Reply to "Flat Tire Complication"

Even though we now have some additional information which appears to indicate problems outside of the responsibility and control of the measurer, it is hard to form a definite opinion without seeing the measurement report and possibly copies of the correspondence between the measurer and the race officials which would have taken place in setting up the measurement prior to the travel.

I generally work from the principle that events outside the control of the measurer which cause additional time and cost to be incurred must be funded by the race director. For example I would always warn the race director that if when I get home and recalibrate I find too much change I will need to make further measurements (at his expense). For long trips involving air travel, one obviously needs to build in enough time to carry out a redo. In this case the measurement appears to have been a Sunday only attempt on grounds of safety/traffic, so the possibility of needing a second trip if things go wrong must be built in at the outset of the negotiations to do the measurement.

A puncture is not the fault of the measurer unless he has wilfully ridden though a clearly visible pile of broken glass. If I see an area with glass, I wheel my bike through it and then a further wheel rotation with my hand on the front wheel to check remove any glass chips adhering. In this case if the puncture was not the result of such negligence by the measurer, the race director must bear the impact.

To check sensible planning we need to know more:

• How long was the course?
  
• Was it a straight forward single ride between the start and finish or were there several rides to be assembled to make the whole?
  
• what time had the riding been supposed to start? When did it? When was the puncture noticed? When did measuring have to cease?
  

I am curious about the non-IAAF measurer:

• What was his previous experience?
  
• Had he done a previous layout measurement of the course for the IAAF measurer to verify?
  
• Did the IAAF measurer ride behind the non-IAAF measurer and so was able to check the non-IAAF measurer rode the correct line?
  
• Did the IAAF measurer carefully check the riding and the counter readings during the non-IAAF measurers post calibration?
  

I can imagine circumstances where the work of an experienced non-IAAF measurer under the very close observation of an IAAF grade A measurer might be accepted, but equally I can imagine many situations where there might not be enough evidence of the accuracy of the work of the non-IAAF measurer.

Finally:

• Was there not time for the IAAF measurer to comandeer the non_IAAF measurer's bike and repeat all the measurement work from scratch, which is what I would prefer to see be done if possible?