think how much marathons would be better if there were no timing chips
and we don't need mid race photographers either
think how much marathons would be better if there were no timing chips
and we don't need mid race photographers either
Any particular reason why? Or just because Frank Shorter didn't run with no chip on his shoe?
sKIPper wrote:
think how much marathons would be better if there were no timing chips
I agree!
If there are no timing chips, Chicago etc won't convince 30,000 penguins to pay $150 to race there, and then you will be complaining that you have to pay $300.
Chips don't cost money in these races, they bring it in by offering an official time to people who don't hit the line until 15 minutes after the gun.
Believe it or not, not all chips offer an official time to people- and the ones that do are actually fairly expensive (even though most marathons could/should be able to afford this luxury). For those that do not offer an official time- they're nothing more than a pain in the ass and I'd rather just time myself.
I have seen chips embedded into a race bib, and I think we are not far from having this be the industry standard. With how small we can make RFID chips there is no reason why it should not be a disposable strip of tape on the reverse side of one's bib. The difficulty is designing a reader that can sense the chips at a height of 1-1.5m rather than essentially at ground level. But this is already happening, and it will not be long before official timing will be connected to your bib in all races.
Ummmm.... ever heard of the D-tag?
Finish line chip mats make it easier for race directors to record finishing times and post results quickly.
I don't like races that are big enough to care about starting line mats, but finish line mats are a good thing.
Amen.