RFID to be used in 111th Boston Marathon

Next Monday will mark the 111th running of the Boston Marathon. With the adoption of new technologies, participating runners will have a terrific way to keep their fans and supporters aware of their progress throughout the race. By using uniform resource locators that will be provided by the Boston Athletic Association, family and friends can monitor the pace of participants with updates from the 10km, half-marathon and 30km marks.
Runners obtain their RFID tags when they pick up their race packets in the three days before Monday's race. Security concerns over data contained in the tag is not a fear, since they only contain a unique identification number.

More details about this new use of technology can be found in this article from PC World.

The tags remain inactive until they are passed through a magnetic field, which allows a coil in the tag to generate a current and power the tag's microchip. The marathon's course uses 13 rubber mats, which contain antennas to create the magnetic field and collect the tag's number. The tag transmits the identification number through its antenna to an antenna in the mats, which are spread throughout the route. Computers at the mat locations gather the data and send it via modem to race headquarters at the finish line. The BAA's database then matches the tag number with a runner's record.