Albany, New York July 30, 2006
Workshop group standing at the end of their recently measured 1000 foot Calibration Course. From Left to Right: Jim Thomas, Gary Gelvin, Ray Lee, Jim Gilmer, Jeff Gleba.
In an effort to promote USATF Course certification and bolster the number of capable course measurers in New York and due to a request by George Regan Jim Gilmer, the New York State certifier and Mike Wickiser RRTC Workshop Coordinator conducted a workshop. Notice of this workshop was placed on the USATF Associations List serve bulletin board, The RRTC Course measurement Bulletin Board.
Working on the local front, New York certifier Jim Gilmer located the perfect venue at the University of Albany. This provided an air-conditioned classroom, a convenient location for a calibration course, and a twisting turning closed loop course to practice measuring.
The workshop started out by setting goals for the day by the group followed by a viewing of Tom McBrayer’s short measurement video. It was determined to provide a combination lecture and ‘hands on’ approach to encompass measuring and USATF certification.
The workshop covered discussion of calibration courses, and the calibrated bike measurement method following the Measurement Manual as a guide. Working between the classroom and in the field on the UA campus, the group;
• Laid out and team measured a calibration course
• Measured the outside loop around the campus for certification
• Practiced offsetting around traffic, barriers, and moving points using 3,4,5 right triangle configuration
• Worked through and temperature adjusted of a calibration course
• Determination of Working constants & Final Constants for the day
• Data crunching to determine final course measured length
Interest level for the workshop was so intense that the group consensus was to forego lunch and breaks, preferring to continue discussion and field practices.
This report was prepared by Mike Wickiser, who assisted at the seminar.