Course Certification

[Christine Thorne]

Hi Race Directors

Thanks for all your answers so far, this is very very helpful to me.
So here is my next question.

How important is a certified course to runners? Would you get more
runners if you spent the $$ to get this certification?

Christine


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[Jay]

Hi Christine,

Keep these good questions coming!

I asked a similar question a while back in a different forum, and the
answer that I got back from quite a few people was that they didn't
really care if a course was certified, as long as it was accurately
measured. Certification counts for those who have the potential to set
state/national records. The rest of the folks just want to know that a
5K course is truly 5K, and that the miles are accurately marked. Did
anybody at your race this year question whether or not the course was
certified, or complain about it being too long or too short?

Jay

[Christine Thorne]

Great, your not getting sick of my questions!!!

 

No one questioned the course.  I just know that lots of races are certified. We didn't do it this year, we wanted to see how the course ran, before spending the money.  I personally like the course, but wanted to know how the runner felt.  Just wondering if it was certified, would we get more runners?  I do believe the course was pretty accurate.

 

 

Christine

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From: Jay <coast...@comcast.net>
To: Road Race Directors of Northern N.E. <road-race-directo...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Sat, April 17, 2010 11:09:16 AM
Subject: Re: Course Certification

[Kiyoshi]

I personally don't care about the certification. I think it's a good
idea to state how the course was measured like "wheel measured' or
"GPS measured", etc. There was a race in Epping while ago said "the
longest 5K around". Perhaps there is no reason for you to hire a
professional timer if the course was not certified and race is small.
Find someone reliable like a track/cross country coach at your local
school to do the timing.

[Todd Hanson]

This is a good question.  I think it's a matter of expectations, if it's a low key, smaller (and shorter) race it's probably okay.  On the other hand as a runner I never felt I could claim a good effort as a PR if the length isn't certified.  If I'm searching for a race I'll choose the certified course which also tells me that I can probably expect accurate mile marks and a finishing time that has meaning.  That's me and I'm sure many participants might don't care.

The good news about certification is that it really isn't too expensive to have done and you don't have to repeat it in future years assume to keep the same course.  It cost us $350 for our 5 miler and gave us exact mile mark locations.  Also I believe USATF requires it if you want the race sanctioned.  A majority of runners may not care about USATF sanctioning BUT it is a good source for important liability coverage.

Todd

-----Original Message-----
From: Christine Thorne [mailto:cjth...@yahoo.com]
Sent: Saturday, April 17, 2010 11:42 AM
To: Road Race Directors of Northern N.E.

Subject: Course Certification

Hi Race Directors

Thanks for all your answers so far, this is very very helpful to me.
So here is my next question.

How important is a certified course to runners?  Would you get more
runners if you spent the $$ to get this certification?

Christine

--
Subscription settings: http://groups.google.com/group/road-race-directors-of-northern-ne/subscribe?hl=en

[Dave Abbett]

Hi, as a measurer I like to think that my measurement provides the accuracy that people seek in running a race. and certification simply means that the course will stand up to scrutiny when someone sets a record. I have been leery about the accuracy using GPS or especially the on-line mapping. The GPS, I found to be inaccurate depending on who is taking the GPS, especially if it is while driving the course. The on-line mapping can be terribly off because you cannot enlarge the map big enough to round corners. With that said, I think that a measurement using a bicycle wheel is the best for accuracy, but to have it done correctly costs either time (learning) or money.
As a runner I like the accuracy that a properly measured/ certified course has but usually measure my race by what percentage I finished in the race (50th/ 150 people = 33rd percent)...

On a lighter note, even though I measure courses and like to direct and volunteer at races, I think that it would be great to go back 80 to 100 years and just get a bunch of people to run a loop around town without measurement, certification, timing or pre-determined length (5k, 10k, etc)...first one back gets a cold shower off the garden hose and first dibs on the popsicles in the freezer. The rest have to listen to the first place gal/ guy brag about how fast they ran while everybody has a blast just running....I tend to dream. : )

[Stearns, Guy]

I agree with Todd on this one.  As a runner if you measure yourself by the time you run and you strive for improvement, it is hard to have faith in your performance if you don't know that the course is certified.  When a course is certified, everything is spelled out, from how you measure the turns to adding a little extra for a margin of error.  If I run a PR or my best time of the year, I won't count it in my mind if the course isn't certified.

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From: road-race-directo...@googlegroups.com [mailto:road-race-directo...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Todd Hanson
Sent: Saturday, April 17, 2010 6:34 PM
To: road-race-directo...@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: Course Certification