Marathon Runners Tweet Their Way to the Finish Line
Posted in: iPhone, Miscellaneous, Sports, Today's Chili, twitter
Two London marathon runners documented their cardiovascular treks in real-time, and they didn’t need a camera crew to follow them.
CNN news producer Peter Wilkinson and Latitude Group CEO Alex Hoye stood out among 35,000 runners at Sunday’s London Marathon — in the digital world, at least, where they tweeted their progress with their cellphones.
“To you’se enjoying marathon w/ a beer, a) chers! b) cam u shield your beverage as I pass for 9 more mls? Mi 17 http://twitpic.com/4173o,” tweeted Hoye with his iPhone.
Launched in 2006, Twitter is quickly gaining momentum in the Web 2.0 universe. Though its core premise is simply to answer the question “What are you doing?” in 140 characters or less, many Twitter users have thought outside the box when answering that question. One of the most significant incidents involved November’s deadly Mumbai attacks, which were documented tweet by tweet.
Wilkinson and Hoye’s “tweet-a-thon” is a light-hearted example of creative tweeting; the two even managed to raise money for charity via Twitter. Both runners’ tweets were ridden with typos and juvenile abbreviations, but could you do any better during a 26-mile marathon?
“Raising the pace now nearly there twittering really given me something to take mind off running feels more like a car journey are we there yet?” tweeted Wilkinson near the end of the race. “One mile to go”
Hoye, whom Twitter fans dubbed “the Twunning Man,” told Wired.com he wasn’t even planning to tweet his run; the idea occurred to him when he saw amusing spectacles from the race that he thought would be interesting to share, such as a runner dressed up as a rhino.
“My biggest fear was it would be boring — mile 1: running; mile 2: still running,” Hoye said. “But I gave it a try and people were talking about it on mile 9, retweeting it, and I said fuck it. And the great thing is, every mile you have to get your milestone of what you’re going to tweet. You have to think of something mildly amusing every mile.”
Wilkinson completed the race first at 3 hours and 30 minutes, and Hoye finished at 5 hours and 12 minutes. However, it’s worth noting Hoye’s tweets were more entertaining thanks to his pictures — so at least he wins the “Twunning” race.
Photo: Alex Hoye/Twitpic
Via Susan MacTavish’s Best Tweets [Twitter]
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