Probably. The technology to do electronic timing is hardly new. It was available 10 years ago, and we don't have electronic timing now. And I can hardly see the supply of superannuated former testers capable of holding a stopwatch drying up to the point where there's no old codgers to act as timekeepers available. In my club we've got any number of more senior members who can do the time-keeping.
We're running out in mine - mainly because they all keep riding!
I reckon it will come, when the technology gets cheaper and you can do it reliably with a post at the side of the road rather than a wire across it.
I've had enough dodgy calls from timekeepers, and seen what goes on when riders have been missed to be sure which I would rather trust.
And I've seen how reliable our system has been: in 50 events over 5 years, with an average of say 30 riders doing 11 laps - that's about 16,500 passes - there have only been 3 or 4 missed lap readings.
We're running out in mine - mainly because they all keep riding!
I reckon it will come, when the technology gets cheaper and you can do it reliably with a post at the side of the road rather than a wire across it.
I've had enough dodgy calls from timekeepers, and seen what goes on when riders have been missed to be sure which I would rather trust.
And I've seen how reliable our system has been: in 50 events over 5 years, with an average of say 30 riders doing 11 laps - that's about 16,500 passes - there have only been 3 or 4 missed lap readings.