Somewhere near the halfway point of last November's New York City Marathon, a runner passed an RFIDinterrogator on the road that captured the ID number on her shoe's RFID tag. Within seconds, a video of her young children appeared in front of her on a 20-foot LED screen, and she could hear them encouraging her on. This scenario repeated itself 7,000 times for as many runners, across three locations along the 26.2-mile racecourse. The Support Your Marathoner service was provided free by ASICS, a manufacturer of running shoes, apparel and accessories. For the 2011 New York City Marathon, ASICS intends to sponsor a similar service, utilizing the same RFID infrastructure to deliver content to the athletes, but with additional features.
