athlete tracker during a race?

Julia Herrmann

Has anyone ever used this company to help their friends/family track them through a race?  I am thinking of using it for IMAZ coming up and just wanted to know if anyone had any thoughts or experiences with them.  Thanks!

www.myathletegps.com

 

TerryO

I used it at Nationals and am using it at IMAZ.  It is nice for spectators.

Coach Patrick

just dont lose the unit on the course as they can't find it when the battery dies...

Nemo Brauch

Marianne lost hers during IMWI and thankfully they were able to find it before the battery died. I remember tracking one of our members at Kona last year who had one and thinking it was super cool for family/friends who wouldn't be able to be on site.

Matt Samojeden

Used it a Kona, I put in on my race number belt in my T1 bag which I was able to access the morning of the race to turn the device on. They say the battery is good for 22 hrs. The device works were ever there is cell coverage. They claim it updates every 30 seconds. At Kona the cell towers were a bit loaded with all the people so there were period where itdid not update for ~ 10 min. My wife tracked me on her Iphone and could tell when I was coming into the area she was watching the race from. The only drawback was the map shown in the application where you track your athlete does not show mile marks for the course. I would use it again.

Julia Herrmann

Thanks for the feedback guys!  So ultimately I am going to order it for the race.  What I would love now is suggestions on how NOT to lose the thing!  How can you fasten it to something?  I do have a race belt that I plan to use...  Has anyone ever taken it with them through the swim? 

Matt Samojeden

Posted By Julia Herrmann on 01 Nov 2010 11:25 AM

Thanks for the feedback guys!  So ultimately I am going to order it for the race.  What I would love now is suggestions on how NOT to lose the thing!  How can you fasten it to something?  I do have a race belt that I plan to use...  Has anyone ever taken it with them through the swim? 

 

Julia, I have not used it in the swim, but it does say it is waterproof. If you were it in the swim you would want it on your back in some way out of the water , may be go under the swim cap ,the signals won’t make it though the water. .I have done this with my running gps.  You may add transition time to now move it to a race belt or could put in a jersey pocket.  

 

So not to lose the device, it comes in a small plastic case with Velcro to close the one endplus its own race belt that you can use or not. One though is to use a rubber band around the unit to ensure the Velcro does not come open. Another option is to tape the package shut.

jetskr

A free way of doing something like this is using a GPS enabled Blackberry and Google Lattitude. I did this in IMAZ and slipped the BB into my jearsy pocket in T1. All notifications were disabled and my family and friends were able to find me all day. Had the bonus of friends/family back home were able to track me through out the day as well.