Marathon and Road Race Technology: RFID Timing, Photo Finish, Live Tracker

RFID timing is the backbone

Modern road races are timed with active or passive RFID. ProTSR's standard build uses RaceResults Active System (RR Active) bibs and decoders for marquee events because the active tag (in the BibTag) gives near-100% read accuracy even in a dense charge across the start mat. Passive UHF (RaceResults USB Timing / MyLaps BibTag passive) is used for shorter or lower-budget races. Mats are placed at the start, every 5 km, the halfway, and the finish to produce verified splits.

Finish line, photo finish and timer displays

For races where elites contest close finishes, a FinishLynx photo finish camera is mounted on the finish gantry to break ties and validate the chip time to 1/1000 second. A large timer display behind the finish runs the gun time and chip time, and an LED arch shows runner names and times as they cross — the 'last finisher' overlay is fed from RaceResults 12 via Lynx ResulTV.

Live tracker, web results and notifications

• Public live tracker website (RaceResults Online or custom) where spectators search a runner by bib and see splits + projected finish
• Auto-generated personalised certificates emailed on finish
• Push / WhatsApp / SMS notifications at each split (5K, 10K, half, finish) — a major SEO and retention asset
• Bib-pickup kiosks with QR-based identity confirmation
• Photographer integration so finisher photos are auto-tagged by bib number

Broadcast graphics & venue branding

Marathon broadcast graphics are dominated by leaderboards (men's elite, women's elite, wheelchair) updated live from RaceResults, GPS-based lead vehicle tracker overlays, pace and projected-finish callouts, kilometre split cards, and a live runner counter at the finish. Branding spans start arch, kilometre flags, water-station boards, finish arch, podium and medal area, and the bib itself.

Broadcast graphics typically include lower-thirds for athlete names and bios, an on-screen scoreboard or 'bug' fed live from the scoring system, dynamic start lists, results pages, head-to-head comparisons, sponsor bumpers, replay wipes, and end-of-session summary cards. Output is usually delivered over SDI from a graphics engine (vMix, Singular.live, CasparCG, or a federation-supplied template pack) into the ATEM or production switcher.