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Reply to "How Long Is Too Long?"

51 years ago the town of Westport (CT) started a series of 10 progressively longer races that spanned the summer as a training regimen for HS athletes. Still going, they are the second oldest races in the state (Pete Volkmar may dispute this, but I think I can prove my claim).
Anyway, when they were originally laid out, the courses were measured as 3, 3.5, 4, 5 miles etc. by the police chief's car.
Years later when the courses were more accurately measured the course turned out to be different than the nominal distances (oddly, both over and under, depending on the course). The distances were then listed as 4.1, 5.9, etc.
Subsequently I measured all 10 for certification and found the distances to be different once again, mainly due to following the SPR.
To solve the problem of what distance to title the race, we simply numbered them: Summer Series #1, 2, 3 etc. The actual distance, e.g. 3.08 miles, is what is listed on the cert.
I think races would do well to use a generic title such as "Run for Hope" and then list the actual distance on their entry materials, rather than include it in the race name.
BTW, when calculating the pace when processing the Westport results, I generally round up the distance to the next higher 1/10 of a mile, since I have never observed a runner to be able to follow the SPR due to traffic.
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