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new WTC initiatives in pro field
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I'm not a pro anymore, but I still got this email and I don't feel bad posting it. Seems like a good way to leverage consumer interest and provide more colorful commentary and perhaps initiate better drafting control at a select few events in 2015.

"As we begin the 2015 season, we wanted to share plans that will further improve one of our key initiatives for this season - driving awareness and exposure of our professional athletes. This will be accomplished in part through improved coverage that integrates advanced data tracking and detailed competitive analysis of the IRONMAN World Championship, IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship and our five regional IRONMAN Championships.

For all of these events, we will produce IRONMAN Live, a hosted online show with extensive, in-depth coverage of the professional race. A cornerstone of this enhanced coverage will be live GPS tracking for all professional athletes. After a successful pilot at the IRONMAN World Championship in 2014, our first beta test will be at the IRONMAN Asia-Pacific Championship in Melbourne on March 22, 2015. The data will be integrated into IRONMAN's new digital athlete tracking platform, IRONFAN. In addition, you will be given the opportunity to opt-in to transmit biometric and power data, which will be used for commentary on IRONMAN Live starting at Melbourne and integrated into IRONFAN later this year.

Our goal is to draw more attention to and improve engagement with our sport, and we believe that this is a major step forward as it combines long-distance GPS tracking with multi-sport biometric and power data. By leveraging this technology, we will create a more colorful and comprehensive experience for fans and the media.

Here are some important details regarding this initiative:
  1. Every professional athlete participating in a world championship or regional IRONMAN championship will be required to wear the GPS tracking device during the entire bike and run portions of the race.
  2. The dimensions of the unit are 99 x 55 x 22 mm and the weight is 115g; it is pictured below (left) with an iPhone 5 shown for scale.
  3. IRONMAN will also provide athletes with specially-designed pouches for the unit to be work during the bike and run legs. We are sensitive to sponsorships for nutrition and race belts, so you can choose to use a pouch or belt of your own to hold the device.
  4. In advance of the competition, each athlete will be given the opportunity to opt-in or opt-out of transmitting biometric data. For those who opt-in, the data will be used for commentary of race coverage on IRONMAN live starting at Melbourne and integrated into IRONFAN later in the year."

Last edited by: James Haycraft: Jan 30, 15 10:07
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Re: new WTC initiatives in pro field [James Haycraft] [ In reply to ]
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as a fan I love the idea!

The entire event (IM) is like "death by 1000 cuts" and the best race is minimizing all those cuts and losing less blood than the other guy. - Dev
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Re: new WTC initiatives in pro field [James Haycraft] [ In reply to ]
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Hopefully it adds a bit of excitement to the races.

-- Aaron Davidson
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Re: new WTC initiatives in pro field [James Haycraft] [ In reply to ]
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99 by 55 by 22mm??? at 115 grams?

I'm not against GPS tracking, but couldn't they get anything smaller?

I'm probably in the minority but running with that would drive me crazy.

Maurice
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Re: new WTC initiatives in pro field [mauricemaher] [ In reply to ]
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Bear in mind that the "unit" will have to contain both a GPS chip and some form of LTE / 4G / GPRS chip to relay data via cell towers.
Otherwise they'd have to line the course with wifi to pickup the data, which wouldn't be feasible.

Likely something like the Garmin GTU:
http://www8.garmin.com/followme/




~DE
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Re: new WTC initiatives in pro field [mauricemaher] [ In reply to ]
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mauricemaher wrote:
99 by 55 by 22mm??? at 115 grams?

I'm not against GPS tracking, but couldn't they get anything smaller?

that is only about 30mm or so longer then some of the basic ones on alibaba/ebay places like that. Considering this unit also then probably does the ant+/BT connection for the telmetrics I'd guess the size is about right.
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Re: new WTC initiatives in pro field [James Haycraft] [ In reply to ]
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Got a picture of the device?

Wondering who makes it.

What at the data upload times? 30 seconds?

.

Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

Boom Nutrition code 19F4Y3 $5 off 24 pack box | Bionic Runner | PowerCranks | Velotron | Spruzzamist

Lions don't lose sleep worrying about the sheep
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Re: new WTC initiatives in pro field [mauricemaher] [ In reply to ]
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mauricemaher wrote:
99 by 55 by 22mm??? at 115 grams?

I'm not against GPS tracking, but couldn't they get anything smaller?

I'm probably in the minority but running with that would drive me crazy.

Maurice


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Re: new WTC initiatives in pro field [James Haycraft] [ In reply to ]
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"in-depth coverage of the professional race"
Does that mean the announcers will actually know something about athletes who live outside of Boulder and San Diego?

I'm wondering how this will be used for competitive advantage too...
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Re: new WTC initiatives in pro field [James Haycraft] [ In reply to ]
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Sounds like it'll end any drafting accusations too, right?

___________________________________
MS: Exercise Science
Your speed matters a lot, sometimes you need to be very fast, where sometimes you need to breakdown your speed.
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Re: new WTC initiatives in pro field [James Haycraft] [ In reply to ]
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Awesome! I'll tune in watch this.

I'd guess the competition from Challenge Bahrain helped move this forward. Hopefully it now pushes the Challenge triple crown to do the same.
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Re: new WTC initiatives in pro field [James Haycraft] [ In reply to ]
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James Haycraft wrote:
I'm not a pro anymore, but I still got this email and I don't feel bad posting it. Seems like a good way to leverage consumer interest and provide more colorful commentary and perhaps initiate better drafting control at a select few events in 2015.

"As we begin the 2015 season, we wanted to share plans that will further improve one of our key initiatives for this season - driving awareness and exposure of our professional athletes. This will be accomplished in part through improved coverage that integrates advanced data tracking and detailed competitive analysis of the IRONMAN World Championship, IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship and our five regional IRONMAN Championships.

For all of these events, we will produce IRONMAN Live, a hosted online show with extensive, in-depth coverage of the professional race. A cornerstone of this enhanced coverage will be live GPS tracking for all professional athletes. After a successful pilot at the IRONMAN World Championship in 2014, our first beta test will be at the IRONMAN Asia-Pacific Championship in Melbourne on March 22, 2015. The data will be integrated into IRONMAN's new digital athlete tracking platform, IRONFAN. In addition, you will be given the opportunity to opt-in to transmit biometric and power data, which will be used for commentary on IRONMAN Live starting at Melbourne and integrated into IRONFAN later this year.

Our goal is to draw more attention to and improve engagement with our sport, and we believe that this is a major step forward as it combines long-distance GPS tracking with multi-sport biometric and power data. By leveraging this technology, we will create a more colorful and comprehensive experience for fans and the media.

Here are some important details regarding this initiative:
  1. Every professional athlete participating in a world championship or regional IRONMAN championship will be required to wear the GPS tracking device during the entire bike and run portions of the race.
  2. The dimensions of the unit are 99 x 55 x 22 mm and the weight is 115g; it is pictured below (left) with an iPhone 5 shown for scale.
  3. IRONMAN will also provide athletes with specially-designed pouches for the unit to be work during the bike and run legs. We are sensitive to sponsorships for nutrition and race belts, so you can choose to use a pouch or belt of your own to hold the device.
  4. In advance of the competition, each athlete will be given the opportunity to opt-in or opt-out of transmitting biometric data. For those who opt-in, the data will be used for commentary of race coverage on IRONMAN live starting at Melbourne and integrated into IRONFAN later in the year."

pretty good initiative.
i hope that one day, instead of getting a timing chip that goes around your ankle, we can just put this on for a race. that would change the FOP AG race, methinks.
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Re: new WTC initiatives in pro field [James Haycraft] [ In reply to ]
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Wow, that is really large. Seems like it would bounce all over the place during the run.

Can the general public buy? I wonder what the specs are?

.

Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

Boom Nutrition code 19F4Y3 $5 off 24 pack box | Bionic Runner | PowerCranks | Velotron | Spruzzamist

Lions don't lose sleep worrying about the sheep
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Re: new WTC initiatives in pro field [James Haycraft] [ In reply to ]
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Wow, that is really large. Seems like it would bounce all over the place during the run.

