USA Triathlon (USAT) has launched a new and improved rankings engine – with more functionality and a crisper, cleaner look that will improve the way triathletes can find out where they stack up against others in the their age group in the United States.
The rankings have been a valuable benefit for USAT members for several years. The system uses a mathematical formula to rank athletes according to their performances at USAT sanctioned events throughout the year, with the final year-end rankings determining ‘All-America’ and ‘Honorable Mention’ honours.
“We are extremely excited about making this available to our members and the work our staff put in to make this a reality,” said USAT Operations Director Gordon Weldon. “This new engine offers more flexibility and robust functionality than our previous system. I am confident our members will appreciate how they are able to access their results and rankings more efficiently.”
Athletes can search on specific events by type, distance, state, region, or category – or by a specific athlete to see individual results – with the reports and queries returned more quickly. If age-groupers want to know where they stack up against elite athletes, that functionality is now also available.
Though non-USAT members are not included in the official year-end rankings, they can now see where they rank among USAT members at any point of the year and have the opportunity to sign up for annual membership to make their ranking official.
The engine is also completely integrated with USAT’s membership and sanctioned races databases, allowing the system to be used to find complete results from every sanctioned USAT race. And race directors and event timers will soon be able to submit their results directly into the database, meaning a quicker turnaround of rankings following the completion of events.
The system is also enabled for detecting errors, including removing duplicate and mis-assigned results.
Plans are in place to add club and collegiate team ranking functionality in 2010.
