Original foldable antenna by RACE RESULT still the market leader

December 15, 2020

RACE RESULT holds the US patent for the antenna mat's innovative design feature that allows the mats to be folded without removing the antennas or cables.

Five years ago, RACE RESULT first introduced the foldable antenna. This innovation revolutionized the timing industry and quickly became one of the biggest draws of timing companies to switch to RACE RESULT technology. Timing crews could spend less time laying out antenna mats and connecting cables; race directors could close roads later on race morning and have the course cleared faster after the last racer finished. The modular design allowed timers to customize their setup for an up to 16m wide antenna mats.

The foldable antennas are German engineered and produced at the RACE RESULT Headquarters in Pfinztal, Germany. After five years, the RACE RESULT’s foldable antennas are still the market leader but have already been copied by other parties.

RACE RESULT holds the US patent for the antenna mat’s innovative design feature that allows the mats to be folded without removing the antennas or cables. Timing mats in which the cables are removed for storage, like the Chronotrack gators, and mats that are rollable, such as those developed by Mylaps, do not infringe on the RACE RESULT patent. However, any timing mat that is foldable with antennas and cables staying inside the mat directly infringes on the RACE RESULT patent. For more information about the patent, please contact us or read the full patent description here.

“Patent applications are neither easy, nor cheap, but it’s important to protect our technology innovations for both our own company and our timing partners”, says Nikias Klohr, CTO of RACE RESULT. “We spent a lot of resources to develop and test the mats before bringing them to market. It is important for us to offer our customers a high-quality product that will withstand years of repeated use, no matter the size of event. We need to protect not only our investment into development, but also the investments that our customers made into our technology. They should not have to compete with other timing companies using cheap copy-cat products. New products like our foldable mat and track box bring our industry forward as a direct result of continuous innovation. This is only possible through a sustainable business model and covering our development costs.”

Marc Roy, CEO of Sportstats, the world’s largest timing company, shares his thoughts about partnering with reputable manufacturers: “We pride ourselves in using the best timing technology on the market. Ultimately it comes down to not only who has the best technology, but also who is going to be a long-term partner. We want our partners to be sustainable enough to be able to make it through a crisis like the timing industry is seeing with Covid now, to support us worldwide, and to keep on innovating and bringing out new cool products every year. It’s important for advancement of our industry to have companies like RACE RESULT that continuously push the envelope with innovation.”

The RACE RESULT foldable antennas are part of the RACE RESULT timing system with the UHF Decoder 5000s, but also work independently with other 3rd party decoders and transponders and can be purchased separately. Support and maintenance of all RACE RESULT products for our US customers is managed by the RACE RESULT team from our US offices. The US office keeps original spare parts like cables and antennas on stock and offers a rental service to support timing partners with additional antennas for larger events.

About RACE RESULT

Founded in 2009, RACE RESULT has developed into one of the world’s leading suppliers of timekeeping technology. Known as the biggest innovator in the industry, RACE RESULT inspires its customers with outstanding quality Made in Germany. Worldwide, the company is recording rapidly growing numbers of users. From online registration via the personalized start number to the timekeeping system: RACE RESULT offers a complete package of hardware and software for sporting events of all sizes.

About Sportstats

The largest sports timing company in the world, Sportstats has offices in Thailand, Singapore, Canada, and the United States. With more than 1,300 races timed annually and more than 2-million athletes timed in 2019, Sportstats remains the world’s leader in event timing. The company was founded in Ottawa, Ontario, in 1991.