Marathon Des Sables 2019 athletes to use Globalstar’s SPOT Gen3

Highlights:

• Athletes and support personnel in the 2019 MARATHON DES SABLES, the world’s most extreme running race, will rely on the Globalstar satellite network and SPOT Gen3 for safety and tracking
• SPOT Gen3’s accurate GPS tracking ensures athletes stay on course and accelerates rescues
• SPOT’s one-touch SOS button instantly transmits user’s GPS location for speedy racer support in case of emergency

Dublin, Ireland, 21 March 2019 – Globalstar Europe Satellite Services Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Globalstar Inc. (NYSE MKT: GSAT) and a leader in satellite messaging, IoT, and emergency notification technologies, today announced that SPOT Gen3 will track and safeguard over 850 athletes competing in the MARATHON DES SABLES 2019 (MDS), the world’s most extreme running race across the Sahara Desert in Morocco. Globalstar has been named Official Tracking Partner for this year’s event, which takes place from 5-15 April 2019.

Each MDS participant will have the small, rugged SPOT Gen3 mounted on their backpack, transmitting their GPS location every few minutes so that race organisers, emergency support teams, sponsors, family and friends can precisely track each runner’s location online.

This is accomplished thanks to Globalstar’s next generation fleet of satellites traversing the planet in Low Earth Orbit, enabling reliable, ubiquitous coverage even when alternative communications infrastructure is non-existent.

SPOT Gen3 was first used by MDS in 2015. That year, thanks to SPOT’s GPS data transmission and emergency notification capabilities, during the course of the event the MDS support team was able to precisely locate 18 competitors in distress and quickly dispatch rescue teams to each. In fact, in the last three races supported by SPOT, no fewer than 45 competitors have been rescued within minutes thanks to SPOT Gen3.

MDS race marshals also carry SPOT Gen3s and they will be deployed in security and medical vehicles and helicopters in 2019. In the 2015 race, the use of SPOT Gen3 even resulted in one rescue with the help of a camel.

If an incident occurs, such as injury, a runner simply presses SPOT’s one-touch SOS button and their location data is transmitted by satellite from the SPOT device to race officials, making it easy to find the closest rescue team and to promptly dispatch support.

One British runner, Sabrina Pace-Humphreys, set the challenge herself to complete MDS for her 40th birthday. She comments: “I had never dared to run in such an inhospitable environment, yet alone for days on end. The SPOT Gen3 reassured me that even when I was all alone in the desert, help was never far away. My family and friends at home told me they felt like they were on the journey with me as they watched my progress using SPOT’s tracking data.”

Customised tracking software including an intuitive user interface is provided by tracking specialist GlobalPlus, a Globalstar Value Added Reseller based in Spain. The GlobalPlus platform uses geo-fencing to alert race HQ if an athlete wanders off course, raising an instantaneous alarm. When this happens, the rescue and medical team will check the person’s health and, if they are OK, advise them as to how to get back on course.

“We are delighted to be partnering with Globalstar and SPOT again this year,” explains Patrick Bauer, CEO of the MARATHON DES SABLES. “The SPOT system has amply proven its value over the years, both for its ability to provide reliable tracking of all MDS participants, and to help ensure we can rapidly get support to competitors when they need it most.”

“Participants in MARATHON DES SABLES push themselves to their very limits, physically, mentally and emotionally,” said Gavan Murphy, Director of Marketing, EMEA, Globalstar. “We are extremely glad that SPOT Gen3 and the Globalstar satellite constellation will deliver safety and peace of mind to this extraordinary group of people and to the dedicated MDS team supporting them.”