In addition to the two new inductees to the Addington Harness Hall of Fame for 2015 (Colin DeFilippi and Hands Down), a long service certificate of achievement was presented to Addington timekeeper Alan Gibson.
In this day and age, not many individuals manage to achieve more than 40 years’ service undertaking one specific function. That is the achievement of Addington raceway employee Alan Gibson, timekeeper at Addington Raceway since 1974 who continues to undertake these duties even though he is now in his seventies.
Prior to officially taking over, Alan used to sit with the timekeepers learning all that was involved. Following a retirement in 1974, without interview, he was approached to take over the time keeper role, giving stirling service ever since.
In earlier days, timekeepers were required to be at the start of all races and then travel in the track car speedily back to the finish line being in place to record times as horses passed the winning post. In those days the two timekeepers would compare watches and synchronize the times recorded. He was partnered earlier in his career by Stewie Nicholls and then.
One prime example of hand held timing was the 1:54.9 time trial of Lord Module at Addington on 23 January 1980. For such time trials, three watches were required to record the time run.
One of the developments Alan witnessed over the past 40 years was the succession of the hand held timing method by electronic timing in 1983. First introduced by the Invercargill club the system developed by Jim Rogers and Bruce Galvin was first used at Addington in 1983 at the New Brighton Trotting Club’s Anzac Day meeting. Frank Marrion writing in the NZ Trotting Calendar (19 April 1983) advised :
“that it enables them to record the time of every horse in the race……. The system is basically a combination of photo finish filming and timing… in standing start events when the starter hits the lever, a high frequency signal is transmitted to a recording device in the photo finish box which triggers the electronic timer. The reflection of a digital timer is transposed on to the photo finish film and as each horse crosses the line, … individual time can be easily obtained.
For mobile events, a specially developed device throws a beam across the track at chest height at the starting point. This beam is light sensitive so cannot be triggered by the car or mobile barrier. When broken by the horse’s chest this activates the device in the same manner that pertains to the standing start, a signal is transmitted to commence the timing
….the main advantage of the system is its accuracy, a horse’s time can be recorded down to 100th of a second, or less if necessary. In the past, where two horses have crossed the line within a nose of each other, in reality their time is the same down to one tenth of a second, but not to 100th of a second. The other main advantage is, of course, the accuracy of the placed horses’ times as well”.
Des Parker reported further that “In July Mr A F McDonald of the New Brighton Trotting Club advised that an alternative method of incorporating the electronic timing with the photo finish was being investigated by Mr Brian Nairn. In August the Secretary stated that the photo finish electronic timing equipment was in operation and apart from the need to rule in the finish line on the photograph the system was working satisfactorily. In May 1984 it was reported that Messrs Gavin and Rogers would be trying out their new coloured photo finish camera in combination with the electronic timing equipment in late May.”
In recent times, when advice to the public of sectional times (quarters) during a race commentary is required, Alan Gibson provides Addington commentator Matt McNamara with the relevant information.
Alan Gibson worked as a car salesman for a number of organisations, never marrying living with his sister in Hornby. His other main interest is as a tour guide for Stewarts Classic Cars Collection, where he oversees 300+ cars.
In earlier days, Alan raced horses with his great mate Wes (WR) Butt. Nandina Maestro (Poplar Dell/Menai gelding) was the winner of four races in New Zealand for trainer/driver Wes Butt and owner Alan Gibson. Nandina Maestro had a record of 60 : 4 – 3 – 7, $9,170 prior to being sold to North America in 1980. His four wins came at Motukarara, Forbury Park, Addington and Hutt Park with a best NZ mile rate of 2:06.5 and 2:01.2US.
A man proud of his work in particular its accuracy, a genuinely nice guy deserving of being presented with his long service certificate of achievement.
Peter Craig
23 November 2015
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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