PUBLISHED 09/15/2006
1994: ChampionChip
By Bob Cooper
Breakthrough: Leveled the playing field on race day
When races began drawing thousands in the early '70s, runners had to wait to cross the start, then wait again in the finish chutes for their tags to be ripped off. Some 20 years later, ChampionChip ended such delays--and cut those extra minutes from race times. The round or rectangular transponder chips, which send an electromagnetic signal to a computer when you cross mats along a racecourse, were first used at the 1994 Berlin Marathon and are now employed at more than 5,000 races in the United States.
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| ©Tara Striano |
Initially, chip times weren't considered "official," but today they're recognized as Boston qualifiers and U.S. age records. As of 2003, splits and finish times can be instantly text messaged to the cell phones of friends and family. Even the chip times of soldiers running a marathon in Afghanistan can be immediately sent to family members in the States.
Fresh Thinking: "The likely next step will be a move to GPS-based timing," says Mike Burns, president of ChampionChip USA.
1983: Polar PE 2000 Heart-Rate Monitor
By Christine Fennessy
Breakthrough: Ensured you exercised at the right intensity
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| Courtesy Polar |
Once upon a time, athletes probed their necks to gauge their heart rates. Today, they glance at their watches. The first wireless heart-rate monitor was introduced in 1983 by Finnish electronics
professor Seppo Saynajakangas, who originally developed it for Nordic skiers. Runners embraced it, paving the way for those telltale chest straps. "The heart-rate monitor is great because it gives you the ability to not overtrain," says exercise physiologist Phil Wharton.
Fresh Thinking: This month, Polar (the company Saynajakangas founded) and Adidas launch the first strapless system--shirts and sports bras with a built-in heart-rate sensor that works with Polar's RS800sd Running Computer.
