Follow the 2007 Freedom Challenge live with
SportsTrack.
From
Monday, 18 June, SportsTrack makes it possible for
the armchair enthusiast to follow this month-long
challenge spanning the South African country-side.
Track the progress of the participants as
they traverse diverse regions, untouched terrain,
and some of the most beautiful countryside that
South Africa has to offer in one of the toughest
endurance cycling events in the world. You have
the unique opportunity to be a part of this
awesome experience from the comfort of your home
or office.
The 2007 Freedom
Challenge has partnered with SportsTrack for the
tracking of each participant in this ultra event,
as well as for the 2008 Challenge and 2009
Challenge. This relationship provides
participants with an unprecedented visibility.
From start to finish enthusiasts can follow the
progress of the race and understand the distances
and areas traversed through viewing the route
plotted in real-time. Supporters can experience
and appreciate the difficulty of the climbs with
the route altitude and gradient statistics,
understand the conditions by observing the
temperature changes, and even compare the relative
progress of competitors as each day unfolds.
This amazing look
into the progress of the Freedom Challenge is made
possible by each participant carrying a
SportsTrack - a personal transmitting tracking
device - developed and manufactured in South
Africa. Weighing only180g, with up to 18 hours of
battery life between charges, the device will
transmit position, speed, altitude and ambient
temperature as often as every 3 seconds, giving
spectators access into Multi-Day stage racing as
never before seen.
The use of
SportsTrack brings the Freedom Challenge into
daily life. This enhances all aspects of the event
– from spectator to sponsor. It provides exposure
for the sponsors, organisations, and charities
that make the event possible and who benefit from
its very existence. No longer will the event be
forgotten while the participants struggle through
each stage. It is now a reality that the world
can watch each step of the way.
Although not
restricted to the ultra-events or multi-stage
racing, it is in these arenas that SportsTrack
excels by bringing the progress of the event back
to the spectators. By equipping entrants with a
SportsTrack, organisers and supporters will now
not watch the competitors disappear in a cloud of
dust at the gun, returning battered and torn
hours, or even days later. The live tracking
provided shares the event as it unfolds with the
web-based interface allowing the event to be
shared across the world in real time. Software
like Google Earth has made it possible to visit
far-off places, and by integrating SportsTrack
into Google Earth we can now share the terrain and
the trails of sports men and women like never
before.
The
Freedom Challenge is an unassisted mountain bike race
over 2300km from Pietermarizburg to Cape Town. This
event spans a truly remote part of South Africa.
Beginning in Pietermaritzburg the day after the
Comrades Marathon, Freedom Challengers will undertake
an epic journey en route for Cape Town. They will
cycle through unspoiled nature reserves and indigenous
forests, climb to the top of the Drakensberg
escarpment, cross the Stormberg and descend into the
valley of the Great Fish River and the Camdeboo
Plains. After travelling up the length of the
Baviaanskloof, the riders continue through the
Swartberg, over the Little Karoo and on to the
picturesque Breede River Valley. The final leg to
Paarl will see the cyclists arriving before the
cut-off date on 14 July, 27 days and 2,300 km later.
