Measure now, Submit after 1 January

You might want to also direct this question to Jane and Justin, but I thought a course *measured* in Dec could be held over for certification *submission* in Jan. 

Thanks Jim

Having said that, I don't believe we ever completed programming that into Certified Road Races (the system). USATF never allocated any additional funding for v2.0. But you should check with Justin via email on all of this.

Unless things have changed, the important date has always been when the application was submitted- not when the course was actually measured.

I can certainly envision a situation where the measurement was complete on one day but the measurer had to return to the course on a later date to complete the course documentation.

Especially in colder climates it is only prudent to measure courses for races before Memorial Day the previous fall.  Race organizers shouldn't be punished (by losing a year of certification, as all certifications expire on December 31) for doing the right thing.

I would even go so far as to allow a 364 day “grace period.”

Say a race was held on January 2 on an uncertified course. The race director got so many complaints from runners about the distance being wrong they decided to have it measured the next day, and it turned out 50m needed to be added to make it correct.

It would seem fairer to the RD to wait until January 1 of the following year to submit the course. More importantly, not waiting would create a certification date of the current year, which would give the impression that the inaccurate course was certified.

There probably should be a reasonable grace period as well as an "override" in the online certification system that allows for exceptions approved by the RRTC program managers (chair and vice chairs). Both would have to be programmed into the system I would think.