I've been thinking about not knowing your place during the event. How difficult would it be to place a portable electronic display or two on the course that could display some of this info?



For example, put one of these along the bike course (perhaps on a hill, so riders are going slow enough to read it) and one on the run course.



When a competitor passed over a timing mat, the display could show something like:

Name.................AG Plc...Ovrl Plc....Time back from next AG competitor......Time back from 1st ovrl
Joe Competitor......3............9............................0:01:12...................................0:03:45

With a large enough display, even on a packed course, most people should be able to get some feedback on how they are doing.

This probably isn't practical for smaller races, but the 1000+ events could probably handle the extra cost.

Thoughts?

--Marcus George
UCLA Triathlon
http://www.triathlon.ucla.edu