Run N Gun Match/Stage Procedures

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This is a thread started to discuss the match/stage procedures for Run N Gun (Centerfire Biathlon) matches across the country, to try to be sure we get the RNG Module right in Practiscore 2.0. I am the Match Director for the Legion Memorial Run N Gun, which has had annual major matches since 2017.

Below are my procedures to get things started. Please chime in if you’re a MD either to confirm you do it the same way, or tell us how your procedures/operations differ. Thanks!

Background: unlike the typical squadded 3-gun or USPSA match, our
competitors run the course individually. In my case, the first
competitor starts at 8:00am, and successive competitors leave every 7
minutes after that. Their start time is logged in the “Start/Finish”
tablet, and they run to the first shooting stage.

When they arrive at the shooting stage, if there is another competitor
there already shooting (this happens frequently), we have them start a
“Wait Time” (each competitor is responsible for tracking their own wait time with their own stopwatch). This is essentially a time-out from the running race so the time waiting on the other competitor isn’t counted against their net
overall run time for the course. When the stage is clear and ready for
the next competitor, we log their Wait Time in the tablet, and they
shoot the stage. When the shooting stage is finished, we log the raw
shooting time in the tablet and any penalties the accrued. In a perfect
world, the competitor then approves their own score on the tablet and
then runs to the next stage. This is repeated for however many shooting
stages are in the match. The actual shooting scoring is just like any
other Time Plus (Points) 3-Gun scoring.

After all the shooting stages have been completed, the competitor runs
to the finish line. His finish time is recorded in the “Start/Finish”
tablet at that point. So we have one tablet for each shooting stage,
and a final tablet at Start/Finish.

I then check all the scores and look for anomalies, then sync the
tablets together. The Run Start time is subtracted from the Run Finish
time, and all Wait Times are combined and subtracted from that number to
give me a net run time. Typically the Run Time is weighed equally with
the overall shooting score (50/50 split), but some matches prefer to
weight one or the other more - in the current RNG Module you can specify
how you want the run vs shoot weighted, which is good and should be
kept.

We typically have a staff of three at each shooting stage: one running the shot timer, one running the scoring tablet, and one receiving runners as they arrive, verifying their rifle to be empty, and managing wait times.

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Good Afternoon,

I am the Match Director for the Hunter’s Moon Run N Gun in central Missouri. 2024 is our inaugural year, with the match coming up next month, and we are using Practiscore for our scoring. As the largest event of this type in Missouri, we hope to be considered among the major matches in the near future. We are also looking to develop more matches of this style in both Kentucky and Indiana over the next couple of years. In addition to becoming a match director this year, I have served as an RO at over 40 other RnGs, ranging from Missouri to North Carolina and Wisconsin to Georgia, from 2017 to present, using various scoring methods but majorly Practiscore.

Our scoring and match procedures are almost identical to Mr. Stennett’s above with a few small differences.

First, is that in addition to penalties we will also occasionally have stages that have bonuses, which reward shooters for paying attention to their surroundings during the run portions of the match and gathering intel that may change how a stage is engaged.

Second, due to the RnG module only being supported on the IOS system, we run paper score cards at each stage. These scorecards are managed by an RO at each stage and once all the competitors on that score card (generally 10 competitors) have completed the stage, that RO submits that card via sending a picture to another RO who is running admin duties that day. This additional RO inputs the scores and any wait times into the master IOS tablet. This is a bit double edged as it takes more manhours to do it this way and an additional RO is needed specifically for this purpose, but it also allows for faster responses to anomalies so we can get them sorted while they are still fresh in the RO’s minds. Opening up access to the RnG module on Android systems could significantly reduce our manhours as the android OS is more prevalent, cheaper, and accessible.

Third, we occasionally have a stage or two that are match points only, with no time aspect to them.

Having used other scoring methods as well as Practiscore, I chose to use Practiscore for Hunter’s Moon for the simplicity and “one stop shop” it brings to managing registrations, shooters, and the match. I would love to see the RnG module continue and improved in 2.0.

