Application Question : 15. Which measurement was used to establish the final race course and WHY?

I'll take a crack. We want folks to understand that they should use the measurement that causes the final course to be longer. Language is tricky on this point. I would usually say "use the shorter of the two measurements", but that assumes that you are measuring between two fixed points. Some folks, however, are working with the concept that they will start in the same place and end up in two different places. From their point of view "use the shorter" ends up as the wrong choice. The "Why" part of it is to help catch that mistake.

I would think the question can be answered by saying "#2, it shows the distance to be shorter so it ends up with a longer course." Or "I used the sum of the shorter measurements of each segment of the course". Or the like.

Does this question really serve to catch those mistakes, or not-- I do wonder if anyone has observations about that.

Bob,
That's helps a lot in my understanding the question and how to respond. I've not had a problem with knowing what to do - just didn't really understand this question nor how to respond. I almost always use the "sum of the shortest" so your second example definitely makes sense and would seem to be the appropriate answer for me to use.

In the typical case where the course was measured in one continuous segment, (ie. from start to finish), you would use the ride with the fewest counts to establish the final race course.

In that case, you can answer Question 15 by saying something like: I used measurement ride-1 as it had fewer counts than measurement ride-2.

Thank you. -- Justin