I will be measuring a track this morning, and I'm having a crisis of confidence. My helper will be the race director, an inexperienced person.
For years I've been familiar with the "Taping a Track" sheet produced by Bob Baumel. It's a good solution to a tough problem. Note that it is not easy to obtain good taping results by sticking pins in grass. Stout stakes or other immovable benchmarks are needed if taping is to be accurate. In addition, the measured points need to be aligned properly. Misalignment will tend to produce results that are a bit over the real length. Also, the method assumes perfect semicircles at each end of the track, which we do not check.
As I see it, tracks are laid out by people who have better equipment and a more robust measurement method than we have. When we measure an accurate 400 meter track we are certain to obtain a length that is not exactly 400 meters.
At present I think we are supposed to take our measurement and treat it as official, in spite of the fact that our methodology is less accurate than that used to lay out the track originally.
I'm not sure how to resolve this. I wish people did not lose their paperwork.
Today I am going to bring along a Rolatape measuring wheel, which I can read to about 1/20 of a foot. I intend to tape 100 meters on the track to calibrate the wheel. Then I will roll the wheel along the outside edge of the inner line, and from this calculate the track length.
I will have a hammer and stakes as a backup in case what I plan is not possible and I have to do a length/width measurement.