If you have not already done so, record your Set-ups so that they can not be lost.

· Write-In Mode - When the Colorado prints the results of a race only the internal Race Number is printed.
· Print-In Mode - The internal Race Number is printed as well as the Event and Heat Number. Use this mode unless you are running with pre-setup events.
· Title Mode - Using the pre-defined events you have entered, when the race is printed it will have the internal Race Number printed, the Event and Heat number, and the description of the event (that you entered).
This is the preferred mode to run in if at all possible.
The Mode is selected by pressing the Event Mode key on the console, and then selecting the mode you want to run in. It is recommended that you use Title mode if at all possible, otherwise use Print-In Mode.
If you do not use Title Mode then you will have to enter the distance for each new event.

· Start at first Event of the session by pressing Edit Event/Heat, then enter the Event number to start with, press enter, enter the Heat number, press enter again.
This should take you to that Event and Heat.

· Turn On all the lanes.

· Check that the proper distance is displayed, if not you can press the distance key and change it.

· Wait for the Start signal. If the Colorado does not start automatically (from the starting console), then you should do a manual start by pressing the start key. You should inform the Referee that this has occurred immediately. If it is a False start, then immediately press the Reset key (it takes two fingers to do this).

· Record the Race number on your heat sheet by the Event & Heat it belongs to.

· The Referee and/or the Starter can help by informing you if there are any empty lanes.
If there are you should record this on your heat sheet, and then turn off the empty lanes on the Colorado console. Each Lane has a soft button switch that toggles the Lane on and off.

· Observe each swimmers intermediate pad touches (for races of more than two lengths).
If any swimmer misses a pad, then you will have to manually add a touch (to compensate for the missing touch).  Press the +Touch key, and then key in the Lane number that needs the added touch.

· At the Finish of the race, wait for all swimmers to come in. Once they have finished, all the lanes should have pad times.
If a pad has not been tripped, you can wait until the swimmer exits the pool, that will usually trip the pad.
If the pad is still not tripped, on the Colorado IV or V:
* With 2 or 3 button, you must get at least 2 buttons in order to proceed without a pad touch.
You can verify that this is the case by looking at the Display of pad and button indications (brought up by pressing the Display soft key) and/or by observing that the time in the upper left corner of the screen has stopped and is now blank.
If this is not the case, then the pad must be activated before you Store/Print and reset, otherwise there will be no times saved for that swimmer.
* Assuming that the above was true, when you Store/Print you will get the display entitled "Race Results that need Investigating." The lanes with button/pad discrepancies will be displayed.
You can now either accept the back-up button times for those lanes with no pad touch by pressing the appropriate soft key, or ignore this and simply press "OK to Print" soft key or "Quit."
I recommend that you never accept the backup times.
The Timing Judge/Results computer operator will determine the official time.
* If instead you get the message that "Lane(s) not finished" then at least one lane that is turned on did not get a pad touch, and either no buttons were pressed or only one button of two was pressed. If this is a lane with a swimmer, then the pad must be activated or buttons pressed to get the times that are present.

· Press the Store/Print key, this should start printing the results of the race. If not all the pads were tripped you will get a display message that not all lanes have finished, you simply respond OK to this.
You will also get a display if there were late (compared to the buttons) pad hits (i.e. the swimmer missed the pad at the finish, and later tripped it).
Simply respond to this with the Quit key.
If the race will not print (this would be Colorado IV only), then ask the Starter/Referee to hit the pads that were not tripped and then proceed normally.

· Once the printer starts printing, press the Reset key (takes two fingers). This signals the Referee that you are now ready for the next race.
On most scoreboards this will turn on a Dot (Period) after the Lane number.
If you have Reset but are not ready to move on to the next Heat, you must immediately
get the Referee’s attention and stop the meet until you are ready to proceed.

· Now, either press the Next Heat key to move to the next heat or the Next Event key to move to the next Event.
If you pressed the Next Event key but meant to press the Next Heat key, simply press the Edit Event/Heat key, and then enter the appropriate Event & Heat number.
This is not a reason to stop the meet, the next heat can be started while you are getting the correct Event & Heat entered.
In fact, you can change Event & Heat numbers, length of race, turn lanes on or off,up until the time that you Store/Print the race, and everything will be fine.
You can even turn off lanes that actually have swimmers in them and their times will still be recorded.
There is very little that you can do that will cause anything to be lost with the exception of the Reset key, this will stop everything and throw away anything you have not Stored.