Earlier this week we were informed that Deena Kastor had set apparent world records at 25K and 30K on her way to victory in the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon on October 9.
Unfortunately since we decided to certify only the marathon distance the records cannot be accepted by IAAF.
There's no reason these distances couldn't have been certified; I measured them twice and the measurements were within the specified tolerance. Mike Wickiser validated both points in a pre-validation measurement; I rode ahead of him that morning and thus measured the course a third time. We simply didn't document the measurement on the certificate or any other documents that went forward.
I'd be interested to hear what everyone else does. It would seem to me that in a large race where one expects an elite field it would probably be a good practice to certify all of the intermedaite distances where records are normally kept by USATF and IAAF. Putting all of this on a certificate could get ugly but I would suspect it would be OK to document the locations of the points in question, the drop and separation on each point, and the difference between two best measurements on a separate letter to the certifier, which would then be forwarded eventually to the Course Registrar.
If we do this on every course, the course list could get long in a hurry, though. Suggestions on keeping this manageable?
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