Unusual sports and timing: Comrades in Africa, kambala and dragon boats in Asia, and Champs in Jamaica

Not every sport revolves around stopwatches and records. Some began as traditions in which timing only found a place later. Here are four examples that show how race timing adapts to culture.

Africa: the Comrades Marathon

The race began in 1921, when Vic Clapham organized it as a tribute to fellow soldiers who did not return from the war. The route runs between Pietermaritzburg and Durban. Bill Rowan won the inaugural race in 8 hours 59 minutes. Today, competitors race from the starting gun to the timing mat, and everyone has 12 hours from the start. Anyone who misses a checkpoint cut-off must board a bus. Learn more about cut-offs in Time limits at sporting events.

Asia: kambala and the Gowda myth

Kambala is a traditional Indian competition in the state of Karnataka in which a racer runs with a pair of buffaloes along a muddy rice field track approximately 142 meters long. In February 2020, Srinivasa Gowda became an internet sensation: he covered 142 meters in 13.42 seconds, and his time over 100 meters was estimated at 9.55 seconds—0.03 seconds faster than Bolt’s world record. The comparison is misleading: kambala is traditionally timed by hand, which is less accurate, and the buffaloes largely determine the speed. Gowda himself said that comparing him with Bolt was an exaggeration. Athletics: false starts and manual timing explains why hand timing is not sufficient for records.

Asia: dragon boats

According to tradition, dragon boat racing originated in connection with the legend of the poet Qu Yuan and later became associated with Duanwu, known as the Dragon Boat Festival. A crew paddles to the rhythm of a drum that sets the pace. Today, the International Dragon Boat Federation (IDBF) is one of the sport’s main international organizations. Courses are 200 or 250, 500, 1000, and 2000 meters long, and times at the 2018 Asian Games were reported to the thousandth of a second, such as 2:27.331.

The Caribbean: Champs and pushcarts

Jamaica’s Champs secondary-school championships began in 1910 with six schools. The girls’ championship was established in 1957, the events have been held together since 1999, and since 1963 they have taken place at the 35,000-seat National Stadium in Kingston. Champs is the premier proving ground for Jamaican sprinters: Usain Bolt, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, and Elaine Thompson-Herah all shone here before reaching the Olympics. Jamaica’s pushcart races, which inspired the Jamaican bobsleigh team, are described in Luge, bobsleigh, and the Jamaican bobsledders.

What this tells us

Traditional sports have preserved their own rules, and timekeeping has adapted to them. For organizers, this is a reminder that the required level of precision can be agreed in advance so results remain comparable, as described in Timing standards. If you organize an unusual event, TAQIO lets you record and publish results without specialized hardware.