HALO: The Next Generation of Starting Devices

From day one Gill Athletics has been about empowering coaches with innovative equipment and elevating the sport of track and field. Our team is constantly finding new ways to improve our equipment to make it safer and more efficient. We are proud to be well known for products like our pits, poles, and hurdles. Once in a blue moon we get the opportunity to completely transform a product so that it can better reflect our changing society.

For the past 2 YEARS we’ve been working on something a little smaller, the HALO Electronic Starting Device (Patent-Pending). It started with the idea of a wireless starting system. Wireless speakers connected to our starter pistol that could be set up in key locations around the track. The problem? Well, we would have to redesign our pistol to work with this new system. We had been wanting to improve our pistols for years, so this was the perfect opportunity. This then became a huge moment for us to completely change everything. We wanted something brand new!

What started as simply a way to improve how everyone heard the starting sound, now became a passion project for us. Our entire R&D team came together to come up with ideas (no idea was a bad idea). It was a two-day brainstorming session with sketches and 3D models. In the end the ring shape, inspired by sci-fi movies, was chosen as a more modern and inviting design.

Over the next two years our team worked tirelessly to figure out how exactly to make that early design a fully functioning starting device. They had to design all the inner workings completely from scratch and make sure all the pieces would fit perfectly in your hand. Because LED lights would be replacing any of the visuals from shots of a starting gun, they had to make sure the lights were timed perfectly with the sound from the wireless speakers. They also had to make sure all 12 LED lights would flash bright enough to be seen from far away.

There were so many fine details put into this project and all of them done with a sort of elevated responsibility.  Everyone at Gill takes great pride in their work and we know safety. The hope is that this new design can make a big impact on everyone’s safety. The HALO does have a traditional gun sound, but also comes with another audible sound for schools who want to modernize their starting events.