History in the Making
An important member of the Reggae Marathon family from inception has been Mike Proctor of Sports Management Associates who provides ChampionChip timing for the event. From the first meeting, Mike and his team have been true believers and fervent supporters of our 'likkle but we tallawah" world-class marathon event. Below is the story of Mike achieving a marathon first and new milestone -- chip timing every mile -- and then some.
Congrats Mike, we are believers in you too!

Wisconsin Marathon Makes History
On May 21, 2006 was the 7th running of the Cellcom Green Bay Marathon. Yes the Green Bay Marathon has been selected by Runner's World magazine as one of the Top 10 Most Enjoyable Marathons in the country. We all know that Wisconsinites know how to throw a good post-race party. Especially in Green Bay.

So what's all the hype about you ask? May 21st was also a day for the history books. No the runners didn't come out in world record numbers. Nor did they break any brat eating records or consume history-making amounts of beer. No runners juggling the entire way or anything crazy like that. History was made on the race course not by athletes but a less visible group of people.

The Cellcom Green Bay Marathon was the first marathon in the world to provide electronic timing locations at every mile. Nope, never been done before Green Bay. Not Chicago, New York City, Boston nor London. Not one of these marathons has ever provided timing locations at more than every 5 kilometers.

There were 29 timing locations to be exact (start, finish, announcer and the 26 miles in between). What's more is 18 of these timing locations were providing live splits on the internet through the title sponsor's (Cellcom) wireless network. Some locations were even sending live SMS text messages with split times to the friend's and family members of runners. The whole world was able to track the progress of any runner. Technology has finally been fully applied to the sport of running.

All major marathons in the world had their eye on Green Bay to see how the technology was going to work out. It worked extremely well according to Mike Proctor of Sports Management Associates (Butler, WI). Maybe too well. What doors have been opened, or should I say what can of worms. What's the next marathon to follow suit?

Proctor was the brains behind the scenes. With assistance from ChampionChip USA and other timing companies in the Midwest he was able to pull off this history making marathon in grand fashion. SMA provides ChampionChip timing services for most marathons in Wisconsin along with many of the triathlons around the state.