18. Insurance and USATF Certified Official status for Course Measurers

Can I assume it doesn't matter what level measurer one is to attain USATF-member insurance while performing a measurement? And, at what point is the measurer covered? From the time he/she leaves and returns home from a measurement? The 'when' needs spelling out.

Scott,

As long as your one of the levels you can get the insurance. One thing to note is you must be a member of USATF to acquire this insurance. The cost will probably be around $15 for this insurance.

As for the coverage details, this will come in the near future.

Gene - any news from Off. Committee on this?

This has been going on for a long time. I have found that in order for you to be covered for an injury to one self the event must be sanctioned. and you must be a member of USATF. The event is not normally sanction until the course is certified.

I may be wrong on this, but found the coverage was so vague that you probably should have your own insurance.

Again, we are still working on this.

Gene, I for one am interested in considering this coverage as soon as it becomes available. Will you post an update soon after the convention?

Yes I will handle it after the convention. One thing to note is your present insurance would be primary and you will not be covered for mistake in measuring.

quote:

...“LDR SURVEYOR”. RRTC has set the criteria for attaining each level as follows:

Association level: Measures at least 5 courses successfully for certification and is recommended by State Certifier and answers a “20 questions” test(must be done)....

So I should contact my State Certifier about the qualification?

Michael,

Nothing has been put in place as there are several factors to consider.

Michael,

I'll try to explain the insurance for officials and course measurers.

There are two items that are covered by USATF insurance. They are 1) General Liability insurance and 2) Accident insurance.

The General Liability is a wrap around insurance policy that covers general liability while in an organized event of track and field, race walking and Long Distance Running. This is the most important coverage for a measurer. It means, for example, that while measuring the course for a sanctioned or non-sanctioned event and a vehicle sues you for impeding traffic causing them to hit another vehicle, you will have coverage.

The second item is Accident Insurance. This item is secondary to any major medical insurance that course measurers already have (through work or another group.) If the measurer does not have major medical, then the accident insurance becomes primary. I believe the amount of coverage is only $10,000 for accidents and dismemberment.

http://www.usatf.org/membershi...s/groupInsurance.asp

In order to be eligible for the USATF insurance, course measurers must be USATF members and must be USATF Certified Officials. This coverage is available now.

You may be certified as an Long Distance Running / Cross Country official, a Track & Field official, a Race Walk official, Combined Events official, etc. Within each of those disciplines there are several certification levels, including, Association, National, Master, National Master Referee and National Technical Official.

For a course measurer that wants to get started immediately, they should become Long Distance Running / Cross Country official on the association level. The process is as simple as contacting your local officials certification chair, reviewing the USATF Competition Rules Book, taking a 50 question, open-book exam at home and mailing it to your local certification chair.

The questions are straight out of the rules book. Here are a few examples:

• [Transponder Timing] The use of transponder timing systems in road and cross country races is permitted provided that the resolution is ____ seconds.
  
  
• Rules Applicable to Long Distance Running Events] Road running performances will not be accepted if the ______________ shows the actual course distance was shorter than the stated distance.
  
  
• [Rules Applicable to all Records] For races _______ than the Marathon distance, an athlete may compete at a distance shorter than the stated race distance but longer than the Marathon distance.
  
  
• [Transponder Timing] Net times (the elapsed time between an individual's transponder generated starting and finish times) shall not be used for ______ purpose other than Masters LDR records.
  

The list of officials certification chairs is available at:

http://www.usatf.org/groups/of...ification/chairs.asp

Additional information on becoming a USATF Certified Official is available at:

http://www.usatf.org/groups/officials/

We are currently working on a process that would make it a bit easier for course measurers to become USATF Certified Officials and to advance as an official. We'll discuss that process at the annual meeting.

I'm not the expert on USATF insurance or Certified Officials, but I hope this helps. Thank you. -- Justin

Justin, thanks for this explanation. I do have some concerns as explained below.

My take on the above:
1. What is implied by the statement: general liability will cover you "in an organized event of track and field, race walking and Long Distance Running” Who determines the event is organized if it’s not sanctioned?
2. Note The USATF’s general liability insurance does not include coverage for professional liability (so claims for damages if the measurer makes a measurement mistake are not covered). If the measurer has a concern about being held responsible for his/her course accuracy, then he/she should consider including a waiver or hold harmless agreement in his/her contract with the event.

Thanks, Gene and Justin. I'll stand by to hear more about what transpires at the meeting.

The FL Association is fairly active in the peninsula; not so much so in the panhandle where I reside.

So being a LDR/XC Official up here would be of little benefit outside of the title (like my Level I Coach cert.).

Following up on Michael's post re LDR Surveyors, is there any progress to report from the annual meeting toward developing a test and/or status for course measurers as a USATF Certified Official?

Jim,

Justin Kuo is going to see if there is any interest. The main concern of our people asking is what insurance coverage do they have from becoming a Certified Official. There would be costs involved(about $100) and there would be benefits(you would be able to identify yourself to local authorities with a card).

