The Evolution of Technology in Marathons

Technology has affected every aspect of human life making it far simpler. The fitness industry has managed to adapt itself to the changing trends in technology with these changes being easily reflected in marathons as well. In the earlier days, running involved a harmonious use of your legs and lungs. Although the same rule applies even today, technology has managed to make things far easier for a marathon runner with the invention of extraordinary gadgets. However, nearly a decade ago, a minuscule chip was invented that was used to track the race time of the marathon runners. Even today, these chips are used to track the run time for an international marathon. In the 1990s, the runners had to tie a chip to their shoelaces, the code on which would be read by the specially coded mats placed right along the starting line. These mats scan the chip on the shoelaces and a runner’s time begins officially. This chip is then used to track the overall time taken by the runner to complete the marathon.

While this was the rage in the 1990s, keeping pace with technological changes led the creators to come up with concepts that were created after constantly refining the aforementioned concept. It is a fact that using a chip to record the timing of the marathon runners brought about a tremendous change in this field, however, keeping up with the increasing costs of this chip was a daunting task. This chip that was attached to the runners’ shoelaces had to be kept safe and sound during the entire marathon and towards the end of the race, the company providing this chip would ask for it. If, due to some reason, the runners were unable to return this chip, they would have to pay a hefty amount for the loss. Therefore, the creators had to come up with a concept that would benefit the marathon runners without burning a hole in their pockets. That is when they came up with the concept of a disposable microchip. This microchip was attached to the race bib, which was peeled and connected to the shoelaces. The best part about this chip was the fact that it was disposable, thus saving huge costs for the marathon runner. However, there were some accuracy issues during some international marathons wherein the timings recorded were faulty and therefore, they had to switch back to the old method of recording time.

These mixed reviews received for the chip timing method did not deter the creators to come up with novel concepts and they are now considering application of the exo-skeleton system that is widely used by the people in the armed forces. This systems aims at helping the military soldiers carry heavy loads without their knees giving in out of weariness. However, this system, which is widely used in the armed forces, can be adapted to suit the needs of a marathon runner as well. usually, when a marathon runner trains for the marathon, he does not necessarily run at the pace that he must during the actual marathon. Besides, there are several factors that boost the runner’s confidence making him run at lightning fast speed. Adrenaline, energy and several other contributing factors result in the runner taking off like a storm. This is where the exo-skeleton method can work wonders for the runners as they will be designed in materials that are extremely light in weight can be used widely for marathon and other fitness training. The exo-skeleton method can form a very important part of the fitness regimen in the near future.

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