The Houston marathon is going to a new timing system using disposable RFID tags. The old Champion Chip is also an RFID system but it is completely encapsulated in a waterproof enclosure and operates at different frequencies. The new disposable RFID tag system was used recently at Philadelphia and Honolulu and seems to have had a pretty high error rate.
Honolulu Star Bulletin Article
Honolulu Advertiser Article
It can rain in Houston too!
*** UPDATE on Thursday, 13 December ***
Roberta MacInnis's weekly column in the Houston Chronicle reports that the Houston Marathon will use the old Champion Chips for the 2008 marathon.
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2 comments:
I ran a 5K recently in which they used something similar to this, I think. It did not go well. My time was wrong, etc. I guess it's too late for Houston to switch timing systems at this point, but hopefully these races will reevaluate and switch back to the more reliable ChampionChip next year...
Austin, of course, had a problem with some ground interference at the start line that caused thousands not to receive chip times - me being one of them.
The only way I have to prove it is a picture of my watch.
Another timing company in the state is notable for their number of chip misreads.
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