Difference between cal and course surface

I get your points, Mark. Is it possible we are de facto encouraging inaccurate XC courses by our tacit approval or disregard for short courses? Taken to the extreme, is some good purpose served by having a "5K" that is, say, 2.7 miles long? By this reasoning, wouldn't this aberration then become one of the most popular XC courses? Why stop here? 2.5 miles would be even "faster".

If XC organizers tend to repel any initiative by USATF to standardize the 5K XC distance, I think this would just slow down the change. Perhaps we could start by requiring XC events that seek USATF sanctioning to use our "provisional" - or whatever you might want to call it - certification. So, this would initially be in play for major events, then maybe over the years "performance comparability" and "truth in advertising" would become as much an expectation for many high school and college races as it is for major 5K road events.

"Dreaming is my pre-occupation" 😄

Maybe a relaxed measuring process; calibrate on 500-feet on grass, limit the amount of "trail-like" features.  Stakes, posts, bricks, etc. at turns (probably need a couple regulations here).  Certification expires when stakes, poles or bricks are no longer in place.  Call it USATF Certified Cross Country.  We've measured one that had painted 4x4s at the turn points.  These courses would require some race director upkeep each year, or maybe each meet.  That seems fair.

Makes sense to me, Guidos. The main point here, I think, is that what hundreds of events advertise as "5K" would eventually actually be 5Ks - or at least one heck of a lot closer to 5,000 meters than they are today.

Yes, but the unaddressed large animal in the room, or the small animal in the ointment" is the "PR" course.  Maybe a new USATF Certification category "USATF-PR" certified to be 10% shorter than advertised and "USATF-Super PR" guaranteed to be 25% shorter than advertised.  Both measured and certified at 10% and 25%, respectively, above the normal fee.

Seems as though there are already many courses in this category. I would charge 100% and 2,500% more, respectively!

I thought it was possible to obtain a 1-day certification for XC courses. They must be measurer after being set up with flags, paint, etc.