A while ago I said I was writing something about the future of Ironman television coverage. I think efernando once asked about it on this forum.
I pulled it out and dusted it off and put some wax on it. Here it is for those still interested:
http://www.bikesportmichigan.com/editorials/0000046.shtml
Happy New Year!
Not bad, except that there is no way an american is going to win in 2008.
More seriously, here are some of my opinions regarding your editorial :
drafting chip devices : been thinking of such a solution for a while now. Has anyone tried to design something like that yet ? Would it be too expensive, or could we use the chips we already use for registering times and splits ???
television coverage : your coverage sounds really intersting, full of insights, although, in my opinion, we should rather than bring in all this expensive technology, look for ways to produce the least expensive coverage that is possible while at the same time the most interesting and well executed : this would mean a coverage done by triathletes for triathletes (they should know what is interesting to watch, when to switch to which camera at what time, in other words, to film at any moment where the action is hottest) and very good commentators that know the sport and at the same time can communicate their passion and enthousiasm (this is not a given).
drafting again : I would rather have the athletes wait 3 minutes (or 6 minutes) at the start of the marathon rather than add these minutes to the overall time. Why ? Because you don’t want someone crossing the line in first and not being the winner. Even better would be to have them wait in a box just before the last stretch so that they couldn’t rest before the marathon, which could be beneficial for them in certain cases. Another possibility would be to have them do a penality kilometer in the middle of the run.
Just food for thoughts.
Laurent
Agree. NBC or any other media giant will not invest in the kind of technology you suggest in your commentary within the next 4 years. I guess we’re lucky they spent the amount they did for the 25th anniversary coverage. Interesting that the majority of the technology already exists. Proximity sensors, instant blood analysis, unmanned flying drones, the Chip…already here! Unmanned flying drones are very real, just very unlikely that they’ll be used to cover an IMHawaii in the near future. Controlling them from 50 miles away in unpredictable winds like in Hawaii seems impossible; can you say liability?
Realistically, they’ll probably start with stationary posts/towers equidistant apart that will have a lot of the techy stuff mounted on each post - radar for speed/distance, remote camera that can extend to around 5 meters above ground, chip check, etc. I seriously doubt people will want to mount more equipment on their bike just for the sake of better T.V. viewing.
People who know the sport understand going out too fast, positioning for attacks, lactate thresholds, blowing-up, distance covered vs. distance needed to go, etc. T.V. won’t cover these finer details of racing unless the average (non-triathlete) T.V. viewer will pause channel surfing to watch something they can understand. Lately, the bar is being lowered and lowered to reach more. That’s why we there’s NASCAR.
A friends company has developed small gps chips for many uses; including shipping companies, to track the exact location of packages. I believe the price is about $2 - pretty cheap in my opinion.
A sensor like this could be added to the timing chip and a computer could track contestants - knowing where the most action was. To bad civilian GPS are only accurate to +/- 3 m or the computer could also track penalties.
Wow Tom, great writing! Kind of reads like a Tom Clancy novel. Incredible detail. Can’t wait to read your book when it comes out. However in real life, I guess as long as Susan Dell still wants to race in Hawaii, we can at least hope Mr. Dell will continue to keep the setup they used this year. I’d love to fly in that C-17 though.
The anti-drafting technology is actually quite simple. You can use the same technology that is currently used for dog restraint - the one company name I know is Invisible Fences. The way it works for the dog fence is a receiver that is on the dog’s collar and a wire that emits a radio signal around a wire for a specific distance (i.e. 5 foot radius). When the dog enters this zone they get a warning buzz and if they do not leave the zone within a set period of time (usually 1 sec) then they get a shock. I think that this could easily be adapted for use like you describe. With a little bit of effort, I think that this could be adapted to be part of the timing chip.
Additionally, I don’t think you are going to have an easy time getting an athlete to slow down and prick their finger, causing blood loss (yes its minor but …). There are blood analysis tools now being introduced for diabetics that do not require an actual sample. I believe the latest is a watch that uses a some sort of light to test the blood sugar.
Wow, Thanks for the feedback. Awesome, this is exactly why I try to get you guys to read my stuff- so I can hear your thoughts.
Here my thoughts on your thoughts:
Blood Collection Units: You’re absolutely right. I doubt athletes, either elite or MOP’ers would ever want to do this. Heck, sometimes I forget to put my race number on! (thank goodness for chip timing). So yeah, this is a flight of fancy that will likely never occur.
Drafting Alarms: Man, we are overdue for this. but the comment about adding 3 minutes to a person’s time is totally valid (person crossing first who didn;t win- not good). I didn’t even think of that. That’s what I have you guys for…
Cost of Technology: I was hoping the technology would come across as being inexpensive. I should have mentioned that in the article. Oops. Putting 13 camera drones up is probably less expensive than putting four camera helicopters up: No flight crews, less fuel, etc.
Also, a mobile production facility such as the fictitious CH-17M Viewmaster is based on the military C-17 Globemaster transport. An aircraft like this could be leased by a network, like the fictitious HS Media, and subjugate the necessity for a network to have an expensive, on-site production facility. Also, the aircrft could be covering the Ironman on one day, then the next day be covering a college football game or bull riding or X-Games or NHRA Drag Racing Championships or whatever, giving the network incredible flexibility. Also, remember, this is total “pay per view” where viewers would have to pay to get the media feed.
Just my .02. Thank you very much for reading. Happy New Year.