Remember the National Running Data Center? One wonderful thing about that organization, the creation of Ken Young, was that it pushed both course certification and the gathering of road race results into a central library. Publications of records, rankings, and "notable performances" were derived from material in that central library. This was in the pre-Internet 1980s.

I wish there were a similar entity now. The power of the Internet would allow the entire library to be available to anyone, anytime. The certification status of the each race could be included with the results from that race---not only the certification code, and the name of the measurer, but the name of the individual who attests that the course was set up according to the race map on race day. (What's the point of a certified course without race results from a race that used the course?) The certification process, in a sense, wouldn't be complete until the results of a race using the course became part of the central library. Any race that wanted to be thought of as a serious competition would use a certified course and send its results to the central library. All sorts of histories and compilations of records, rankings and various sorts of comparisons could be assembled from that library.

Running USA, in concert with the the Road Running Information Center and the USATF, seemed to be moving in the direction of an Internet version of the old National Running Data Center, but that effort seems to have dissolved. Or am I missing something?

Maybe money was a problem. I would think that such a center would have to display advertising in order to pay the bills, but would also have to be connected with a central governing body such as the USATF in order to be accepted as the valid central site and the keeper of records.

Is anyone else out there interested in seeing something like this established? Or does it already exist but has escaped my attention?

David Reik, 87 Wood Pond Rd., West Hartford, CT 06107, davidreik@comcast.net

One reason NRDC worked so well was that Ken Young was hugely proactive in contacting and convincing race directors to send him their results. In RRIC, Ryan Lamppa worked in a similar manner. In both organizations, the number of race results obtained was only a fraction of the races run. The race organizations were either unaware of the need for information or simply did not care to send it.

Complicating this, when a fast time was run, the race directors were sent applications for records, which contained lots of questions that required work to answer. This was not a welcome chore for many race directors.

We have a tight group of course certifiers, and have succeeded in making available all that we know about what’s certified and what is not. This information does not readily cross over to race information. We are never certain exactly which course is used for which race. This is known only to the race directors. Their knowledge is often incomplete. After a few years goes by the original course measurement certificate and course map get lost as race directors change, and all that remains are paint marks on the road and a vague recollection that “the course is certified.”

David’s idea is an attractive one, but one that will need somebody to continually beat on the heads of all the race directors to get their results.

The race directors’ main goal is to provide a good racing experience for their runners, and they put in hard work toward this. Anything that adds to their work is unwelcome. They need to be shown what they will gain by doing the extra work of cooperating in this venture. It has to be more than altruism. Doing good is desirable, but by putting on a race they have already done a good thing, They may not wish to do more.

It’s a good idea. Who is out there to make it go? Any volunteers?

I sent results for several races to the USATF, but I stopped submitting as race results are no longer posted. The race results on the USATF web site were very well presented. I would like to see them there again.

Dale Summers