Multiple Starts

Technically, each is a separate course and should have a separate certificate, although a single map could show all the options. It can get ridiculous, as it did when I certified a single out-back with over 13 course options. I wasn't happy with the complexity. It seemed like overkill

This doesn't happen very often and one would hope that everything could be taken care of on one map and one certificate - after all, only one course length is involved.

Gene's the one who has to deal with the filing and listing. Seems like his call.

There is no easy answer for this question. It seems to reason that one certificate could show all that's necessary. However, for records it would be best to have two Certificates.

The situation has occurred when an individual wanted to have all of his splits Certified and listed on the map. The solution was to have Certificates for each split as a record attempt was going to be made.

I suggest two Certificates for your situations.

Thanks Pete & Gene. 2 sets of everything will be prepared and sent to the certifier (Jane Parks). It's minimally additional work and could save confusion later.

10 years ago I measured the course for the 4 on the 4th Independence Day race in New Canaan. For years it had started in a church parking lot, but, anticipating bigger fields, we felt the start would eventually need to be moved to the main street in front of the church (which it was several years later). At the time I submitted the map to Dave Reik w/ both starts indicated; he issued 2 numbers, one for "4 on the 4th" and the other for "4 on the 4th (alternate start)." The certification expired last year so the map is not on the server, but here is the version on the race website:
4 on the 4th Map .

IMO, it's easier to have both starts on one map, provided the finish is clearly indicated (in the aforementioned case, the finish was the same for both starts).

Last summer I measured a race with two different starts. The race director wasn't sure he was going to have access to the area where one of the starts was, so we decided to measure an alternate start on a different road just in case. Here's the map:

http://tinyurl.com/d6yl2q

I like that solution even better. Let's extend the situation to a race like the NYC Marathon, which has THREE starts, and uses ALL of them for the race. That course has only one certificate & # (NY01001DB).

My feeling would be as follows:

Same finish, multiple or alternate starts - 1 map and cert # since it is essentially the same course.

Different start and finish - separate map/cert, since it is technically a different course w/ potentially different drop & sep values.

Pete, not sure which one of these your course falls into.

The Drop and Separation could be different for a different start and same finish, hence a separated Certificate would be necessary for any record. I still say it's best to issue different Certificates.

I think this is a fairly rare situation, but one that should be evaluated on an individual basis. It would seem to be unwieldy to issue 3 certs for the NYCM, one for each start. On the other hand, I think one version of the Mt. Rushmore Marathon had starts several miles apart (and runners got to choose which one they used!) so that should definitely be distinct certs.