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HBF Run For Reason 2012

With perfect Perth weather on Sunday 27 May, the 2012 HBF Run for Reason attracted over 20,000 runners, walkers and joggers for the annual event. Staged over the 14km or 4km distances, participants succeeded in raising over $720,000 for the affiliated charities making their way along the scenic Perth CBD courses.

BlueChip Timing timed the event using the ULTRA system from RFID Race Timing Systems. The low profile mats and the power of the ULTRA system make a great combination for large participation running events. Mass starts are no problem with the readers able to sustainably reads of over 300 tags per second. This is the third year ULTRA has been used at the HBF Run for Reason and the organizers and athletes love the simplicity of low cost disposable transponders.

You can see more photos and video of the event at the HBF Run for Reason site.

2012 Busselton Ironman 70.3

The weather gods relented on Saturday morning 5th May 2012, opening a window of opportunity for the 2012 Busselton 70.3 Ironman event – The largest half-ironman in Australia!! Thunderstorms and heavy rain the night before painted a bleak picture for competitors, however with the last showers disappearing before dawn the sun was out for the event. The wild weather was not without consequence with an onshore swell making the swim conditions tough for the modified 1.8km course.

BlueChip timing has timed this event for the past few years and were prepared for almost anything. Using RFID Race Timing equipment, Stuart Fuller and his team managed a combination of products for the event. All competitors were issued a low frequency transponder chip and read by the HDD for the swim and run legs, while the ULTRA combined with disposable tags on a bike seat sticker monitored the cycle leg and splits. Using the ULTRA in this way negated the need for mats on the cycle course with side antenna capturing the action.

Congratulations go to  Ironman 70.3 Busselton Champions for 2012 – James Hodge and Felicity Sheedy-Ryan.

Check out the great video footage here.

RFID ULTRA and the Flying Pigs

Over the weekend of the 5th and 6th May 2012, was the running of the 14th Cincinnati Flying Pigs Marathon. In the prelude to the main event, the 10km, 5km, the  Flying Pig Kids’ Marathon and the Flying Piglet Kids’ Fun Run were held on the Saturday and totaled almost 10,000 competitors in the lead-up to the big event. On Sunday the marathon and half marathon distances attracted just under 20,000 bringing a record total for the weekend to 30,993.

In almost perfect conditions Josh Drew from the End Result Company timed the races with RFID Race Timing’s ULTRA systems. ULTRAs were used at the start, finish and splits capturing the disposable tags on the runner’s bibs. A new race for Josh, but he was confident that ULTRA could deliver, with low profile mats and powerful tag readers, there was never any doubt.

Check out some more great photos here as well as the video footage of the Marathon

ULTRA weekend in Norway

Over the weekend of the 28-29 April 2012, RFID Race Timing’s ULTRA timing system was chalking up some impressive races in Norway. On one side of the country Josh Lisac of ToppTid was timing the Bergen City Marathon, while in Oslo Morton Toft of Ultimate Timing was taking care of the timing service at  Sentrumsløpet.

Sentrumsløpet was first run in 1981 with just over 1800 and has grown to over 9000 runners in 2012 making it Oslo’s largest running event.

The Bergen City Marathon had well over 1000 runners split over multiple distances (full marathon, half, and 3km), an event similar in setup and size to the  Holmestrand Marathon that ToppTid timed 2 weeks before.

”We experienced very, very high read rates at both races.  The ultras are easy to setup and can handle massive volumes of runners.  I am very impressed with their quality and look forward using them in the future!”  was the feedback from Josh Lisac.

For some more great photos and report of the 2012 Sentrumsløpet follow this link.

RENTA Oberelbe-Marathon 2012

The magnificent RENATA Oberelbe-Marathon was run on the 29th April 2012 in picture perfect conditions. The course takes advantage of the wonderful country-side and beautiful bike trail along the Elbe River into the city of Konigstein. Offering marathon, half marathon, 10km and a fun event distance; a wide range of runners were able to enjoy the course.

