Nobody seems to know for sure. The two theories are first to finish wins or the team who takes the shortest time to finish wins. Take your pick. Answers all seem to be anecdotal - not based on any particular rule. Official Playrix rules seem to be ambiguous/inconsistent.
The team that was at 1st for most of the race was demoted to 2nd shortly before the end even though they also had 16 x 135. We came 3rd so it isn’t our concern but I do feel a bit for that team that got demoted!
@SwanWorld the team that finishes the regatta the soonest from the start time of the regatta is the winner. So if someone starts later and completes it in a shorter space of time they would still come second. Playrix confirmed it is the soonest to finish from when the race begins
The team that was at 1st for most of the race was demoted to 2nd shortly before the end even though they also had 16 x 135. We came 3rd so it isn’t our concern but I do feel a bit for that team that got demoted!
So, just to clarify, did the team that ended up in second place get to max points before the team that ended up in first place? If so, that would seem to contradict what Downton Falls says in her answer. Unless you bring up the answer that says there's some kind of "server delay".
You'd have to be watching the "Race" tab without blinking for several hours to really see what happens. LOL
The last time I read anything official about the race starting from when the regatta opens and not when a co-op takes their first task was a couple of years ago maybe on the official forum It was stated that this was and always had been the case. A few members were confused by it as to them it seemed that their race was starting from when they took the first task previously. And felt it had in fact been changed. Playrix however maintained this has never been the case.
Playrix can and do make changes without always informing players, so it is possible this has changed since then.
The confusion comes from the poor wording in the Township FAQ on this subject. In English, it reads :
"IMPORTANT NOTE: if multiple co-ops finish in a tie, the co-op that completed the tasks the fastest wins. The clock starts at the same time as the regatta."
The use of fastest here really should say soonest. Someone once posted that the Russian language version reads:
"the coop that finished all tasks BEFORE others will place higher. "
The important point is the part about the timing starting for everyone at the same time.
I think this confusion was compounded by observations like was described above, where a coop that appeared to finish before everyone ends up placing second. They have explained this as the result of time delays in the various servers synching and updating each other. We see the same issue in mini events sometimes. There have been examples though where that seemed to take an awfully long time.