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Combining innovative miniaturized GPS and real-time cellular data transmission technologies along with years of endurance Athletic and high adventure experience, My Athlete LCC provides real-time Athlete tracking in the human powered endeavor of pushing ones physical and mental limits.
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You don't need it, your friends and family need it.
During every race there are family members and a network of friends of the Athletes competing who want to know where their Athlete is and how they are performing to plan. From a few hours of a half-marathon to hours in a marathon to a full day in an Ironman and Ultra-marathon friends and family want to know how their Athlete is doing. In addition coaches want to keep tabs on how their athletes are performing after much dedicated training. Of course there are those in the endurance world who want to track the performance of Elite Athletes and teams. Until today the best anyone would get is a few updates over the course of an event, say eight updates versus hundreds or even thousands of real time updates from MyAthlete®.
TODAY My Athlete LLC can provide the solution for real-time updates of the Athletes speed, location and elevation movements reporting hundreds or thousands of times during not only a race but also when training.
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In November 2005 the founder of My Athlete, John Brennan, after competing in numerous Marathons, Triathlons, and Ironman races since he was 16 was in Panama City Florida and for the first time he was a spectator watching an Ironman race ready to cheer and support a dozen friends competing in this race.
Time moves at different rates when one is racing as compared to being a spectator. An Ironman is a daunting 140.6 mile race where the final clock stops at 17 hours. The Elite Pro’s complete in 8+ hours and yet people continue to push their limits to come in before the clock reaches 17 hours. Be it 8 hours or 17 hours time does not seem to pass when you are racing. With so much training, dedication, and sacrifices building up to race day the Athlete is so focused on the race that the day goes by in a blink of an eye. However for a spectator at the event such as an Ironman, the day is a very long and slow one as the clock ticks ever so slowly. For years John heard his wife grumble how difficult it was to be a spectator in trying to spot John and other friends to cheer them on. That fateful day in November John realized exactly what his wife meant as he tried to watch and keep track of a dozen friends racing. It soon became evident what a daunting and exhausting task it is. From standing at the shore as the Athletes came out of the water to driving the bike course cheering his buddies on. But not everyone could be found. In fact one Athlete, Steve in particular was not where he should have been as John drove the bike course. Had something happened? The entire day John and others in the spectator group wanted to know where Steve was. As the day went on and the difficulty of being a spectator at an endurance event grew the concept of My Athlete was not only born but the name itself, “My Athlete”, was created.
As day turned into night and with some of his friends done with the race and others still on the course John and others stayed and cheered on their friends. In the end everyone gathered and celebrated their accomplishments.
But what about Steve? It turned out that as Steve ran to his bike to begin the 112 mile bike portion of the race he tripped and planted his chest into the pavement. Steve got up, bruised and in much pain and pushed on in the bike. Slower then he should have been Steve pushed on managing the pain as that is what endurance athletes do. Getting off the bike it took only a hundred feet for the pain to become overwhelming and Steve had to stop and drop out of the race. People look at endurance athletes in awe. To look at what Steve had just done in his condition is amazing as when he fell hours earlier he had broken several ribs and punctured a lung but still was able to race 112 miles on his bike. Why do we point this particular Athlete out? With My Athlete live tracking everyone would have known exactly where Steve was the entire day not only at the race but also at home.
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NOW! MyAthlete began commercially renting the MyAthlete Athlete Tracking Systems in April 2008 at the Boston Marathon. Throughout 2008 MyAthlete was rented at Ironman USA, Ironman Lousiville, Ironman Wisconsin, Ironman Arizona, Ironman Florida, Ironman World Champonship, New York City Marathon, The Honolulu Marathon and many more.
MyAthlete has been used all over the world in numerous countries covering 5 continents.
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At the race they can use any web enabled cell phone or handheld device such as an iPhone, Blackberry, or Treo for example. Just go to the web site, login, and they can see you as you race through the course and they can even use it to find you after you are done. At the NYC Marathon in 2007 John's family and friends using a Blackberry found John at five different spots in the boroughs of New York as he raced and afterwards as he walked down Central Park West.
Home viewers can pull up any web browser and login to "watch" you race from their computer and be a part of your experience.
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You can use it wherever there is cellular coverage and for any race (well any race we have seen so far). That includes Marathons, Triathlons, Adventure races, Ultra's, Bike race's, Charity rides, Backpacking, Kayaking, endurance Swimming, outrigger races among others.
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Absolutely! We've been testing it in this mode for quite some time and many spouses have asked for this to see where their spouse is in their workout. I use it on 100 mile bike rides where I like to explore the first half of the ride and then try to figure out my way back home on the second half. Just about always getting home takes longer and my wife has used it to see that I’m still making my way home. It also has become a way for friends and family to be a part of the Athletes training and even an excuse to go link up with them.
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The Athlete can set it to report anywhere as frequent as 30 seconds to whatever higher interval that makes sense on the event you are racing in or while training. On our sponsored Athletes we can provide updates up to every 5 seconds.
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Today it reports location, speed, distance, and elevation.
