Planning is the most time-consuming part of a competition. Sorting dozens of athletes into heats, balancing lanes, slotting judges, handling the no-shows of the morning: done by hand in a spreadsheet, it eats a full evening and breaks at the first withdrawal. Throwdown builds the planning from your registrations and your check-in, then lets you adjust by hand what needs it. Here is how it works, from functional fitness to hybrid races.
Automatic heat generation
Once your registrations are open, your roster is already in Throwdown. Automatic generation builds your heats in one click, with the options that actually matter on the floor: by division (each division gets its own heats), ranked seeding (athletes are spread by their ranking), pyramid order (the strongest go last, the crowd stays to the end), and top-N cut (keep only the top N for a final). Timing chains automatically: briefing, warm-up, then the workout.
Most importantly, generation filters on checked-in athletes. On the morning of the event, you check your athletes in (Pending, Present, Absent). When you generate your heats after check-in, Throwdown drops the absentees: no empty lanes from a no-show. This is the direct link between your welcome desk and your planning.
Lanes, judges and manual tweaks
Generation gives you a solid base, never a cage. On each heat, you assign an athlete and a judge per lane. Need to move someone, separate two athletes from the same box, rebalance an overloaded heat? You reorder everything with drag-and-drop. What the engine did in a second, you refine in a few gestures. The final ranking then computes on its own once scores are entered (see our guide on automatic ranking).
For hybrid races: days, waves and slots
For a hybrid race, the structure changes: you work in days, waves and slots. You set the division running order with drag-and-drop, then automatic generation fills your waves. On each slot, you assign the team and the timing device (the Ubidium sensor that records the finish). With the chip timing pack, the net time flows automatically into the ranking: no manual entry, and the crowd follows live.
The Excel export for your staff
On the day, your staff is not behind a screen: they are on the floor. Throwdown exports your full planning as a colored Excel grid, readable at a glance, to print or display in the control room. Every heat, every lane, every judge, in the right place. You can regenerate it any time if a heat shifts during the day.
| Step | What Throwdown does |
|---|---|
| Morning check-in | You mark Present / Absent, the planning builds on it |
| Heat generation | One click: by division, ranked seeding, pyramid, top-N cut, present-only filter |
| Assignment | An athlete and a judge per lane (functional), team + timing device per slot (hybrid) |
| Tweaks | Drag-and-drop to reorder heats, lanes and slots |
| Staff handout | Excel export as a colored grid, ready to print |
The full chain, from registrations to planning, lives in one tool. If you have not opened your registrations yet, start with our guide on registrations and ticketing: it fills your roster, and therefore your heats.
Frequently asked questions
- No. You can generate your heats on your full roster. But the morning check-in lets you filter on present athletes: you avoid the empty lanes caused by last-minute absentees.
- Yes. Automatic generation gives you a base, then you reorder heats, lanes and slots with drag-and-drop. You assign or move an athlete, a judge or a timing device by hand whenever you want.
- You export the planning as a colored Excel grid, to print or display in the control room. Every heat, lane and judge is clearly laid out. Regenerate it any time if a heat changes during the day.