Telenor Copenhagen Marathon on Course to Become the World\’s Best Digital Marathon Experience

The organizers of the Telenor Copenhagen Marathon have set the direction for the Danish marathon: A more personalized, engaging and digital marathon experience.

Taking place on May 21^st, the 38^th edition of the Telenor Copenhagen Marathon is going to be a special experience to both runners and spectators. The race marks the beginning of an ambitious development strategy aiming to elevate the technical level, the elite race and, last but not least, the digital presence. According to the organizing athletics and running club, Sparta, the Telenor Copenhagen Marathon will be the race others look to in terms of the digital experience.

"We are already a long way in outlining and realizing our digital road map, and we are in front of many of world's major races. We are front-runners when it comes to live tracking and sharing video and photo content on every digital platform, but we are not stopping at this," says Dorte Vibjerg, director at Sparta.

The digital experience is a significant element in Sparta's development strategy. The race organizer, who is Denmark's largest, is already working on implementing the idea of a personalized marathon that allows every participant to access as much information about their run as possible. In the near future, hopefully, every single participant will have their own profile where they will be able to watch their run from the beginning to the end.

"We want to give runners the opportunity to analyze on their own data. A place for sharing their goals and, hopefully, access their own training profile. And who knows, perhaps someday your mom, dad or girlfriend will be able to sit in their living rooms and at the same time run the marathon next to you thanks to virtual reality," says Dorte Vibjerg.

Watch participants run in real time

For 2017, spectators will be able to watch every single runner in real-time passing through four different live zones on the course, thanks to the race being live streamed through four live channels. On one channel, you can watch the entire race, and when one of your favorite runners passes through a live zone you can switch channels to watch your favorite runner in real-time. Afterwards, this video and photo content will be available for free download. To make sure that all runners and spectators can listen stream the race and their favorite runners in real-time, main sponsor Telenor will be ensuring extra mobile coverage. The tele-company set up a massive 22 meter tall cell tower to make sure that everybody can upload and download pictures and videos at the start and finish.

"To us it makes perfectly good sense to be focusing on the digital aspects of the Telenor Copenhagen Marathon. Our costumers spend much of their lives on digital platforms, so of course we have to provide easy and smart solutions for them to stream, upload pictures and snap their best moment from the race", says Peter Nødbak, network director at Telenor Denmark.

Facts

Digital Running Conference 2017 – insights on future digital running trends

On May 8 Telenor and Sparta hosted a conference in Copenhagen inviting experts in from around the world to offer their take on how the future of digital running looks. Among the keynote speakers was Christian Birk, co-founder of the running app Endomondo, and Urs Weber, running expert and editor at Runner's World Germany.

Telenor Copenhagen Marathon Sponsors and partners 

Main sponsor:  Telenor

Sponsors Nike – High5 – BMW – Marathon Sport – Gardena – Erdinger Alkoholfrei

Partners Wonderful Copenhagen – Copenhagen Kommune – Frederiksberg Kommune

Media partner: Politiken

Source: Telenor Copenhagen Marathon