The following information was provided by Irene Herman, USATF Insurance Advisor, in a meeting on December 1, 2011, during the 2011 USATF Annual Convention:
A.The measurer is a USATF member not necessarily an Official
1. If the event is sanctioned (meaning that sanction was already obtained before the course measurement), USATF provides Excess Medical and General Liability coverage.
B. The measurer is a USATF Certified Official:
1. The measurer gets “A” above (because certified officials are always USATF members) and USATF also provides General Liability coverage for non-sanctioned events.

Notes:
•Medical coverage refers to injury to yourself. USATF provides “Excess Medical” coverage is secondary to any other medical insurance you have.

•General Liability coverage refers to injury or property damage that you cause to someone else.

•If you don’t have USATF provided General Liability coverage, liability claims of this sort may be payable by your home-owner’s or similar insurance plan.

•USATF’s general liability insurance does not include coverage for professional liability (so claims for damages if the measurer makes a measurement mistake are not covered). If the measurer has a concern about being held responsible for his/her course accuracy, then he/she should consider including a waiver or hold harmless agreement in his/her contract with the event.
Gene Newman and Bob Baumel
December 27, 2011

I like the idea of an official card, could have helped me out in some of my "unscheduled interviews" (which have been numerous!)

I do, too, Bob.

I imagine measurers in other parts of the U.S. are not detained by law enforcement authorities as often as you and I here in Washington, D.C. I know a USATF Official ID card would have saved me some headaches when measuring around the U.S. Capitol.

Duane and I discovered that measuring in National Parks will get you "pulled over" as well.

Having white hair helps prevent getting questioned about what you are doing while measuring. When the police or park rangers see a couple disheveled, white haired old guys on bikes, wearing yellow vests, stopping frequently to write something on scraps of paper, they usually just shake their heads. This is especially true when the old guys are dressed in several layers of standard work clothes, jeans and wearing bulky ski gloves; not the high tech lightweight gear they are used to seeing on riders.

Sounds great, Guido. Come on down to D.C. and measure a course around the U.S. Capitol sometime. I'll lurk nearby with a camcorder to capture the action as the Capitol Hill Police load your white-haired yellow-vest clad self into their security wagon for a trip to the hoosegow. RRTC folks will pay me electronic money to see video of the action

In the Washington DC area wouldn't the disheveled, white haired guys be mistaken for a couple senators on a field trip?

Gene & I (2 old no-haired guys) got stopped by U.S. Park Service police when we were doing the measurement by pacing contest around the Arch in St. Louis last month. They thought we were from the Occupy movement pacing out encampment layouts!

Maybe Lyman and I are painting too bleak a picture of measurer harassment around here. Actually I haven't been stopped for a few months now(!), and I have learned a few rules of the road, mostly learned the hard way.
1. Never try to use any paint on the U.S. Capitol reservation
2. Learn the boundaries of that territory (it's more extensive than you might think)
3. Don't whip out a camera on the pentagon plantation. They are watching and you will be swooped down upon! Always best to let the Lieutenant for Pentagon Police know you are doing some work there.
4. Park Police, who control Independence and Constitution Avenues as well as parks-- hit and miss, and I've actually run into some pretty nice folks but that isn't guaranteed. For the Army Ten Mile course I carry the work order right along with me and some sort of paper from the Park Police OK'ing the work.
5. DC police (MPD) usually leave you alone but for those occasions when they stop to ask you questions, it helps to give some names in SOD (special operations) Dept.
6. Don't even think about riding without ID.

Hmm. A lot of stuff to remember I guess. But on the plus side, I haven't (yet) been actually arrested!
Knock on wood.

Oops I wrote Pentagon "plantation" but it's "reservation". Sorry!

Years ago, before 9/11, I was hired to measure a course that started and finished on H Street, N.W. on the north edge of Lafayette Park. For those of us who do not know Washington, D,C,, Lafayette Park is directly across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House. Due to the traffic in the area, I had arranged for a police escort. Near the end of my second ride, the officer escorting me asked if he could leave. As I had arrived at the initially-spotted finish with just a few yards further to reach the final finish line, I said "OK". As I rode my bike the last few meters, I looked around to see if there was anyone who might see me apply a small paint mark at the finish spot. No one in sight. As I dismounted and grabbed my paint can and began applying the mark, I heard a deep, loud voice: "Sir, what are you doing?". I looked up to see a small monument of a man on a mountain bike with a Secret Service badge. I could not understand where he came from. It was as if he had silently dropped out of an overhead branch. Though the D.C. police had promised me they would coordinate my measurement with the other law enforcement agencies in whose jurisdiction I was working that morning, I learned they had done no such thing. Another Secret Service agent rode up on a mountain bike. After being detained for over 30 minutes, Secret Service was finally able to contact the officer who escorted me. It seemed he was the only person who could vouch for me. Another 10 minutes of I.D. checks, and I was freed with a warning.