On Your Mark, Get Set, Go!H. Haveman
Gallup local, Lindsay Mapes, is making a name for herself, now at athletic events throughout the state and Four Corners area. Originally from Michigan and North Carolina, Lindsay graduated from the University of Michigan and came to Gallup as an Americorps VISTA Volunteer. Since then, she’s managed to involve herself in countless events and goings-on in the community.
With a love for the outdoors and an aptitude for organization and leadership, Mapes naturally took the reins of some local races, all getting their start and putting Gallup on the map as an outdoor-adventure destination: the Squash Blossom Classic, Dawn ’til Dusk and the Gallup Triathlon. As an event promoter, she oversees all aspects of an event and is responsible for registration, marketing, and hiring the timing system – one of the biggest expenses of race events.
After working these events for a few years, Lindsay began looking into the possibility of buying a timing system to lower the event costs. One Colorado timing company had the monopoly on the Four Corners area, including all of New Mexico. If timing the local events was effective with the system, perhaps expanding by offering services to other races in the state would be profitable. From a business standpoint, the idea seemed like a good one, but Lindsay was feeling a tug in a different direction and planned to attend law school. So, she plugged the idea to friends, certain that it could be successful.
As fate would have it, law school was not to be and Mapes found herself taking the leap into self-employment. Last August, after much research and acquiring a business loan, she purchased a disposable chip timing system and Turquoise Timing & Events was born.
Radio-frequency identification (RFID) timing has only been used in non-motorized sports like cycling and triathlons since the early 1990s. Prior to this, races were either timed by hand or with video. In both cases, determining race results was neither efficient nor immediate as it is with RFID technology. Now with the more-recent development of disposable tags, timing companies need not worry about collecting tags at the finish line, allowing for even more ease on race day.
Given the new developments in timing technology, many of Lindsay’s clients are new to its use and have to be educated on how to best incorporate it into their events. Yet, even with the hassles of changing the start and finish lines and working with the timing software, the benefits during the event are noticeable and appreciated by race organizers and participants alike.
The other timing companies in the Southwest are located in Phoenix, Dallas and Colorado Springs. Turquoise Timing provides a service to events in New Mexico and the Four Corners that is not otherwise available. It’s another notch on Gallup’s belt of diverse business offerings.
Mapes’s list of pros and cons regarding the new endeavor sounds much like a MasterCard commercial: “Taxes, $$; insurance, $$; retirement plan, $$ . . . being self-employed, priceless.” Starting a business is costly, but all worth it for Lindsay. She’ll be working on many weekends this summer, but her office is the great outdoors. With an addiction to traveling and family members spread across the country in four different states, Lindsay plans to take off the month of July and three months in the winters.
Because she’s new at juggling her personal needs with the job requirements, she’s found herself hungry, tired and sunburned during events thus far, but those kinks are bound to work out with time and experience. Though the company started officially in January this year, it has already done half a dozen events since last fall. As the company’s president and sole employee, Lindsay has enlisted help for timing the races, but is taking on many aspects of the business herself. Her goal for this first year is to time ten races and with a full schedule for the summer, she’s on track.
As with any new business, there’s a lot to improve. Developing a flashy finish line with lights and photos, expanding to bigger races, hiring and training teams of employees, balancing the books and doing taxes are all possible in time. But for now, Lindsay is content to keep an eye on the clock, while racers scramble to the finish. |
