I've been looking around for a while for a cheap and wireless timing system for practice and taking to slalom days to just get some idea of the times i might be running with different boards etc. For a more informal sessions setting up the full timing system with the tape switches etc seems alot of work and so normally no-one wants to bother or volunteer to not skate and man the timer.

So.. I was thinking about the Equine timing system which is like a wired timing system with wireless connection and IR triggers (look at slalomskateboarder.com timing forum for links to this and other systems) but it is expensive ($300+) and still a hastle to set up and run.

So I got onto motor racing laptimers which some skaters have used successfully. They are basically a stopwatch which is triggered on and then off everytime it passes an IR beacon. For laptiming you only use one beacon but for straight line racing like slalom or downhill you just need 2 beacons one to start the timer and one to stop it. There are a few of these for semi pro motor racing priced again around $200-$300 but thanks to Chinese manufacturing genius (genius for copying anyway). I found one for about $65US- shipped with an extra beacon (extra beacon was $10!)

Firstly the whole system is tiny with the beacons being slightly bigger than match boxes while the timer is super light and very easy to velcro to a board. I think i'll velcro the beacons to the side of cones to stop them getting stepped on.

I have yet to use it in anger but testing it with my 4 year old running around the local bike track it seems to trigger over a least several metres. Given it's intended use outdoors at a motortrack I can't see it havig too many problems. The manufacturer also says that the timer and beams are compatable with the standard pro IR beacon frequencies (940Nm I think)**EDIT - word from slalomer in US is that it is not cross compatible with other systems***. So at a session different riders could have different brand timers all triggered off the same beacons.

Here is the link to the manufacturer site but I got mine through an US ebay listing http://www.sumomoto.com/ezlap_lap_timer.htm

I'll bring it to the next church session to give it a proper test.