About the extra 3 feet--that's right, but for many years just placing that single point was how we did turnarounds. It seems that allowing for the "extra", or 1 foot outside the cone or cones, was introduced when the new specs for race walks came into being.
I get this for walking events when they go around these turns LOTS of times, but do we really want to incorporate it in our calculation of distance for running races-- knowing that we are tossing away one of our "safety factors" for course length?
Just a question. I'm not sure how I answer that myself.
PS on original post for this topic: Guido brothers have resolved the placement of the turnaround in what I think is a good practical way. I'm still hoping they will write about it . . .