Motorola Solutions Supports Ironman 70.3 Busselton with MOTOTRBO

The Ironman 70.3 Busselton is a long distance triathlon race held annually in Busselton, Western Australia. As one of the flattest courses in the global Ironman circuit, the site is renowned worldwide for achieving a personal best.

Motorola Rental Solutions, as a long-standing partner of the Ironman 70.3, provided a digital communications solution the event. This solution, however, has turned out to be more than a simple matter of hiring equipment.

One event course covers at least 50 kilometres when each swim, bike and run leg is included. The bike leg takes athletes 30 kilometres out of Busselton, through Tuart Forest National Park. The tuart (eucalyptus) forest is so incredibly dense that radio frequency cannot penetrate adequately through this area.

Despite these challenges, coverage is “paramount” for the safety of all participants and organisers, says Paul Groeneveld, operations manager for the Ironman 70.3 Busselton. “We needed to make sure coverage extended over the whole course, even where the densely forested tuart area effected coverage of the bike course. So Motorola Rental Solutions came up with the solution – an elevated work platform (EWP).”

The EWP is almost 40 metres high, and is designed to extend above the tuart trees, providing a radio frequency footprint larger than necessary and delivering a greater coverage span. The platform contains two repeaters operating in Capacity Plus creating a scalable, single-site digital trunking solution. Capacity Plus expands the capacity of a MOTOTRBO communication system even further. Over a thousand radio users can quickly and efficiently share business-critical voice and data communication on the same system without having to add new frequencies.

Other equipment provided by Motorola Rental Solutions includes MOTOTRBO digital mobile and portable radios, which are used by the events operation centre, traffic management teams, marshals and medical staff. All parties involved can easily and quickly contact each other, especially in case of an incident. Having such reliable coverage and effective communication has subsequently improved safety for athletes, staff and volunteers.

Paul Groeneveld continued: “We have worked with Motorola Rental Solutions for a long time, which is testament to the team and their work. Their customer service is second to none, and I am looking forward to continuing to work with them,” he concludes.

Photo credit: KoruptVison