Racing is about more than winning. For most people, anyway. It's about setting goals, doing your best and being part of a community. For many runners, this community includes the friends family who cheer them on.
Oregon startup Athletepath is tapping social media to extend and inform that community. The service works with race directors and timing companies to provide runners with results and the ability to update followers from the course in real time, or something closer to it than ever before. Gone are the days when your loved ones stood cluelessly on the sidelines, waiting for you to run by.
"Athletepath helps anyone who cares about the race, team, or racers stay just as involved as they would be running along with them," said David Embree, founder and CEO of Athletepath. "Doing a race is a big deal and we want people to be able to share in this experience."
Athletepath is emerging from beta testing to make its debut Aug. 24 at the 31st Hood to Coast Relay in Oregon. The 199-mile, 32-hour relay race through western Oregon is a perfect testbed, as it is expected to draw some 60,000 participants from 50 states and 36 countries. Now, it should be easy for fans to follow their favorite racers and keep up with the action.
"For 31 years, we've had trouble with people staying in contact with each other," said Jude Hubber, v.p. of marketing for Hood to Coast. "Now, during this long race, people can stay in constant contact. This is the biggest technological advance our race has had in 31 years. It's a really big deal for us.
The service works on any mobile browser, no downloads required, and is free. It was designed to be easy to use, with Athletepath using data provided by race timers to inform runners and followers of their position. As runners cross the finish, anyone following them is alerted by text, email or posts to Twitter or Facebook. Where possible, timing notifications will be provided in real time. Runners receive their official time within hours, instead of waiting a day or more.
Theoretically, the service could track a runner in real time on a map, but Hood to Coast is too long for that. In this case, the only runners wearing chips to locate their position will be the last runner on each team mdash; in other words, the runner who crosses the finish line. The others will be typing their segment times in to Athletepath, eliminating stopwatches and manual logging of times while also sending out their auto-notifications, streamlining the relay process.
"Most importantly, we’re getting all these people together and helping keep that festival race atmosphere alive throughout the world," Embree said. "It about more than the people racing it, it's about getting people excited about the experience, so you can cheer your friends on from 4000 miles away."
Images: Athletepath
