NESTS was incorporated in October 1979 by long-time New Britain HS track coach Irving Black and a small group of investors.The goal was simple: to end the disputes between coaches over the accuracy of hand timing and order of finish. Initially the company purchased an Omega Photosprint 2 photo finish camera, a Chronomix 737 chronograph, and a few race clocks. Within the first few years the inventory grew rapidly, eventually to 6 OPS cameras, several race clocks and scoreboards, miles of cable, and upwards of 6 crews working simultaneously around the region. NESTS acquired used equipment from the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, some of which we still use today. Over the years Irving traveled to Switzerland to meet with the representatives of Omega Electronics and Swiss Timing to observe the latest advances in timekeeping technology. Irving and crew worked at the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games in several disciplines, mainly the athletics competition, where Irv was head judge, reading the photo finish images of some of the world's best athletes. NESTS has also worked under contract with Swiss Timing at other events including USATF and NCAA championships. Our society also serviced events worldwide, including the Millrose Games and Goodwill Games, just to name a few.
In late 1992 electronic line-scan cameras began to replace film, with the Omega Scan'O'Vision 1, of which we purchased two when they came out. The system recorded the images on SVHS PAL videotapes. Not to be confused with newer systems that are not fully automatic, the OSV1 reported times to the hundredth. In the mid '90s the modern Scan'O'Vision systems were introduced, working on desktop PCs and eventually laptops. Today we have 4 cameras, in addition to a cache of photocells, chronographs, display boards, and wind gauges.
On 14th July 2010, Irv passed away at age 79. The company is now majority-owned and managed by Jeremy Renninghoff, who started working for Irv in 2002. It is the goal of our employees to continue the tradition of excellence in timekeeping that Irv and crew began over 40 years ago. We have 5 technicians available with more on standby, ready to service any kind of event from a simple dual meet up to high-level competitions with reverse-wind coverage and intensive data handling. We are at the service of sport and look forward to servicing your event.
NESTS works with Omega Electronics/Swiss Timing timekeeping equipment. We have an assortment of Omega STAR and Myria cameras. We also provide a fully automatic backup system using dual photocells and printing chronographs, something which "fly-by-night" timekeepers can't offer. For high-level competitions where close finishes are expected, we can provide a reverse-angle camera to judge competitors that are blocking each other. In the cross country and road race sector, we offer the race|result "chip timing" system, which allows use of disposable bib tags and reusable shoe tags. The finish line is covered by a backup mat and decoder, to reduce the chances of missing reads.
In addition to our impressive timekeeping capabilities, we also offer an integrated data handling solution using Hy-Tek's Meet Manager for athletics and RunScore for cross country and road races. After your entries are collected using an online entry declaration service such as athletic.net or RunSignUp, we seed the events, print performance lists and field event sheets, and post the start lists and performance lists to our web site. Also during the course of the event we provide live results using the AthleticLIVE platform; you can view the start lists and results from your smartphone, tablet, or any device with an internet connection and follow along at the meet or from home!
We can provide additional services to enhance the quality of your event. With our scales and Track Master kits, we can certify field event implements (including hammers) to ensure fair competition. We have four anemometers plus large LED displays for recording wind readings for the track events and horizontal jumps. Competitors and spectators can see the running time and results on our display boards and Daktronics Galaxy sign. We also have the ability to interface with your facility's Daktronics signs for multi-line, alphanumeric results display.