Davis User Stories

April 2008

WEATHER STATIONS IN ACTION:

Vantage Pro2 Runs (Well, Rides) Boston Marathon

Runners of the 112th Boston Marathon might see a familiar (to us) profile if they happen to look up as they pass the finish line. A brand new Davis Vantage Pro2 will be there on an overpass reporting on the exact weather conditions as the runners come in. And another Vantage Pro2 will be there too - mounted atop a vehicle. The vehicle-mounted station will set out over the course about an hour before the race, stopping at several spots to record wind speed and temperature. The Boston Marathon, the oldest annual marathon in the world, is also the one of the most prestigious. It's only fitting that a Davis weather station will be part of it.

Ed Jacobs, the Boston Marathon Technical Producer, says his company, Interstate Rentals, has been collecting weather data for the marathon using Davis stations for ten years.

Recently, that historical information has become an invaluable resource for race planners. Ed explained that as more marathons are set up, "most tend to be circular - they start and end at the same place. But the Boston marathon is 26 miles (42 kilometers) in a straight line. Questions came up about the effect of headwinds. If a course is circular, it was assumed that any headwinds runners hit would be balanced by tailwinds on the return part of the course. But with our data, we've shown that the course is a series of microclimates and there is no wind disadvantage or advantage over the straight course."

Ed, who has been the Technical Producer of the race for over 30 years, is adding a second console and a repeater to his set up. The station at the finish line will send data to a console on the timers' tables, as well as to one in Ed's trailer about 800 feet (244 meters) and around the corner away.

Marathon runners aren't the only ones who will benefit by the weather data Ed's Vantage Pro2 will provide this year. It will also be at the US Olympic trials which will be held in Boston, on the Mass. Avenue Bridge (sometimes known to non-locals as the Harvard or M.I.T. Bridge).

We didn't sign up to run the race this year. But if we'd known there was a Vantage Pro2 involved, well, we still wouldn't have. (Hey, it's only 26 miles, and you have a whole six hours to finish.)

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