Baer Service in Germany supplied the timing services for the day using the Ultra system from RFID Race Timing. By using the ULTRA system Baer Service were able to use disposable RFID tags with this event rather than reusable tags as in the previous years. This resulted in a more efficient way of timing the event. Tag allocation and collection post race was no longer required as the RFID stickers were attached to the runner’s bib.

Outreach is proving a real hit with timers.

Outreach is the new communication software from RFID Race Timing. Since its launch in January this year, timers around the world have quickly come to realise its value to their timing businesses.

This clever software allows the timer to communicate with a number of ULTRA timing units via modem through the cellular network. Once the unit has been set up it can be connected to from anywhere in the world.

This amazing tool now allows remote units to stream live data to a central computer as a race unfolds. No longer does the timer have to wait until after the event to retrieve the timing units and rewind the data. It now arrives instantly. This in turn allows for additional services to be offered, such as live tracking on the web, whereby spectators can follow the an athlete’s progress throughout the race on a mobile phone or computer.

The other amazing feature of this software is its ability to control units remotely. In the same manner that data is collected, commands from the main computer can be sent to the ULTRA units altering their settings at any point duriing the event. This is a fantastic option for timers to be able to fine tune their equipment during an event from one location.

For more information on how Outreach can improve your timing service contact your local agent.

Greater Manchester Marathon 2012

The weather gods turned on “something special even for Manchester”  for the 2012 Greater Manchester Marathon after an absence of 10years.

In wet and windy conditions just under 5000 runners took to the start line to brave the elements, with the winner Dave Norton toughing it out in 2hrs 24mins and 46sec.

The Greater Manchester Marathon was timed by STUWEB Race Timing with state of the art UHF disposable timing chips.

Combining the practicality of disposable chips with the power of RFID Race Timing’s UlLTRA systems, the timing did not miss a beat.  In spite of the horrid conditions all the equipment worked like a charm with split point times provided along the way at 6, 10, 13.1 (half marathon), 20 miles and the finish.

Check out the photos and read more at: http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/1492405_replay-runners-battle-wind-and-rain-in-manchester-marathon—video-and-pictures

ULTRA debut in China

RFID Race Timing has arrived in China with Genco Jin of Sydex timing two events for the Da Li Sports Council over the weekend 6-8th April, 2012. The versatility of RFID Race Timing System’s ULTRA was demonstrated timing a 5 km fun run for 3500 finishers on the Friday and following up with a 40km cycle race for 870 riders on Sunday.

Genco was very pleased with the way the ULTRA system performed.

“By using ULTRA and Outreach we were able to provide fast live timing results to  the Sports Council, who were very happy with the level of service.”

RFID Race timing’s remote access software (Outreach) has dramatically increased the options available to race timers. In this instance, an ULTRA unit controlled via Outreach was used at the cycle turnaround, and was able to send live results to the control centre over the cellular phone network. In addition to streaming results, settings can also be adjusted remotely as the race unfolds. Several units can be linked in this way allowing results to be updated live as the race unfolds.

We look forward to seeing many more races timed in China using ULTRA, with our agent Genco Jin very optimistic of the opportunities that are unfolding. Prospective timers in China can find Genco’s contact details here, and more about our Outreach software by contacting you local RFID Timing agent.

Qatar National Sports Day Fun Run

When the Government of Qatar announced that the second Tuesday of February was National Sports Day, the region truly began to embrace its sporting culture.

The national sports facility of Qatar, The Aspire Zone Foundation organised a 4km fun run at the Khalifa Stadium to mark the occasion. RFID Timing’s HDD system was used to time the event as part of a partnership between the Aspire Zone Foundation and StuWeb Race Timing.

The event was unique being completely free and attracting a diverse range of participants.  A truly multicultural event; the entries were received  in many different languages and the runners ranged from Qatar’s cleaners to chief executives.

The high level of community support made  first National Sports Day event a great success, fueling the desire for more events.  The next  race planned by the Aspire Zone Foundation is a tower run in the famous Torch Hotel ascending  51 floors on the 31st March 2012.