03/13/2026
Jaguars Spotted on Highway in Route to White Sands Missile Base!
Every year in March, ITS sends a team of 16 to 18 engineers and timing experts to the very famous and somewhat secretive White Sands Missile Base in southern New Mexico. The base hosts the Bataan Memorial Death March in the desert surrounding the facility. It’s a half and full-Marathon that honors fallen and injured troops from World War II, specifically, those who suffered during the forced march at the hands of the Japanese army. Thousands of men and women died under brutal conditions and treatment, and this event honors those heroes.
The event is unique for numerous reasons including the fact that it traverses dirt paths and sand pits across the desert. This is not an event for the weak or beginner athlete. The ground is rough, has multiple sand pits, and the temperatures can easily reach 95 degrees. Add to that intense winds that blow as hard as 80mph, rattle snakes, coyotes, and the constant burning of the sun. Many participants are in the military, and they wear their full uniform, and a rucksack that has 35 to 45 pounds of canned goods. The cans are collected at the finish line and donated to food pantries and other charities. Military personnel from all over the world participate, as well as civilians. So, what does ITS bring to the table to help make this event one of the best in the world?
Due to the intense conditions on the course, we set up many split points and manage them with our own personnel. Each split point has redundant timing systems, along with multiple cameras taking real-time photos of every participant including front and rear-facing pics. This is crucial because we monitor all split points from our 44-foot command center. More about that in just a moment. Why do we need as many as 25 cameras? Because this event is brutal and it’s not uncommon to have a lot of medical issues. Our cameras are used to find participants on the course, and to also observe any participants who may be showing signs of dehydration or other medical problems. Just a couple of years ago, a young girl was bitten by a rattle snake. She was immediately brought to the medical unit but could not be treated until her guardian was located. Unfortunately, the guardian had run ahead of the young girl and was nowhere to be found. We were able to pinpoint her approximate location between two split points. However, by viewing the pictures taken and assigned to each participant at those split points, we were able to supply medical personnel with a photo of the guardian. A search and rescue helicopter found the guardian within minutes and airlifted her to the medical center. Shortly after, the young girl was treated and fully recovered a few days later at a local hospital. This is why we deploy so many cameras.
At a missile base where projectiles are tested every week, there isn’t a large wireless network in place that can be used for race timing data and photos. So, our team shows up around a week in advance. We work with base personnel to set up a large private network backbone that spans 7 by 6 miles. Our microwave dishes are placed at every timing point and beam information back to our command center. Because of terrain challenges, some timing points beam their information to a high point out in the desert where we set up a network relay station. From there, the data is forwarded on to the command center. It’s a highly complex, but extremely fast, wireless network, and two of our engineers oversee it’s set-up and configuration. To keep all of this equipment running for up to 18 hours during the event, we also place our ITS PowerPlant product out on the course at the timing points in case a generator fails. This gives us 48 hours of power for our systems, cameras, laptops and other gear. In addition to all the timing points, there is a large tent with kiosks that allow participants to look up their results They’re also connected to our wireless network. Furthermore, we have timing check points at the huge medical tents to track participants who are arriving with injuries. To summarize it…every timing point, every check-in station, every kiosk, and every medical station, are connected to our large network. Now let’s get back to the ITS Command Center.
It’s a massive 44-foot tandem-axle RV that has space for our operations center, staff seating, two restrooms, kitchen, sleeping quarters, and extensive networking capabilities. It also has a lot of storage underneath where we carry 32 timing systems with antennas, generators, thousands of feet of cables, microwave antennas, tents and awnings, tools and much more. The roof of the command center has a mounting point for all of our microwave dishes, our Starlink satellite antenna, and our various other antennas for our private communications. As data is being sent live to the command center, it’s being stored on a large NAS (Network Attached Storage) device that has 8 terabytes of disk space. It takes a lot of storage to hold all of the timing data, and over 1.2 million photos that will be taken all over the course. As that data is arriving, it’s also being processed by custom software specifically written for this event. That software can find anomalies and problems instantly, and it lets our command center staff know about them. It also creates reports that the medical people need every 30 minutes to track inflow for the medical center. There are typically 2 to 3 people dedicated to the operations inside of the command center. So, what happens with all the data and photos being captured during the event?
From the moment the event begins, we start sending data and photos up to our ITS YOUR RACE (IYR) registration and results platform. White Sands uses our IYR platform because it has unique capabilities that allow them to raise millions of dollars and deliver a world-class experience to the participants. It supports real-time photo updates, live rankings, real-time results, and live updates on our free ITS YOUR RACE mobile app. The app can also provide family members with real-time positions of their athlete on the course, and the athletes can share their information on social media platforms.
The process of sending the data isn’t an easy one. We have a dedicated 1 gigabit fiber internet line that connects to our command center over our microwave network. In addition, for load balancing and redundancy, we can send information over our commercial Starlink satellite dish. We take nothing for granted when timing an event this special, so we also have multiple cellular interfaces available on T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon. This level of redundancy is unheard of for races. However, at ITS, we don’t take chances.
ITS has been providing our services for the Bataan event for over 10 years now. The complexity and challenges are not something that most companies could handle. To pull this together, you need 16 to 18 top-notch personnel on site. The ITS team has a combined experience of over 200 years in race timing and event production. You need this for incredibly challenging events. You also need experts who can set up a private network across 42 square miles. You need hardware engineers who can repair equipment and ensure that all 32 timing systems are working properly. You need a command center that can ensure a smooth operation regardless of the weather or environmental challenges. You need an integrated platform that provides registration, live results, real-time photos, kiosks, a mobile app that provides athlete positioning with real-time updates, custom software that manages problems that arise in an event this complex, social media integration, custom reports for medical leaders, and so much more. In short, you need Innovative Timing Systems, the world leader in timing and event management.
Our command center will be leaving for New Mexico on Saturday morning, March 14th, from our headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri. Most of our personnel will be arriving early next week and the race occurs on March 21st. It will be another epic experience for some very brave athletes. We hope to see some of you there!
Call now to connect with business.
