Even for sighted runners in New York, the marathon course is a challenge beyond sheer mileage. It requires running in thick bunches and maneuvering carefully to the side of the road at water stations, where the pavement is wet and littered with paper cups.
Wheatcroft was using new technology that had not been tested in a race. He understood that many things could go wrong. The metal girders of bridges along the course scrambled the digital compass on his iPhone. He worried about other possible navigational glitches caused by Bluetooth interference.
What if someone stopped in front of him to take a selfie? How would he refill his water bottle? Could he remain on course as the race turned off Fifth Avenue and funneled into Central Park at Mile 24, curling around the reservoir, which had seemed to befuddle his GPS on some test runs?
He had used technology, such as Runkeeper, an app that gave his pace and distance with voice commands. But corrective navigation for visually impaired runners was in its infancy. As Sunday’s race approached, Wheatcroft described himself as excited, nervous, a little fearful.
“It’s a complicated course, there’s a lot of people, you can’t afford to make mistakes,” he said. “Reaction times need to be sharp.”
His biggest concern, he said, was correctly interpreting the patterns of vibrations on his arm and chest. If he became confused, he planned to do what marathon runners often did in times of stress: slow down.
Wheatcroft was a seasoned distance runner, having completed the Boston Marathon three times and ultramarathons as long as 83 miles. In 2014, he ran from Boston to New York as a warm-up, then ran the New York City Marathon. He hoped to finish in four and a half hours on Sunday, more than 40 minutes faster than his previous best in New York.
Wheatcroft and Kevin Yoo, one of three founders of WearWorks, had been testing the Wayband technology since April. As with any prototypes, there were advances and setbacks. On Friday afternoon in Central Park, and again Saturday, last-minute refining continued with the chest sensor.
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Keith Kirkland, another founder of WearWorks, joked about running along the course during the race and calling out, “Anyone have a soldering iron?”
On Sunday, Yoo started his first marathon, hoping to accompany Wheatcroft for as long as he could. The Wayband device was turned off for the first two miles of the race on the ascent and descent of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. Too many runners packed together. Too much risk of technological overload.
“Could we ask everyone to be considerate and please not use their cellphones?” Yoo joked before the race.
Crosswinds blowing over the chest sensor gave confusing signals to Wheatcroft on the bridge, but the roadway was wide and he had plenty of open space to run. Neil Bacon, a friend who has often accompanied Wheatcroft, reminded him not to get too exuberant.
“You’re doing 26 miles,” Bacon said. “Don’t go off like it’s a half-marathon.”
At the first water stop, about two and a half miles into the race, a guide for another runner stopped in front of Wheatcroft. His chest sensor was set to alert him when an obstacle was seven feet away. He did not have enough time to stop and clipped the woman from behind, but neither was hurt. At the second water stop, he slowed and moved to the center of the road.
Just after Mile 3, the Wayband device signaled incorrectly that Wheatcroft was headed in the wrong direction. He stopped and walked for a minute, then renewed his pace. Tall and thin, wearing a white cap on his shaved head, he had run four miles without any assistance.
Taking in the aromatic scents of late-morning cooking in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, Wheatcroft said, “I could run this thing on smell.”
But he would have to be prepared if his digital compass went haywire later in the race — while on the Pulaski Bridge at the halfway point, the Queensboro Bridge between Miles 15 and 16 or the Willis Avenue Bridge at Mile 20 — and the vibrations from his armband signaled incorrectly that he was veering off course.
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