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Certified Course, no mile marks
Hello,
I did a 5k race this morning on a course that was advertised on the entry form as "USATF Certified".
The strange and disappointing thing is that there were no mile marks oin the course. Why would a
race director go to the trouble of certifying a course and not have mile or km marks ? It would have
been a definite help to me to know my splits at this race. I usually use my Timex GPS system, but I
didn't at this race because it was a certified course. Kind of figures that would happen.
David Dunn
On Sat, 20 Sep 2003 15:15:01 -0400 (EDT), David Dunn wrote:
>Hello,
>
Hi, there,
>I did a 5k race this morning on a course that was advertised on the entry form as "USATF
>Certified". The strange and disappointing thing is that there were no mile marks oin the course.
>Why would a race director go to the trouble of certifying a course and not have mile or km marks ?
>It would have been a definite help to me to know my splits at this race. I usually use my Timex
>GPS system, but I didn't at this race because it was a certified course. Kind of figures that
>would happen.
>
I guess my first reaction is to ask if you talked to the RD. Yeah, this race had a disappointment
factor but it's over. Preventing the disappointment in future races is now the main focus, IMHO. RDs
need feedback just as runners need feedback. Some of them actively seek out post-race comments but
many are so busy with the logistics that they don't have the time to do a proper evaluation. I
recommend that you contact the RD and (diplomatically, which I'm sure you would have done anyway)
suggest that the race would have been a great deal better if there had been (accurate) mile/km
markers. And, for what it's worth, I agree that distance markers are a nice touch - for the
competitive folks as well as "my people" in the back.
Layne
-------------------------------------------------------
The rec.running report archives may be found at http://kinder.cis.unf.edu/rec.running
A bit off thread, but the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon adds a "nice touch". Not only are splits
called every mile, but your finishing pace is called as well. Comes in handy during the last half
when my higher math functions are deteriorating.
Layne Wallace wrote: (snip) And, for what
> it's worth, I agree that distance markers are a nice touch - for the competitive folks as well as
> "my people" in the back.
>
> Layne
--
The generation of random numbers is too vital a task to be left to chance.
David Dunn wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I did a 5k race this morning on a course that was advertised on the entry form as "USATF
> Certified". The strange and disappointing thing is that there were no mile marks oin the course.
> Why would a race director go to the trouble of certifying a course and not have mile or km marks ?
It might make it easier for you to have the miles/KMs marked but the cretification is for the
distance only. Supose that course was certified 5 years ago, who will remember the mile/km points? I
have run quite a few races that were certified where I ran a 4 min mile followed by an 8 min mile
while maintaining a constant pace. Unless the race form promises accurate splits assume they will
not be there and/or not accurate.
--
Doug Freese dfreeseNOBS@hvc.rr.com
On Sun, 21 Sep 2003 00:02:19 GMT, Wayne Conway wrote:
>A bit off thread, but the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon adds a "nice touch". Not only are splits
>called every mile, but your finishing pace is called as well. Comes in handy during the last half
>when my higher math functions are deteriorating.
>
Cool. I haven't run an event where they did that but I'll definitely suggest
it. :-) I agree that toward the end of an event, the cortical layers are tofu, conversations are
monosyllabic, and small animals start to lok like post-run eats.
Layne
-------------------------------------------------------
The rec.running report archives may be found at http://kinder.cis.unf.edu/rec.running
Even if there are mile markers, there is no requirement that the mile markers be certified.
Unusual maybe. Have you contacted the RD? That would do more good than posting here.
"David Dunn" <DJRWalk@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:11408-3F6CA735-4@storefull-2218.public.lawson.webtv.net...
> Hello,
>
> I did a 5k race this morning on a course that was advertised on the entry form as "USATF
> Certified". The strange and disappointing thing is that there were no mile marks oin the course.
> Why would a race director go to the trouble of certifying a course and not have mile or km marks ?
> It would have been a definite help to me to know my splits at this race. I usually use my Timex
> GPS system, but I didn't at this race because it was a certified course. Kind of figures that
> would happen.
>
> David Dunn
"Sam" <marathonman@mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:<KCxcb.1576$pP6.878@newsread2.news.atl.earthlink.net>...
> Even if there are mile markers, there is no requirement that the mile markers be certified.
>
> Unusual maybe. Have you contacted the RD? That would do more good than posting here.
Not only is there not a requirement that mile marks be certified, they RARELY are. On a 5K you'd
need to mesure each mile independently and do a adjust just like you do for start/finish marks. The
time factor along keeps people from doing it. I've only certified on mile mark for a course that had
a one mile prim.
Course maps and paperwork show mile marks, but the exact positioning is not required (although
encouraged). If you are curios what the official maps look like, nearly all the courses I've
measured are available on this page:
http://www.twincitytc.org/resources.asp
I did e-mail the race director and tactfully let him know I was disappointed by the lack of
splits. Unfortunately I was on vacation last week and when I got home today, my mailbox was full
due the the numerous bogus "Microsoft Patch" e-mails. As a result I don't know if the RD tried to
e-mail me back.
David Dunn
Wayne Conway <ido26twonadaspam@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
news:<fU5bb.1350$xY.798496907@newssvr11.news.prodigy.com>...
> A bit off thread, but the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon adds a "nice touch". Not only are splits
> called every mile, but your finishing pace is called as well. Comes in handy during the last half
> when my higher math functions are deteriorating.
>
> Layne Wallace wrote: (snip) And, for what
> > it's worth, I agree that distance markers are a nice touch - for the competitive folks as well
> > as "my people" in the back.
> >
> > Layne
First, it makes no sense to have mile splits in a 5k race. Kilometre splits, fine.
Second, I hate it when people call out my splits during a race. Most times I just want to run how I
feel, not by the clock. There is one guy who does it at a lot of local races, mainly for his team
but he just shouts out the time to whoever is passing. He kindly keeps shtum for me, though!
Edward
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