Athlete-centric application developer Strava today announced the availability of its first ever iPhone app at iTunes. It’s also marking the first fitness application that allows users to compare results on climbs and sprints with other users on their iPhone. It turns out you don’t have to gather to compete.

“We’re excited to be launching our first mobile app,” said Michael Horvath, CEO of Strava. “This will put the Strava experience for cyclists within reach of millions more people who have an iPhone in their pocket. It’s the coolest location-based app for avid cyclists who are looking to share, compare and compete while on-the-go,” said Strava.

Athletes’ use of GPS is expected to increase by 10 million over the next five years, and much of this surge is credited to the convenience of GPS recording devices. GPS-based offerings have not yet really come up with something remarkably breakthrough in line with athletes’ needs other than route maps and summary stats. This iPhone app could be amongst the first. Among many other users, consecutive U.S. National Cyclocross Champion, Tim Johnson is one of the beta users. “The Strava iPhone app is simply in a class by itself,” says Johnson. “I don’t always have my GPS with me, but my iPhone is always in my pocket. It couldn’t be simpler to log your rides and then see how you did on specific climbs and sprints compared to your friends.”

Strava utilizes the iPhone’s geo-location technology to accurately and seamlessly track and capture the climbs and sprints of athletes. GPS previously needed an internet connection and laptop, or third-party smartphone app to upload data. Now it can be effortlessly uploaded in a single app, even comparing one’s result with another’s. Strava’s GPS-based solution now comprises 25 percent of US households’. Its users have grown 10 times in 12 months since its launch merely by user buzzes.

“We developed the Strava app to go beyond other fitness apps available for the iPhone today,” said Mark Shaw, Head of Engineering at Strava. “Of course it can accurately capture a track, upload it automatically to your Strava account and show you the stats you would expect from a GPS app. But beyond that, our app brings the Strava experience of comparing and competing directly to your phone. Cyclists get instant feedback — comparative results on their climbs and sprints while they are out on the road. And, this is just the start– we have big plans for the future of our mobile apps.”

Strava has taken in data analytics as they gather a lot of user information, on their location, speed, distance, etc. in order to provide useful stats for the end use. ”We do elevation lookups from third-party data sources to supplement data collected on an individual’s activity. We do this because often the user has a device with inferior elevation measurement capabilities. Bad individual data can make the experience bad for the group so we want to correct and improve that as much as possible.”