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It was designed for an Ironman race which is 17 hours long. However we have run it for days and used it in ultra-marathons as well as multi-day adventure races.
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Yes. Although your location is obtained via the GPS satellites MyAthlete uses the cellular data network to transmit your location back to our servers for display on the web site. If you are training or racing where there is poor cell coverage, or no cell coverage, then the live tracking will directly reflect that poor cell coverage. It’s just like your cell phone when you go out of range of a cellular tower. If there is no cell signal then you cannot make a call on your phone and the same goes for MyAthlete.
Please note that with big crowds at an event the cellular network may get saturated. That means that there are more people with cell phones then the cell towers can handle so just like your cell phone not being able to get a data connection it can have an impact on the MyAthlete Shadow being able to connect for live reporting. MyAthlete is for entertainment purposes only.
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MyAthlete® will be sold directly to consumers through this website in late Q2 2011.
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Yes, just like renting a movie. You go to our web page and enter the date of the race you need it. MyAthlete is shipped to you a few days before the race. Use it and ship it back to us the day after your race.
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If it is at a race where MyAthlete is present, there will be a drop off point. At other races, you can mail it back in the provided mailing pouch.
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The rental cost is:
$29.95 - Weekend Day Race
$59.95 - Week rental
$89.95 - Two week rental
$105.95 - Three week rental
$119.95 - Month rental
The purchase price: More information soon. -
Ship your order to your Hotel if you will be at the race site when the order is scheduled to arrive. Enter your Hotel address in the SHIP TO section of the order form. We will ship to the address you enter in the SHIP TO section of the order form. Please make sure shipping address is correct to avoid disappointment.
- Weekend Day Race - Arrives the Thursday/Friday before the race date entered.
- Week rental - Arrives the Friday/Saturday/Monday the week before the race date entered.
- Two week rental - Arrives the Friday/Saturday/Monday two weeks before the race date entered.
- Three week rental - Arrives the Friday/Saturday/Monday three weeks before the race date entered.
- Month rental - Arrives the Friday/Saturday/Monday one month before the race date entered.
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You will receive a MyAthlete® Shadow, a charger, a race belt with pouch and instruction sheet with the URL for the rental Shadow you can give out to your friends and family.
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There is nothing you need to do to set it up. When you receive the package, take the shadow out, turn it on OUTSIDE so it has a clear shot of the sky, put it in the belt on and take off on a walk, run, bike, etc and you are being tracked LIVE.
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It goes on a race belt. The best place is the middle of you back so it has a clear shot of the sky during the bike and run. Other athletes also insert it into a Tri-Jersey pocket. Just make sure the label is facing out since that is where the antenna is. If the antenna faces your body then all signals will be blocked.
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We ship out the rental Shadows so they arrive by Thursday or Friday before the race. When you get it play with it so you are familiar with it. On race day turn it on and forget about it for the rest of the race.
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We provide you with a pre-paid mailing pouch. After your race just stick everything into the return pouch, sea it and drop it in the mail.
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That covers the 2-3 day shipping to you and back to MyAthlete so we can get it to you quickly and back to us to we can clean it and turn it around for anther Athlete.
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No worries. In the order UNCHECK the box titled "Shipping Information same as Billing Information" and enter your hotel address:
1. It helps if you insert "GUEST: " before your first name.
2. Place the name of the Hotel on Address Line 1.
3. Place the street address of the hotel on Address Line 2.
4. Fill in the city, state and zip for the hotel.
5. Use your phone number.
That's it. When you check-in at the hotel simply tell them you have a package waiting for you, pick it up and you are all set. Make sure you have your tracking number we e-mail you to show the hotel the order was delivered there. After the race simply place the Shadow, the charger, the belt and pouch into the return packet, seal it and drop it at the front desk and ask them to mail it for you.
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YES! We have had Athletes use the MyAthlete® Shadow in competition in the following countries:
i. Mexico
ii. Canada
iii. Australia
iv. England
v. Germany
vi. South Africa
vii. Switzerland
viii. France
ix. Brazil
Contact us as there is an up-charge to use it internationally and we have to enable it beforehand.
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We make the best effort to locate GPS mapping files for races and load the on the maps. However if it’s not a mainstream event then they may not exist and it’s not always possible for us to create the mapping file especially if it’s a one-off event. If it’s for your race, event or team event the best way to make sure that we have a map for your event is to send us a GPS mapping file for your course/route. Below are a few online mapping tools where you can create the course map, download the files into either the GPX or KML format and e-mail them to us so we can load them up. Be sure to include your Shadow number and the date range you need it there. Hint: If it’s a triathlon or multi-leg biking course for example it’s best to create a GPS file for each leg of the race. That way each leg shows up in a different color when we load them. If the event is using the MyAthlete Premier Event site then we will create the mapping files.
www.bikeroutetoaster.com www.gpsies.com www.mapmyfitness.com www.walkjogrun.net www.gpsvisualizer.com
Note: My Athlete LLC is not affiliated with any of these sites and use of those sites is your choice.
Other questions? Please e-mail us at info@MyAthleteLive.com