For the 10th year in succession, all the data captured for thousands of marathon runners participating in the 2010 Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon, will be in safe hands. Leading ICT services company Gijima is once again on board as the official ICT partner for the 2010 event, which takes place around the Cape Peninsula on Saturday, 03 April.

Thoko Mnyango, Managing Executive: Marketing,For the 10th year in succession, all the data captured for thousands of marathon runners participating in the 2010 Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon, will be in safe hands. Leading ICT services company Gijima is once again on board as the official ICT partner for the 2010 event, which takes place around the Cape Peninsula on Saturday, 03 April.

Thoko Mnyango, Managing Executive: Marketing, Communication and Transformation of Gijima, says that the company's involvement in the event for the past 10 years, has led to significant technological improvements in the overall race administration.

"Our IT expertise has assisted the race organisers in various areas including online security, the real-time downloading of results onto the official Two Oceans website, co-ordination of the final results to the media, and the provision of a system infrastructure which interacts with the media centre to produce the leader boards and captions for the live SABC Sport broadcast, for example.

"Gijima's core responsibility during the marathon is to supply the web-based registration system and the wireless network which connects to the internet and all other IT equipment on site for the day. At the end of the race, all data is verified through the system before it is released to the media."

The web-based system handles all the data for the more than 20 000 online entries, including the registration process, before, during and after the event. This has proved to be very successful, ensuring a streamlined system for the runners to submit their entries electronically.

"Once again, we will be working closely with Champion Chip for time keeping during the race. The runners are provided with a small chip that is tied to their shoe laces. Once the runner crosses the mat at the finish line, the runner's time is recorded on a system which is linked to the Gijima system via the LAN. The details are imported into a SQL database where the chip details are linked to the administration details to produce the individual's results," explains Mnyango.

"Gijima's contribution to the event over the past 10 years has ensured a marked improvement to the race's administration processes. The accuracy of the information received by the race organisers has improved dramatically since the implementation of our systems, while the amount of paperwork associated with an event of this magnitude, has reduced significantly."

Other areas of the event where Gijima Ast gets involved include the printing of race certificates for runners upon request in the Results Tent, the supply and installation of notebooks for use by the journalists in the Media Tent to access data and race information, and the provision of staff in the Medical Tent who access a notebook linked to the system to record the race numbers and details of runners when they are booked in and out of this facility.

The Two Oceans Marathon race organisers and participants have expressed satisfaction with the online registration process, the timeous receipt of accurate information and the impressive service levels achieved through the partnership with Gijima.

"Being the IT partner for the Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon has brought with it significant challenges. However, we are satisfied that we are providing the race organisers with a quality and seamless service, thanks to the commitment of our many on-site staff and suppliers," says Mnyango.

All the runners' results and other information are provided to the media for publication and are also available on the Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon website at:  www.twooceansmarathon.org.za.

Communication and Transformation of Gijima, says that the company's involvement in the event for the past 10 years, has led to significant technological improvements in the overall race administration.

"Our IT expertise has assisted the race organisers in various areas including online security, the real-time downloading of results onto the official Two Oceans website, co-ordination of the final results to the media, and the provision of a system infrastructure which interacts with the media centre to produce the leader boards and captions for the live SABC Sport broadcast, for example.

"Gijima's core responsibility during the marathon is to supply the web-based registration system and the wireless network which connects to the internet and all other IT equipment on site for the day. At the end of the race, all data is verified through the system before it is released to the media.

The web-based system handles all the data for the more than 20 000 online entries, including the registration process, before, during and after the event. This has proved to be very successful, ensuring a streamlined system for the runners to submit their entries electronically.

"Once again, we will be working closely with Champion Chip for time keeping during the race. The runners are provided with a small chip that is tied to their shoe laces. Once the runner crosses the mat at the finish line, the runner's time is recorded on a system which is linked to the Gijima system via the LAN. The details are imported into a SQL database where the chip details are linked to the administration details to produce the individual's results," explains Mnyango.

"Gijima's contribution to the event over the past 10 years has ensured a marked improvement to the race's administration processes. The accuracy of the information received by the race organisers has improved dramatically since the implementation of our systems, while the amount of paperwork associated with an event of this magnitude, has reduced significantly."