TCS Connects Canberra Times Marathon Festival Runners to Indigenous History with Marathon Mobile App
Mumbai: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) (BSE: 532540, NSE: TCS), a leading global IT services, consulting and business solutions organisation, announced its sponsorship of the 2021 Canberra Times Marathon Festival 2021 for the fourth consecutive year. The event will be the first in-person mainland marathon to take place globally since the Covid outbreak.
As the Presenting and Official App Partner of the Canberra Times Marathon Festival 2021, TCS has developed the official app for event participants and supporters. Working with the Ngunawal Traditional Custodian Group, TCS has built into the app, details of 14 places of historical significance for the Ngunawal people across the event’s 42km course, that runners and spectators can see in the interactive map, and in pop-up windows as they pass or arrive at those locations.
The TCS Canberra Times Marathon Festival mobile app allows users to map the course and track their performance with real-time updates of each marathon participant. It will also include custom Canberra Times Marathon Festival filters for race-day selfies to encourage further engagement.
Vikram Singh, Country Head, TCS ANZ, said “TCS is delighted to support the Canberra Times Marathon Festival once again and deliver digital support to its participants and guests with our award-winning global marathon app. This year, as part of our ongoing commitment to recognising and celebrating Indigenous culture, we introduced the new app feature to raise attendee awareness of local Indigenous history and to drive ‘Connection to Country’ amongst runners and all Australians, reminding us all that this land we tread is steeped in rich Indigenous history and culture.”
Colin Sampton, Indigenous Marathon Foundation Project Graduate and Run Leader, said “TCS and its technology is helping many Indigenous running communities across Australia connect and train through its partnership with the Indigenous Marathon Foundation. As an IMF Run Leader, I’ve seen how the TCS technology has helped improve the health and wellbeing of my community. TCS continues to find opportunities to drive awareness of Indigenous culture and history – and this is so valued by our Indigenous population. By marking places of Indigenous historical significance on the Canberra Marathon Map, I hope that participants ‘Running on Country’ will experience a connection with the land and will find the sites of interest.”
Additionally, TCS announced today that it will extend its Community Innovation Partnership with the Indigenous Marathon Foundation, through the IMF Connect Program. This aims to drive sustainable health outcomes in the community of Aurukun, Far North Queensland. Funding will go towards hosting local Arukun champions’ attendance at the Fun Run Championships in Alice Springs, basic running supplies and run coach education.
Through the IMF partnership, TCS supports Indigenous runners by delivering apps such as the Deadly Runner’s Connect App – which gives individual runners in remote communities access to coaches, training plans and support – and by sponsoring squads of Indigenous runners to participate in TCS New York City Marathons and Canberra Times Marathon Festivals.
The Canberra Times Marathon Festival will take place on 11 April with 8,000 runners expected. It will be the first marathon to allow non-professional participants to take place since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.