Timing chips make the difference
Editor's note: The following was updated from a news article by 1st Lt. Kimberly E. Deveraux written for the 1998 Air Force Marathon. This story originally appeared in the WPAFB Skywrighter (page 25) on June 12, 1998.
Marathon participants will carry time with them
By 1st Lt. Kimberly E. Deveraux
ASC Public Affairs , Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
The second annual Air Force Marathon to be held here (at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio) Sept. 19 will use, for the first time, a Champion Chip timing system to record runners' official times and decrease the time it takes to compile race results. Marathon participants will wear a transponder inside a plastic tube (the size of a quarter) which will be placed into a cloth fastener enclosure laced onto runners' shoes.
The timing chip system has many advantages for marathon participants, most notably its ability to record true net times for each runner, no matter how long it took the runner to cross the start line after the cannon signals the beginning of the race. By wearing the chip, participants will receive fast and preliminary results within hours after the race. Also, the chip will permit runners to incur less stress at the start line, receive true split times, enter the finish area without congestion, eliminate non-registered runners, and complete registration more easily.
The transponder is passive until it moves into a magnetic field generated by Champion Chip antenna mats. There are no batteries in the chip. Its copper coil of wire in the transponder, when moved through a magnetic field, produces electrical current that energizes it. The transponder then transmits its unique, seven-character identification code, which is received by a reading antenna in the same mats that generate the magnetic fields. Thus, when a runner crosses the start line his or her time will start, and time will stop accurately when the runner crosses the finish line. Marathon finish-line workers will collect the timing chips once the runners cross the finish line.
(Editor's note: Updated information appears below.)
Registration forms for the marathon are available by mail (USAF Marathon, 88 MSG/SVC, 5215 Thurlow Street, Suite 2, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH, 45433-5542) and on the official marathon Web site.
Interested participants can receive more general marathon information by accessing the web site at http://www.usafmarathon.com or by calling toll free (800) 467-1823. The Air Force Marathon office also can be reached at (937) 257-4350 or DSN 787-4350.
DoD cardholders are welcome to stop by the Air Force Marathon office, located in Bldg. 70, Area C, near Gate 9C (now closed) off Route 444 between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., Mondays through Fridays.