People/group icon — opens the follow groups modal. Tooltip: "Follow groups"
  • / Chevron up/down icon — toggles the settings panel. When settings are visible, shows chevron up with tooltip "Hide settings". When hidden, shows chevron down with tooltip "Show settings". CTRL+F also toggles this panel.

Class Status Dot

A colored dot appears before the class name in the header, helping you know at a glance whether a class is still racing or has finished:

  • Green dot — "Class fully ready" — all participants have finished
  • Blue dot — Best possible position is 1st, 2nd, or 3rd — tooltip shows "Best possible position: X (time)"
  • Amber/yellow dot — Best possible position is 4th or worse — tooltip shows "Best possible position: X (time)"
  • Gray dot — Class hasn't started yet — tooltip shows "First start time: HH:MM"

If the tooltip includes "Not all started", the class standings are still uncertain — the best-possible-position calculation is not final because not all participants' times are known yet.

The dot only appears for individual events (not relay) and only when no checkpoint is selected.

Settings Panel

You want to filter the view to a specific class, stage, or checkpoint. The settings panel is shown or hidden using the chevron toggle button or CTRL+F. When visible, it contains:

  • Search bar — a text input with magnifying glass icon. Search by name or bib number.
  • Stage selector — for multi-stage events, select which stage to view
  • Class selector — select a specific class to view
  • Leg selector — for relay events, select which leg to view
  • Checkpoint selector — filter by specific checkpoints

Auto Scroll

The checkbox Scroll automatically by start time is shown when no class is selected, no checkpoints are selected, and the event is not a relay.

Show All Checkpoints (Live Splits)

The checkbox Show all checkpoints is shown when a class is selected, no checkpoints are manually selected, the event is not a relay, and the class has checkpoints. When enabled, the window expands to show all checkpoint columns with split times.

Follow Groups

You want to track specific competitors — perhaps local favourites or athletes from a particular club. Follow groups let you track a custom set of participants during the competition. Click the people/group icon in the toolbar to open the follow groups modal.

Creating a Follow Group

  1. Click the people/group icon to open the groups panel
  2. Click New group to create a new follow group
  3. Give the group a name and click Add group

Adding Members

  • For individual events, click Add competitor... to search for and add participants to the group
  • For relay events, click Add team... to add teams to the group

Managing Members

You can view all members in a follow group and remove them as needed. If a group has no members, you will see a message saying there are no competitors in the group.

Notes

You're preparing for commentary and want to jot down background information about certain competitors. The Notes feature lets you add personal notes about competitors. Click on a participant and use the notes field to write reminders or commentary points. The placeholder text reads "Add a note about this competitor..." — just click and start typing.

Notes are useful for preparing commentary in advance or jotting down observations during the race.

Putting it together: commentating a club competition

It's a Saturday club competition and you're the announcer. You open the Announcer's window from the event menu. Before the race starts, you create a follow group with the club's top runners and add notes about their recent form. As the race progresses, you switch between classes using the arrow keys, watching the status dots turn from gray to blue to green. When a runner finishes, you check their split times using "Show all checkpoints" to highlight where they gained or lost time. The follow group keeps your key athletes visible regardless of which class you're viewing.