NYC Marathon's ChampionChip
This weekend marks the 30th anniversary of the New York City marathon, but it's the first time for a little device that records the time a runner starts and finishes the race.
Race director Allan Steinfeld explains on The Early Show how it works.
The ChampionChip is a small chip set in plastic that is attached to a runner's shoelace to track the net time.
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"When the runner wears it, he crosses a mat. It sends out a radio signal, it jives with the chip and the chip sends back information about the runner," says Steinfeld.
It works much like an EZ-Pass, used to pay tolls. When the runner crosses the mat, the chip beeps and the computer records the updated information.
The runners then get a certificate that indicates when they crossed each mat: their start times and their finish times.
That information will also be sent out over the Internet and may be in newspapers.
Before runners would only get a bib. But with this chip, runners who get to the start line a few minutes later, will be able to see their actual time from crossing the start line to traversing the finish line.
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