British runner Clarke Reynolds completed the Brighton Marathon on Sunday using special glasses that helped the blind marathoner stay on course
Using Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses — and with assistance from volunteers who guided him via the Be My Eyes app — Reynolds finished the race in 6 hours, 19 minutes, 41 seconds. Typically, blind runners rely on another runner to serve as a guide, which requires the guide to maintain the same pace.
The new technology allowed Reynolds to run at his own pace.
Reynolds told RNIB Connect Radio that volunteers rotated every 30 minutes to provide guidance through the app while he ran. In Sunday’s race, he also had a guide nearby in case the technology failed.
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But he didn’t need the guide.
“It was just a way of, how can I do this and push the boundaries of what the technology is out there,” Reynolds said. “And, you know, it’s not too far off that we could do daily-life, crazy stuff with technology.”
Reynolds trained for 10 months to prepare for the race.
“I want to blow away people’s expectations of what sight loss means and be a role model for people of all ages with a visual impairment,” he said before Sunday’s event.
Reynolds also used the marathon to raise funds for the Richard Whitehead Foundation, which supports visually impaired runners.
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His experience with the Be My Eyes app is one of many ways the technology can be used. In March, the app reached 1 million users, along with a network of more than 10 million volunteers. The app advertises that it can assist visually impaired people by reading labels, troubleshooting devices and offering other types of help.
“Reaching 1 million blind and low-vision users and 10 million volunteers is far beyond what I imagined when I first had the idea for Be My Eyes,” said Hans Jørgen Wiberg, the app’s founder. “This community shows the incredible willingness of people around the world to help one another. Every day, millions of small acts of kindness happen through the app, and together they make the world more accessible.”
