ChampionChip
Typically, races rent chips for their runners in their race at a rate of
$1.00 per chip. Some races offer a discount if a runner provides his own
chip. Until a track record is established among the regional races, it's
hard to tell how many races will offer a discount, and how much that discount
will be.
Clearly, if races start offering discounts to chip owners, a runner who
races frequently will ultimately save money by purchasing his own chip.
Some of the world class marathons are now marketing their logo chips. These
are yellow chips with a one inch glossy design attached to the top. Marathons
with custom chips now include, the Boston Marathon, NYC Marathon, Chicago
Marathon, Disneyworld Marathon. These chips make nice souvineers of the
event.
The chips sold by Runner's High chips will also be yellow with the classic
Runner's High logo on the design. The price will be $35 including postage
and tax. These will not be available until midsummer.
Runners who own their own chips can use their chips in any chip scored race
in the world. It doesn't matter if it's a NYC Marathon chip, a Disneyworld
Marathon chip or a Runner's High chip. When registering for a race, all
a runner has to do is indicate the seven digit chip number on the race application.
We estimate that approximately 25% of the regional runners will eventually
own their own chips.
There is no advantage for a runner to unofficially keep his chip from a
race. First of all, the race director has to be responsible for the lost
chips. Secondly, unless an entry is filled out and the chip data is verified
against the national chip owner's database, the runner will still show up
as a turkey in the results.
Rental chips are usually black while the runner owned chips are yellow.