Honolulu Marathon Association officials believe incorrect use of newly introduced timing devices played a significant role in the timing snafus that plagued Sunday's 35th annual Honolulu Marathon.

Hundreds of split-time and finish results were either recorded incorrectly or not recorded at all. Marathon staffers are in the process of scanning video from the finish line, taken as part of the MyMarathonDVD service, to provide runners with their correct finish times.

Heavy showers that short-circuited generators connected to remote chip-readers are blamed for much of the problems, but Honolulu Marathon Association president Jim Barahal and David Simms, co-founder of SAI Timing and Tracking (the company contracted to handle timing of the race) yesterday said that many runners may not have been tracked because they did not properly fasten the rigid paper strip containing the timing transponder to their shoes.

From 2000 to 2006, the Honolulu Marathon used ChampionChip plastic discs, which were implanted with a microchip, track runners' progress along the route and provide accurate timing information. The discs were designed to be laced to the runners' shoes.

This year, the marathon adopted a new system that uses a small paper timing strip. The strip was attached to the runners' bibs and written instructions directed runners to attach them to their shoes without bending them or tucking them under their laces.

Unlike 2000, when the ChampionChip was introduced, runners were not given advance notice of the change. Directions included in the race packets were provided in English and Japanese. Also, there was a model of a shoe at the packet pick-up site that showed the proper way to way to attach the device.

Barahal and Simms believe many runners either left the strip on their bib or did not correctly attach them to their shoes, making it impossible for electronic readers to detect.

That explanation may account for the hundreds of runners whose times were not recorded at all on Sunday.

Still, several finishers who contacted the Advertiser said their tags were properly fastened yet their times were still missing from the official record.