Shaffer
10-23-02, 11:13 AM
As in past years, each of the 18,000 runners in Sunday's Marine Corps Marathon will cross the starting line with a little something extra: a bright yellow tag with a computer chip that will help track their progress through the 26.2-mile course.
Threaded through their shoelaces, the wafer-thin ChampionChip was initially intended to detect runners trying to cut corners -- and sometimes miles -- to win.
It will still do that Sunday. But for the first time at the Marine Corps Marathon, the chip will also relay data to a wireless computer network that will enable friends and family members to track runners' progress during the race. Computer stations at the Iwo Jima Memorial, plus some laptops and handheld personal devices scattered along the course, will allow spectators to check runners' times. (The system can also be accessed on the Web at www.marinemarathon.com.)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A49715-2002Oct18?language=printer
Threaded through their shoelaces, the wafer-thin ChampionChip was initially intended to detect runners trying to cut corners -- and sometimes miles -- to win.
It will still do that Sunday. But for the first time at the Marine Corps Marathon, the chip will also relay data to a wireless computer network that will enable friends and family members to track runners' progress during the race. Computer stations at the Iwo Jima Memorial, plus some laptops and handheld personal devices scattered along the course, will allow spectators to check runners' times. (The system can also be accessed on the Web at www.marinemarathon.com.)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A49715-2002Oct18?language=printer