That is interesting. You are recording the time on the watch which is *less* than the time the rider has taken.
Reductio ad absurdum: Imagine your watch records whole hours. A rider does 59:59. Do you record 0 time? Is that time faster or slower than a time recorded in minutes?
We were trained that you can never give a rider a faster time than they have ridden. If the clock reads 25:25 as they cross the line then giving them that time (25:25) implies 25:25.00, which is faster than they have actually ridden, so you should give them the time of 25:26 (implying 25:26.00).
Any time you get should be read as 'in a time not more than' rather than 'in a time not less than'.
..d
Ah.. Just found the printed training materials:
Road and off road racing are timed to the next whole second. e.g. If the time on the watch shows 58.01 seconds the time will be given as 59 seconds. 58 seconds would be a faster time than the rider has actually ridden
I would suggest then that whoever trained you was wrong (given that I have no reason to disbelieve Jock Shaw).