Beyond the stopwatch

Matthew Smeltzer has a weakness for high-tech gadgets. His home office is littered with laptops and wires, and looks like something out of NASA’s mission control center — minus the cat and two dogs sleeping by the wood stove.

But it’s this propensity for cutting-edge technology that has pushed Smeltzer’s after-work hobby of timing running races into a full-time gig that continues to benefit Whitefish.

Smeltzer, 36, launched a local running club in 2009 alongside his race timing company Competitive Timing. The original goal was to simply host a few community races and donate proceeds to area organizations.

His first idea was to put on a Thanksgiving Day race — something to work up an appetite before the traditional feast. The money raised, he decided, would go to the North Valley Food Bank.

“I just couldn’t believe there wasn’t a Turkey Trot in Whitefish,” Smeltzer said.

The first Trot was a mild success, hampered by frigid single-digit temperatures that year. Only 75 runners showed up, but it was a start.

Word eventually spread about the race and its positive benefit. Besides proceeds going to the food bank, runners also were encouraged to donate a bag or box of non-perishable food.

More than 200 runners participated last year, and all totaled, the race has garnered nearly $2,000 in donations to the food bank along with 1,600 pounds of food.

“It’s turned into a great fundraiser for the food bank and it’s a good way to get exercise before you eat,” Smeltzer said.

This year’s Turkey Trot is Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 22 at 9 a.m. Race day registration begins at 7 a.m. at Riverside Park.

Smeltzer notes it’s a “no frills” race — no T-Shirt or freebies — because all the money goes straight to the food bank.

Competitive Timing also hosts the annual WAG Race in the spring to benefit the Hugh Rogers Dog Park, and the annual Legacy Race in the fall to benefit the Whitefish Trail. The WAG race has generated more than $4,000 for the dog park, while the Legacy Race has raised about $2,500.

Smeltzer said it wouldn’t be possible to donate that amount of money without lead sponsors to help foot the bill. Whitefish Animal Hospital annually sponsors the WAG Race, Whitefish Therapy and Sport Center sponsors the Legacy Race and the Third Street Market sponsors the Turkey Trot.

Smeltzer’s race timing business was started as a way to host events like the Turkey Trot, but has since blossomed into a new career path. Last year Smeltzer took a chance and left his full-time job at Budget rental car to devote all of his energy to building Montana’s most progressive timing company.

Competitive Timing brought a sophisticated chip-timing system to local races and has expanded to include high-tech gear that mimics what is used at the Olympic marathon time trials. A FinishLynx camera captures finish line photos at a rate of 1,000 frames per second to back up the system.

At each race Smeltzer sets up a hub of sorts where runners go to find results and split times. Dozens of laptops track times, a video camera captures individual finishes, larger monitors project results as they come in and a mini printer spits out stickers with a runner’s time and placement.

He latest technology allows a runner to scan a QR bar code on their race number, which directs them to a mobile app where results appear in real-time. Results can also be sent to a runner by text message.

“Before all of this technology runners had to wait until they next day for final results,” Smeltzer said. “Now people are getting their split times as they happen.”

The technology also has helped his business grow. He’s timed the top-rated Missoula Marathon, the Mountain West Classic and locally the Two Bear Marathon.

Competitive Timing will continue to host the Turkey Trot, Legacy Race and WAG Race, but Smeltzer hopes he can add one more to the list. He’d like to take proceeds from one annual race and put it toward scholarships for local prep runners.

He sees a lot of young talent in the valley and wants those runners to have an opportunity to race against the best outside of Montana.

“It’d be cool to be able to send runners to national events,” he said. “We’d pay their airfare and for a hotel. It’d be for the runners who have the athletic ability to compete in major events but don’t have money to do it. It’d be a good eye-opening experience for them to see what these bigger races are like.”

To learn more visit online at www.competetivetiming.com.