I’m not sure if this was helpful, but thank you for your consideration.

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I’m the match director of the Dutch Run N Gun. Due to national rules and regulations we do things a bit differently here but we also use time plus.

We do plan the competitors into squads just so they have an appropriate time frame in which they start. Competitors start 5 minutes apart. We use an electronic system with a card (you hold the card to a reader till you hear a beep) so we have the exact starting and finish time. In addition the competitor has to hold the card to a different reader every time they pass start/finish to start their next lap. This is just for us so we can check if they ran all their laps before finishing.

We run multiple laps on private property and have 1 rifle and 1 handgun stage which you shoot every other lap (one lap rifle, the other lap handgun and so forth). Any target that is not hit or engaged in the given max time is a penalty of 120 seconds.

Wait time in the shooting bunkers is recorded by stopwatch and subtracted from total time.

We seldom use bonuses.

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For some background Ive been shooting 3gun and Run and Gun for the last 9 years. Ive ROed a good 50+ matches in that time, and mostly Run and Gun in the last 4 years as thats much more popular as far as major matches near Ohio. Ive also run a monthly match the last 4 years in south Ohio.
I put on a short form Run and Gun. Ive been using the original RnG module. Things I would like to see changed if possibly…
-ability to work on Kindle Fire or Android format
-ability to see what times documented at each stage.
-it would be nice to be able to add run time penalties that would show up as well.

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Hi - I am one of the MD’s for Badger Trekker and I am responsible for our scoring and registration. I also have the same duties for a local 2x a year 2-gun match and a monthly IDPA club match. I have USPSA, IDPA and 3G RO credentials and major match RO experience in several disciplines.

Our scoring is similar to what others have mentioned; time plus points with 50% of total on shooting and 50% on run. One deviation from what Matt S wrote; I was under the impression Practiscore RnG in IOS subtracts both the wait time AND the stage shooting time from the run time.

We did use three squads for registration to have multiple waves of shooters, so people running in the afternoon did not need to be there early AM to register, do the safety brief and wait around. I got this idea from another event, so I know we aren’t the only ones.

For stage scoring we use time plus points on the shooting with people either getting all hits or a stage DNF which results in 0 points for the stage.

Year one, we used PS Android Time Plus Pts for the shooting, paper for the wait cards and start finish then imported PS into a crazy complex spreadsheet and hand typed wait times and start/finish to replicate IOS RnG on PS.

Year two, we used PS Android Time Plus Pts for the shooting, paper for the wait cards and start finish but loaded everything into an Ipad (by hand - several hours for ~100 ppl/8 stages) using the Run and Gun module. Extremely tedious but much better than the spreadsheet.

I don’t have a lot of experience with PS RnG, simply having what is in IOS on Android would be a huge benefit to our community from my view. The IOS tablets are cost prohibitive for many of us. Aside from one nice to have I’ll defer to others on what changes they would like to see.

Nice to have: Ability to set par time at the stage level. We use 2-3 different pars depending on the stage. Occasionally, someone types in a time longer than the par which I need to catch and change to a stage DNF.

Excited about the opportunity of doing it all on our Android tablets next year like we do all other match types. Thanks for all you do for the shooting community!

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I’ve hidden @Tim_Lau reply to keep this thread on topic of the actual stage and match procedures. Keep them coming.

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Hello,

I am the MD of the Zombie Run N Gun and have ROed dozens of other events, as well as will be starting new events in the near future.

My stage procedures are almost identical to Matt’s, though last year due to a lack of ipads, we went to a single ipad with handwritten score sheets.

Being able to do the RnG module on Android devices would have made that event run significantly smoother.

As others have said, being able to see wait times more easily would be a huge boon, and I know it would have changed a few results in the past.

Thank you for your consideration, and I hope to be able to continue to use your services in the future.