28 April 2011

Record Breaking Runs at the 2011 Virgin London Marathon Recorded with IPICO Sports

A Men's Course Record, the deepest Women's Marathon field in history, thirty-six (36) new entries into the Guinness Book of World Records, and over 35,000 participants were recorded by IPICO Sports Timing Systems at the Virgin London Marathon on Sunday, April 17, 2011. The thirty-first running of the London Marathon was the second year of title sponsorship by Virgin Money. In 2009, London Marathon Ltd. and IPICO Sports signed a formal five-year agreement to provide data collection technology services to all of the events in the London Marathon Ltd. portfolio.

The London Marathon served as the launch site of the premium IPICO Sports Road Mat, with seventy-six (76) Mats deployed at the event. Working with London Marathon Ltd., the Road Mats were designed to satisfy their exacting standards. In addition to superior performance, the mats were designed to meet stringent health and safety requirements and to match the event branding color scheme. Fifty-eight (58) IPICO Sports Elite Readers were deployed at sixteen (16) read points, including three separate start lines, and three finish arches. The timing was conducted under the leadership of Mika Timing, with technical support from an international team of IPICO Sports customers and staff.

Virgin London Marathon Race Director David Bedford commented, "We continue to be very pleased with the professionalism of the IPICO Sports team, and their ability to find solutions to the challenges of putting on a major international event. We have had our best results ever. The IPICO systems worked very well."

IPICO Sports Vice President Philip Lockwood values the partnership. "The process to meet the standards of the Virgin London Marathon challenges our team in many ways. Our success in satisfying these requirements validates the superior performance of our technology. The London Marathon is an example of the scalability of our product portfolio. These same products are available to all of our customers worldwide."

The IPICO Sports Road Mat features an enhanced IPICO Sports Dual Frequency Antenna configuration embedded in a dense PVC mat material. IPICO Sports provided Road Mats in lengths of 5.0 Meters (16.4 feet), 6.0 Meters (19.7 feet) and 7.5 Meters (24.6 feet) for use at various timing locations. Additionally, IPICO Sports built special Road Mats for the "Blue" Starting Line in 13.75 Meter (45 feet) lengths. All of the Road Mats matched the Virgin London Marathon branding PMS color specifications.

About London Marathon Ltd. London Marathon Ltd. is responsible for the organization and production of the following events:
Virgin London Marathon
adidas Silverstone Half Marathon
BUPA London 10,000
Standard Chartered Great City Race
adidas Women's 5K Challenge

The London Marathon Ltd. team prides itself on its very high standards and on being at the cutting edge of technological advancement as the global industry leader in Marathon and Road Running. For further information, go to www.virginlondonmarathon.com

Contact:

Michael Lynch

michael.lynch@times-7sport.com

About Times-7 Sport
Times-7 Sport provides sport technological solutions to the sport marketplace around the world. Using owned and partnered products, Times-7 Sport develops sport timing and data capture solutions across a wide segment of health and wellness markets, including participation sports. Times-7 Sport prides itself on designing functional, practical and durable products packed with outstanding value and cutting edge design features that meet and exceed customer expectations.