Keeping track of runners a marathon task

Khon Kaen developers say new timing system will cope with 800 jostling athletes

The complexity of timing a large group of athletes taking part in a marathon has always been a very labour-intensive job. Recording different starting times, keeping track of progress through checkpoints and compiling a final list to calculate the winner has always involved huge numbers of officials. But this may soon be a thing of the past.

The many human timekeepers are about to be replaced by a radio frequency identification (RFID) system developed at Khon Kaen University. It will time marathon competitors concurrently and accurately throughout the 42.195-kilometre events.  

"We had the idea to build up a system to take over the complicated task from the many people who had to be brought together every time a marathon was run," said the developer, Khon Kaen University computer science senior Korrawit Chanthong.

Korrawit and his friend, Pantawoot Pukongjit, have adapted RFID technology to make the timing process much easier. Instead of timing each and every athlete as he or she crosses the starting point, an RFID tag worn by each runner will be detected and the precise time of their start recorded.

Each tag will contain the athlete's identity and personal information, so when RFID readers detect it, the personal running-time information will be recorded in a database. Once a starting time has been collected, the system will send data from each checkpoint to a central system, allowing a referee to instantly see the total running time of each competitor.

"With this system, the referee will know immediately who is making the best time, so the winner can be announced much faster," Korrawit said.

Previously, committees had to wait for all athletics to finish running before collecting and calculating times manually. With the help of RFID technology, they will be able to see who is running the best time, even before the race is finished.

Korrawit said the RFID tags would be attached to the number pads worn by athletes. As they crowd past the starting point, RFID readers will detect them and individual running-time calculations will begin. Normally, marathons involve 700 to 800 athletes and the developers estimate that about 15 athletes cross the starting point per second. So they have made the system capable of detecting and recording progress for up to 60 tags per second.

 In the course of a marathon, there are many checkpoints. RFID readers will be installed at each checkpoint to bring timing calculations up to date as each runner passes by.  

The new system is a part of Khon Kaen University's research programme and it has received Bt200,000 from the Khon Kaen University Alumni Association for development of a prototype.

After spending four months on development work, the system has been tested on a trial marathon involving only 50 runners. It proved to be 95-per-cent accurate and further work has begun to make it 100-per-cent accurate and capable of handling larger fields of athletes, Korrawit said.

   "We plan to conduct our next test on about 200 runners, and we will then scale up to more and more athletes to make sure that when the system comes into real use, it will detect all the runners without fail," he said.

   It is hoped that within two years, the system will be ready for use on the Khon Kaen International Marathon, which is held in the province every year.

   At present, the event organisers hire a complete RFID timing system from overseas, which costs about Bt1.5 million for each marathon. The team hopes to help import substitution by developing local technology that will lower the cost per marathon to about Bt750,000.

   "The cost will be high in the first year, but in the second year and thereafter, it will be about Bt200,000," Korrawit said.