The Future Is Here: Drone Used to Film the Best Live Video from RAK Half Marathon

The RAK Half Marathon just finished and the live video was stunning. A drone was with the elite men the entire race. The angles it was able to show were captivating to say the least. The feed with incredibly smooth especially compared to the handheld motorcycle camera that the feed was cut to on occasion.

What are the chances of drone use for major marathons around the world? Boston, Chicago, London, NYC, Berlin??? I certainly can see some serious security concerns around hacking into the controls I guess, or maybe interference with large buildings around... Any other reason NOT to?

If you haven't see the video of the RAK half, please check it out for yourself. The live video feed was fantastic.

Editor's note: This post was merged from it's own thread

I was about to take down the video on the homepage but now the drone is just flying back over the course. Take a look if you haven't seen it.

Feel free to delete my other drone thread, haha.

I had the same thoughts early on in the race. I didn't notice it was showing us different vantage points until maybe 30 minutes in and the drone was clearly only 20 feet ahead of the runners and like 10 feet above them. Then it slowed slightly and was eye level with the runners from the side until it zoomed off high into the air and got a wide angle shot of the scenery.

Super smooth transitions, no bouncing like the bike shots obviously. Those were as bouncy and choppy as always. Moving further and further into the race, it was clear that the producer was catching on to the fact that the drone video was far superior to any other shot they had.

I assume this was done with two people controlling it from a car in front of the leaders? One to control the actual drone and make sure it doesn't hit any runners, spectators, or trees. The other would be controlling the camera angle based on the drones position, no? Very skilled work whoever did it!

Looks to me like some of the shots in the Berlin Marathon video clip on the homepage were filmed with a drone.

What was the winning time?

60:05 for the men and 66:02 for Mary Keitany and the women (3rd fastest on a record eligible course)

wejo wrote:

Early on in the race there was no sound and I was thinking to myself, "this video is stunning" not realizing it was a completely different vantage point than I had ever seen.

And it's that "completely different vantage point" which will be boring in a matter of months because even your little neighborhood 5k feels like spamming the web with a drone race video.

It's the overall production that used to make a race fun to watch. And that will not change. It's just another camera angle. If abused, it's awful.

I first thought there was a drone in use when I saw the drone's shadow. For a bit I wondered if it was a smudge on the camera lens. Not sure how expensive it is to use a drone, but think if there were, say, four drones at a race. Two dedicated to the lead men and women, then two hovering at check points as the rest of the main players went through then on to the next checkpoint. Make it five drones, another out on hottie patrol.

Berlin marathon loves to mention the monuments the racers are passing. A sweet drone shot of the monuments would be cool.

mpkp wrote:

Make it five drones, another out on hottie patrol.

Well done my friend, well done.

-Robert

PS. Should i have typed i weldon?

rojo wrote:

mpkp wrote:

Make it five drones, another out on hottie patrol.

Well done my friend, well done.

-Robert

IMagine if a drone just flew over a beach. Some great cleavage shots. The end of privacy is here.

6 drones. One to follow Kip.

likely shot with an s1000

dji manufactures this ...

http://www.dji.com/product/spreading-wings-s1000

decent battery life but must've switched them or flew them in particular parts of the course. with a 4k camera mounted you're looking at 15 min of flight time

This reminds me of a survey of European TV viewers of the Tour de France, which revealed that the majority were not really interested in cycling. They were mostly older folks who just liked watching the scenery roll by.

The drone coverage may be a way to get that same visual appeal for a broad TV audience, on the cheap, while still providing serious coverage for the fans of the sport. Now they just need more aesthetically appealing locations. Boston, Chicago, London, these are kinda nasty to look at from up high.

Don't think the drone could keep up with the Peleton.

How cool will it be when we will have Pace Drones? You set your personal drone to a certain pace and it flys in front of you at that clip. The drone could have a camera so you could have video of the run, and a sensor to read all your vitals. The future man.. it's all about drones.

australisdrones.com wrote:

likely shot with an s1000

dji manufactures this ...

http://www.dji.com/product/spreading-wings-s1000

decent battery life but must've switched them or flew them in particular parts of the course. with a 4k camera mounted you're looking at 15 min of flight time

I think you nailed the drone they used. We have a picture of it now from the RAK:

I was wondering how they did it with the battery as I've heard the inexpensive drones have a short battery life. They either had a bunch of drones or a super expensive one that could fly longer.

The video also never cut out which happened with ESPN and the NYC marathon this year. So I guess it is somewhat easy for the drone to sync up? I had to marvel that a race streaming over the internet was streaming me perfect video coverage better than ESPN.

I emailed Tim Hutchings who did the announcing to ask about the drone. He said races in Europe have them but there are restrictions about them flying over people and the course. My impresssion was they might be used for finishing shots but this was the first time I'd seen one fly over the runners.

I use a drone in my wildlife research...

http://www.turboace.com/matrix_quadcopter.aspx

This one can stay in the air for 30 minutes with a gimbal mounted camera and has no trouble going 15 mph. The technical problems are solved (as the RAK coverage demonstrates nicely). It is the legal issues and new FAA regulations that are likely to limit use in the US.

wejo wrote:

I then realized I've never heard of a drone being used to shoot a race. Has anyone else seen it?

Anyone have any guess as to what type of drone it would be?

Well done RAK Half.

There's a video company down here that's been using it to record high school and middle school cross country races, and the videos are stunning. It's amazing to see the start of a 200 runner XC race from the drone. I don't know enough about this to say which drone they use, though.