ChampionChip has changed the face of timing forever
In the beginning, the timing of marathons was done by hand. Even when PC’s and bar code readers made their entrance, timing was still unreliable and time consuming. Then the ChampionChip changed the face of timing forever.

History
Finish line registration before the ChampionChip came to market in 1994, was unreliable, laborious and logistically very complex, involving hundreds of volunteers. It often went wrong and you had a finish line full of athletes stuck at the chutes.
The basis for the ChampionChip technology is a transponder sending a radio signal to an antenna, embedded in a mat on the ground. The chip had been developed by Texas Instruments originally to identify cows and pigs. After that is was used to identify personnel entering and leaving buildings. ChampionChip turned identification into time registration.

Conquering the world
In 1995, Rotterdam Marathon was the first international marathon to fully use the ChampionChip-system. Managing Director Mario Kadiks: “ChampionChip meets the runners’ needs. The service level for our participants increased, they could finish freely without having to cue up at the chutes, and they could have a net time and every 5 K split time. Besides, we could get the rankings ready a lot quicker. I remember the BBC asking us at the time whether we had any cheaters in the race. We didn’t, because with ChampionChip we have a zero-time and we can time every 5 K.” Mary Wittenberg, Board member of New York Road Runners, confirms the benefits: “ChampionChip has made a dramatic difference. It has greatly improved runners’, media and TV-experience. Especially since it has made start and finish so much calmer – there is no more pushing. New York Marathon has used CC-technology since 1999.”

Dave McGillivray, race director of the Boston Marathon remembers his introduction to ChampionChip: “I was the first in the US to have the system. I invited ChampionChip to come to Boston for a demonstration. I was immediately convinced this was it. But, it was a risk. It was 1996 and I was organizing the 100th Boston Marathon. Now, we were going from 25.000 to 40.000 participants. I knew manual timing with that many people was out of the question. Our hand was forced to use the chip, and we did.”

Present and Future
ChampionChip is the worlds leading timing technology by now. Presently it is repeatedly proving its superior performance in all the big city marathons, Ironman triathlons, and thousands of other events around the world. But that doesn’t mean the end of innovation. Our challenge is to improve the reliability of timing towards hundredths or even thousandths of seconds.

ChampionChip Partners
ChampionChip timing is used on all continents. To meet the wishes of event organizers all over the world, we have established a world-wide distribution network.This network consists of timing companies, partners of ChampionChip B.V.

If you are interested in becoming a ChampionChip partner, please contact the distributor of ChampionChip in your own country.

If you want your event timed with ChampionChip, please contact the distributor or one of the nearest timers mentioned in the list of ChampionChip Partners (www.championchip.com/partners/).