Industry Shorts: Isl, Ascot, London Marathon, Qpr
The International Swimming League (ISL) has revealed the calendar for its inaugural season.
The new professional league for elite swimmers will launch on 4th to 5th October in the US city of Indianapolis before taking in a further six cities across the United States and Europe. Following the opening event, meets will be held on 12th to 13th October in Naples, Italy; 18th to 19th October in Lewisville, Texas; 26th to 27th October in Budapest, Hungary; 15th to 16th November in College Park, Maryland; and 23rd to 24th November at the London Aquatics Centre in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
The 2019 ISL season will conclude on 20th to 21st December at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino’s 12,000-seat arena in Las Vegas. Leading swimmers Katie Ledecky, Adam Peaty, Nathan Adrian, Ryan Murphy and Simone Manuel (pictured) have already signed up as official ambassadors of the league, which aims to offer athletes more opportunities to swim competitively outside of the Olympic Games, as well as financial support and year-round recognition.
The ISL has been formed amid athlete-led pressure for reform in swimming and will compete against the Champions Swim Series, a new competition launched by the sport’s world governing body, FINA.
Ascot Racecourse has named Bose Professional as its official technology supplier – sound, the first manufacturer to be appointed under this new supplier category.
The official technology supplier category has been created for brands who are able to supply relevant technology at Ascot and allows them to showcase their products and improve customer experience. All rights within this category are for business and trade activations.
The partnership was established through a combined vision to design and install a state-of-the-art audio solution that serves to enhance the experience on an Ascot raceday. As the appointed integrator for the project, SSE Audio Group has led the process to design and specify an audio system that utilises the very latest loudspeaker and amplifier technology, developed by Bose.
The Virgin Money London Marathon has set a new world record for a third successive year, with 457,861 applicants registering for a ballot place in the 2020 event, which will be the 40th edition of the race.
The new world record total represents an increase of 10.5% on last year’s previous world record of 414,168 applicants. Some 373,736 of the applicants for 2020 were from the UK. This is 25,860 up from the previous UK applicant record of 347,876 for the 2019 event. A total of 84,125 people applied in the international ballot.
More than 56% of the UK applications for 2020 were from people who have never run a marathon and just under 48% of the total UK applicants were women. Entrants will be notified of the ballot results in October.
Queens Park Rangers has agreed a long-term extension to its contract with production company StreamAMG.
The partnership has been in place since 2016 and the Championship club will continue to use StreamAMG’s suite of products for live and video on demand services, which are marketed under the QPR+ brand. Last season, StreamAMG helped deliver more than 30 live games to international audiences, with selected matches also broadcast within the UK and Ireland.
StreamAMG recently launched an OTT platform for the Guinness Pro14, bringing the rugby union competition to territories around the world.
