Contact Information: Editorial Contacts: Matt Shine ChronoTrack Systems, Inc. 313-516-6012 Jim Donaldson Impinj, Inc. 206-834-1091
ChronoTrack Systems and Impinj Bring RFID Technology to Seattle Rock & Roll Marathon
Over 25,000 Runners Successfully Used the World's Most Advanced Timing System
| Source: Impinj, Inc.
SEATTLE, WA--(Marketwire - July 15, 2009) - ChronoTrack Systems Inc. today announced that
the company's race timing system, based on Impinj UHF Gen 2 radio frequency
identification (RFID) technology, performed flawlessly at the inaugural
running of the Seattle Rock & Roll Marathon on June 27. The sold-out event
saw over 25,000 participants and featured both a half and full marathon
that utilized the RFID-based system to record runners' times at more than
18 points along the course.
At each timing point, Impinj Speedway® readers and Threshold reader
antennas supported the monitoring of runners' times. All runners wore
ChronoTrack "D-tags," powered by Impinj's Monza™ tag chip and UPM
Raflatac's DogBone tag antenna. The "D-tag" allows race organizers to print
an integrated bib and tag for each participant, encoding the runner's bib
number into the tag's RFID chip at the time of printing. The tag peels off
the bib and attaches to a runner's shoe. ChronoTrack's tag solution is
lighter and less expensive than previous timing methods, and -- most
important to race organizers and participants -- disposable. Runners no
longer need to stand in long lines to "chip-return" their timing devices as
with previous solutions. The system scales to any size race, operates in
all weather conditions, and provides reading accuracy that exceeds all
other timing solutions on the market today.
"Through our partnership with ChronoTrack, we've been using Impinj
technology to time more than 300,000 runners at the Rock & Roll series of
marathons," said Dennis Ikenberry, CEO of Race Central. "We switched to
Impinj UHF RFID products to remain on the cutting edge of timing technology
as we have done over the past 30 years when we first brought computer and
barcode scanning technology to road runs."
"The rapid adoption of Impinj UHF RFID technology in race timing
applications is no surprise to us," said Kerry Krause, vice president of
marketing for Impinj. "Our products are a perfect fit because they enable
measureable improvements in the accuracy of the entire race timing
infrastructure, which the athletes like, while providing real
cost-efficiencies for the race organizers."
To date, ChronoTrack Systems has successfully timed more than two million
race finishers, and the company expects as many as 1,200 North American
events will utilize the race timing technology in 2009. When combined with
the industry leading performance of Impinj RFID technology, ChronoTrack
brings event organizers, race timers and athletes a timing system that
meets real-world needs by providing simplicity, accuracy, reliability and
convenience.
About ChronoTrack Systems
ChronoTrack Systems Inc., the pioneers of disposable timing, is a timing
and tracking company that has developed a system for timing athletic events
including road races. ChronoTrack offers full-service race timing packages
including over 50 internationally certified race timers, tags and race
timing equipment. For more information, visit www.chronotrack.com.
About Impinj, Inc.
Impinj, Inc. is the world's leading technical innovator in developing UHF
Gen 2 RFID solutions for both item-level and supply-chain tagging. Impinj
draws on its technical expertise and industry partnerships to deliver a
wide range of products and solutions comprising high-performance tag chips,
readers, reader chips, software, antennas and systems integration. Impinj's
products provide unprecedented performance, integration and cost
effectiveness to a global customer base across numerous vertical markets
with applications including inventory management, asset tracking,
authentication and serialization. For more information,
visit www.impinj.com.
Impinj, Speedway, Threshold, and Monza are either registered trademarks or
trademarks of Impinj, Inc.