I don't see this happening at all. The number might be a dozen or so a year. Maybe that's not worth opening a "loophole," but there are enough highly regarded and experienced measurers who have expressed the opinion that they have courses that haven't changed that we should allow them alternatives to a complete remeasurement with 2 rides.
Duane, your analogy with murder laws isn't the best. Those are laws to prevent something ; what we've come up with here is a rule to allow something.
No one is forcing a race director or measurer to make the determination that their course is unchanged. Instead, we're allowing them to use their best judgement and observation of the immediate situation to do that. If you have some doubt one of your courses is unchanged, do a single ride, which will either confirm or deny the fact. At worst, you'll have to do a second ride, but the new rule will allow a single ride to suffice for a new certificate as well as putting your mind at ease. And if Pete Volkmar or Dave Katz are certain their course hasn't changed, they can resubmit the original measurement data.
The absolute worst effect of this I can envision is that a record gets tossed because an "unchanged" course is shown to be short on validation. Considering the small number records set each year, and the even smaller number of courses likely to fall under the new rule, I think the likelihood of that occurring is miniscule. As Pete wrote,
quote:The ordinary runner is not as picky as USATF. He or she merely seeks assurance that the course is reasonably accurate.
The new rule allows us to meet that goal.