Penalties
Penalties are the core of race-day officiating. When you observe a rule violation, you submit a penalty through the app — it takes about five taps.
Submitting a penalty
Tap Report Penalty from the race mode screen. The steps are the same on every device: athlete number → category → type → optional penalty box → details. (On an iPad in landscape the first steps share one wide screen — see Full details below.)
1. Enter the athlete number
Use the on-screen numeric keypad to enter the athlete's race number, then tap Enter (iPhone) or Next (iPad). The app checks the number against the race's number series and shows the athlete's name and details if found.
For relay races, you'll also enter the relay athlete code (e.g. "A", "B").
2. Select the penalty category, then the type
First choose the category. The category buttons are colour-coded so the distinction is unmistakable even at a glance:
- Drafting (blue) — only shown on races where drafting is enforced.
- Penalty (yellow) — standard time penalties.
- Disqualification (red) — removes the athlete from the race.
Then pick the penalty type from the grid. Each type has a short code shown on a coloured badge — the full list for your sport is under Full details below.
3. Pick a penalty box
If the race has penalty boxes configured, the app asks which one the athlete should serve in (e.g. Bike 1, Bike 2, Run). Pick one and tap Confirm. Races without penalty boxes skip this step.
4. Add details and submit
Optionally add a description and photos or videos as evidence (taken with the camera or chosen from the library), then tap SUBMIT. The app records your location, the time, and your identity automatically — you don't need to note any of that down.
The penalty is immediately visible to other officials with the right permissions, and a notification bar appears with a View shortcut to open the review screen.
To discard a half-filled penalty without submitting, press and hold Hold to cancel until the form clears.
Penalty statuses
A new penalty starts as Submitted and waits for an approving official to confirm or decline it. That's all you need to get going — the full lifecycle is here when you need it:
The full status lifecycle
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Submitted | Just reported. Awaiting review. |
| Approved | Confirmed by an authorised official. |
| Declined | Rejected — the penalty won't stand. |
| Served | The athlete has served the time penalty. |
| Cancelled | Withdrawn after submission. |
| Protest | Under protest by the athlete or team. |
Officials with approval permissions (typically Head Referee or Chief Race Official) can change a penalty's status.
Full details
Everything below is optional reading — open a section when you need it.
All penalty types (triathlon example)
Available types depend on your organisation and sport, and are localised in the appropriate language.
| Code | Name |
|---|---|
| DSQ | Disqualification |
| V | Other Violations |
| E | Equipment Outside Bin |
| B | Bike Behaviour |
| S | Swim Conduct |
| R | Run Behaviour |
| M | Mount Line Violation |
| L | Littering |
| D | Dismount Line Violation |
| Es | Early Start |
| Bl | Blocking |
| — | Drafting |
Using an iPad in landscape
On iPad in landscape, the first three steps (athlete number, category, type) share a single wide screen. The numeric keypad is on the left, the category buttons stack on the right, and the type grid replaces the category buttons once a category is picked. Tap Next to advance to the details screen.
After entering the athlete number and picking Penalty, the right side swaps to the type grid:
The penalty-box picker and details screen behave the same as on iPhone.
Finding and filtering the penalty list
Tap the Penalties & Incidents tile on the race mode screen and open the Penalties tab. (Prefer everything in one stream? Switch to a combined feed in App Settings → Penalties & Incidents view.) The list shows all penalties in the current race with at-a-glance count chips at the top (e.g. 7 Total, 1 Drafting, 6 Penalty, 7 Approved) — tap any chip to filter the list to just that slice. A Mine toggle limits the list to penalties you submitted yourself.
The sort icon next to the search bar opens a sort options sheet: Newest first (default), Oldest first, Number ↑, Number ↓, Status, or Type.
You can also search by athlete number, type, or any other text in the search bar at the top of the list. Tap a penalty card to open the full review screen.
Reviewing, editing, and adding updates
Reviewing. Tap any penalty in the list to open its review screen. It shows the athlete number and name, the penalty type and colour, the description and any attached photos or videos, the location on the map, the submission time and who reported it, the status history (who approved, declined, or changed it), and a linked chat thread for discussion about this specific penalty.
From here, authorised officials can approve, decline, cancel, or edit the penalty. For a Submitted penalty, the review screen shows a Decision section inline near the top with Decline and Approve buttons and a free-text "Reason for Decision" field. Additional actions — including Cancel, Create Chat, and Add Update — are available from the actions menu (the icon in the top-right of the app bar).
Editing. Officials with edit permissions can modify a penalty after submission: change the penalty type, update the description, add or remove photos, change the athlete number (if it was entered incorrectly), or create a chat thread linked to the penalty (on large events) for discussion with other officials. Each edit is logged in the penalty's update history.
Adding an update. The Add Update action (in the review screen's actions menu) opens an update sheet where you can record a follow-up on a penalty — write a summary, attach photos or videos, and, if you're an approving official, change the penalty's status or move it between penalty boxes.
- Status — approving officials only. The field is required (marked with an asterisk). Changing the status to Cancelled requires a written reason: if you cancel a penalty but leave the summary blank, a hint appears and the update can't be submitted until you explain the change. Other status changes don't require a reason.
- Penalty box — approving officials only, and shown only when the penalty qualifies for a box. Pick Bike, Run, Stop & Go, or None (to pull the penalty out of a box). When a bike race has more than one bike box, a box-number selector appears below it.
- Summary and media — available to everyone. If you're not changing the status, an update just needs a summary or at least one photo or video.
Each update is appended to the penalty's chronological update history.
Notifications
When a penalty is submitted, officials with penalty notifications enabled get a push that links straight to the review screen — see Notifications.