I applaud Lyman for the work he did on that cross country course BUT we should not be putting the stamp of USATF Certified on any XC course.
Our present methods and protocols for measuring road courses have a great deal of integrity and respect from the LDR community. Only when the course is not followed are there questions.
This could quickly erode if we start certifying xc courses for some of the following reasons:
1. You will only have "relative accuracy" because of the varying surfaces unless you steel tape the non paved portions of the course.
2. Unless you (the measurer) are onsite to help set up the course, it most likely will not be properly managed.
3. XC courses are constantly altered due to weather.
4. The accuracy of a XC course is not as important as a road course. Because of the great diversity in XC course there are no National Records, only course records. XC is a different animal then road racing with a focus on placing and team competition. Times and distance are have little importance.
5.And now for the drum roll...........I think it's great that a measurer would go out and help make any aspect of athletics more accurate but remember courses are awarded Certification by the Road Running Road Running Technical Council of USATF!