Race Guide
Irish Race Results Explained: Chip Times, Age Categories and How Results Work
Race results look simple: a name, a time, a place. But there's a bit more going on under the hood, and knowing how to read them is the difference between "I think I did alright" and knowing exactly how your race went.
This is the reference guide to how race results work in Ireland, and how they work on Leggit. If you're just looking for your time, start with find and claim your race result or go straight to race results on Leggit.
Where the results come from
Every chip-timed race in Ireland is timed by a professional timing company, and the results they publish are the official record of the race.
Leggit reproduces results from those official timing providers and race organisers. Every results page links back to the source, and if what we show ever differs from the source, the source wins. We show a "Results by" credit on every race so you always know who recorded the times.
Provisional or final?
Results usually go up within hours of a race finishing, but they can still change for a few days afterwards. Timing companies fix mis-read chips, resolve swapped bibs and handle queries from runners in the week after race day.
That's why every results set on Leggit is marked either provisional or final, along with the date we last checked the source. Provisional means the timing company may still make corrections. Final means the correction window has passed and the times are settled.
So if your time looks slightly off on race night, don't panic. Check back once the set goes final.
Gun time vs chip time
The one that causes the most arguments in the car home.
Gun time runs from the starting signal to the moment you cross the finish line. If you started at the back of a big field, the time it took you to shuffle up to the start line is included.
Chip time runs from the moment you cross the start mat to the moment you cross the finish mat. It's your actual running time.
Which one counts? In most Irish road races, prizes are decided on gun time: first across the line wins, which is why the top runners fight for the front row. Your personal best, though, is usually your chip time. Leggit labels every time as gun or chip so there's no ambiguity about which one you're looking at.
What F40, M50 and "1st M" actually mean
Irish road racing groups runners into age categories, typically five-year bands from 35 up: F35, M40, F45, M50 and so on, with senior categories for younger runners. Your category is set by your age on race day (some championship races use age on 31 December, so check the race rules if you're on a boundary).
Your category standing is where you finished among runners in your own band. "3rd M50" means third man in the over-50 category, and in plenty of Irish races that comes with a prize. Category prizes are one of the great levellers of the sport: you might be 200th overall and still on the podium.
On Leggit, category standings are called out right on the results row, and you can filter any results list down to a single age category to see how your band shook out. One note on coverage: junior-only races and untimed junior entries are excluded from Leggit results as a policy.
Spotted a mistake?
It happens: a mis-typed club, a swapped bib, a name spelled wrong, or a result that shouldn't be public at all.
Every results page on Leggit has a "Correct or remove a result" button. Use it, or email hello@leggit.ie, and we'll sort it. That goes for runners, race organisers and timing companies alike. Because the timing provider's list is the official record, permanent fixes to the times themselves belong with them, and their published results always take precedence over ours.
Keep your results in one place
Once you've found your result, tap "This is me" to claim it to your free Leggit profile. Race by race, your running history builds up in one place, whichever company timed each race. The full walkthrough is in find and claim your race result.