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How to track a runner live during a marathon

Cheering on the course or from home? How to follow a runner live: GPS map, pace, where to stand and how to watch a stream from the course.

Published by BEON.RUN · Published

The hardest part of cheering at a marathon is actually catching your runner. Thousands of people stream past and you can’t tell whether yours has already gone by. Live tracking solves that - as long as you know what to look for and plan a little.

Ask your runner to send you the link to their BEON.RUN activity or stream before the gun goes off. It opens in a normal browser - no app, no account. If the organizer runs the race on BEON.RUN, every participant who switched tracking on also appears on the race page.

What the map shows

The runner’s marker moves every few seconds and draws the route behind it. Below the map you see time, distance and current pace. If the runner is also streaming video, you can switch to the live view from the course.

Live map with the runner’s position, route so far, pace and distance
Position, route and stats - updated without reloading the page.

Cheering on the course: where to stand

  1. Use the pace. With the current pace and distance you can estimate when the runner will reach your spot. At 5:30 min/km, for example, 5 km takes roughly 27-28 minutes.
  2. Pick two or three spots. At big marathons getting between spots takes longer than you think. Choose places near public transport.
  3. Watch the map, not the clock. Pace changes on hills and in the second half. Follow the last few minutes live.

Cheering from home

Open the link on a laptop or a TV for a bigger map and video. You can leave a message in the chat without creating an account.

When the video or the position disappears

Coverage on a course can be poor, especially in big crowds. If the runner loses signal, the stream resumes by itself and the missing GPS points appear once the network is back. A marker that stops for a moment usually just means weak signal. The map never fills gaps with made-up points.

Races with organizer tracking

More and more events show participants live on the race page. On BEON.RUN each participant decides whether to share their location, so not everyone will be on the map. You’ll find events on the races with live tracking page.

A public race page with the course map, runners and live streams
The race page: participants on one map and streams from the course.

Running on your own and want your people to follow you? See how live GPS tracking works.

Share your route live with your people on your next workout.

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