Hi: I am the race director for a 5k fundraiser affiliated with a local community college. Being the owner of a Oerth/Jones Counter I measured the course for last years event which was not certified. This year I decided to measure and certify the course myself. I designed an out and back course using Map My Run and yesterday was measurement day. Everything went extremely well from the first calibration ride to the first and second measurement rides to the second calibration ride, etc. etc. The difference between my two measurement rides was 14 clicks, well within the permitted tolerances. During the measurement aspect it occurred to me that the turnaround area was a little tight. I didn't think much of it at the time and continued with the measurement, temporary markers, calibration, yada, yada.
I completed all the field work and went home to do the paperwork satisfied with my measurements and confident that the course is extremely accurate. As I'm doing the paperwork the thoughts of the narrowness of the turnaround point creep into my head again. And they magnify. Finally, I decide that I can't live with the turnaround point. I' m wearing two hats here after all and neither can be ignored. At this point it's too late in the day to return to the course to layout a new course with a new turnaround point. I have a new turnaround point in mind and it would be no big deal to make the change.
Am I screwed? Do I need to start all over or can I treat this as a modification? If it were acceptable, I would pick a point on the course and mark it as a starting point. Then I would ride the course from that point to the turnaround point and write down the number of the counts. I would repeat this at least one more time to make sure that my measurement was accurate. Then I would go back to that same starting point and measure an identical number of counts for the new turnaround point. I would ride the new route to the turnaround again to make sure it was accurate. The old and the new turnarounds would be identical in distance.
Is this acceptable if I document my very move to the certifier or do I need to scrap my entire measurement and start over from scratch?
Thank you.
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