Can the general public buy? I wonder what the specs are?

.

Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

Boom Nutrition code 19F4Y3 $5 off 24 pack box | Bionic Runner | PowerCranks | Velotron | Spruzzamist

Lions don't lose sleep worrying about the sheep
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Re: new WTC initiatives in pro field [h2ofun] [ In reply to ]
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I don't know the answers to your questions. I merely posted what was sent to me.
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Re: new WTC initiatives in pro field [James Haycraft] [ In reply to ]
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Is Quarq getting into the computers game?

Make Inside Out Sports your next online tri shop! http://www.insideoutsports.com/
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Re: new WTC initiatives in pro field [James Haycraft] [ In reply to ]
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The true end goal?

"And for $50 more, your loved ones can get real time updates."

... not that I wouldn't pay...
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Re: new WTC initiatives in pro field [James Haycraft] [ In reply to ]
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Wow, that seems closer in size to my Delorme inReach Satellite Communicator (basically a sat-phone that only does text messages) than it does to to any cellphone capable of sending the same metrics... perhaps it's satellite based and not cell network based?

Do any of the major Ironman courses not have complete cell coverage?
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Re: new WTC initiatives in pro field [owen.] [ In reply to ]
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It's not one of the championship races, but IMWI for one has spotty coverage in spots depending on the carrier.
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Re: new WTC initiatives in pro field [James Haycraft] [ In reply to ]
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I wonder how that thing'll handle dead zones, such as in the outback of IMLP. The same curiosity about how it transmits, I.E. If it's via cell phone towers.

Either way, it's about time that the WTC started connecting the athletes with an audience.






Take a short break from ST and read my blog:
http://tri-banter.blogspot.com/
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Re: new WTC initiatives in pro field [owen.] [ In reply to ]
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At every ironman I've spectated, data transmission to/from cell towers has severely diminished halfway through the race. I've always assumed it was because the networks were overloaded by thousands of us spectators checking the live tracker through our phones.

I hope that wtc is not relying on data transmission through cell towers.
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Re: new WTC initiatives in pro field [AlwaysCurious] [ In reply to ]
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AlwaysCurious wrote:
At every ironman I've spectated, data transmission to/from cell towers has severely diminished halfway through the race. I've always assumed it was because the networks were overloaded by thousands of us spectators checking the live tracker through our phones.

I hope that wtc is not relying on data transmission through cell towers.

I could not agree more. Seen this first hand.

If they are planning to use cell towers, they will be in for a fast rude awakening about the limits of technology.

.

Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

Boom Nutrition code 19F4Y3 $5 off 24 pack box | Bionic Runner | PowerCranks | Velotron | Spruzzamist

Lions don't lose sleep worrying about the sheep
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Re: new WTC initiatives in pro field [IKnowEverything] [ In reply to ]
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The "drafting" or "in the draft zone debate" will always be there at some level ... but look draft zones to increase in size for 2015 @ WTC events

-------------------------
Dave Latourette
http://www.TTENation.com
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Re: new WTC initiatives in pro field [James Haycraft] [ In reply to ]
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I searched the net but could find nothing.

Trakkers tried this in the past and found many surprises.

I wonder what the pros are going to think having that bouncing around on them.

.

Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

Boom Nutrition code 19F4Y3 $5 off 24 pack box | Bionic Runner | PowerCranks | Velotron | Spruzzamist

Lions don't lose sleep worrying about the sheep
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Re: new WTC initiatives in pro field [AlwaysCurious] [ In reply to ]
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AlwaysCurious wrote:
At every ironman I've spectated, data transmission to/from cell towers has severely diminished halfway through the race. I've always assumed it was because the networks were overloaded by thousands of us spectators checking the live tracker through our phones.

I hope that wtc is not relying on data transmission through cell towers.

unfortunately, that'd probably be the case, unless they can work out a deal with phone companies that would give those signals priority, which I highly doubt.
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