Question re. races that claim USATF cert, but no map?

Rick,

The search engine is sensitive and a bit clunky, but it does work. For example, OH 07003 PR won’t work. oh07003pr won’t work. OH07003PR will work.

You will not find the most recently-measured courses there. Takes a while to get them into the system.

When you suspect that something is not certified, ask the race director for the course number. If they can’t come up with one you know they’re being less than forthright.

What have you tried that won’t work? Be specific.

You can even download the entire course list if you want to.

Pete,

For a specific example (I could come up with many more) there is a 5k and 10k next weekend in Kenett Square, PA. The race web site claims USATF certified, but gives no course number.

At the USATF site, if I search for all 10k courses in PA, there is nothing for Kennett Square.

For another in my area, see
http://www.races2run.com/2007/2007Details/04-2007details.htm#042207-MAW
Again, a claim of a certified course, but no number. This is a 10k in Delaware. There are only three 10k maps for Delaware, and this is not one of them.

This makes me suspicious about the veracity of "USATF certified" in these cases.

This is a situation that has existed as long as certification has. I've never figured out a way to do something about it. The idea of nagging the offending RD's has little appeal.

What I'd like to see is the runners getting angry about it. After all, after giving it your best shot only to find that they lied about certification leaves you feeling a bit cheated.

If more runners would do their homework they could avoid the problem. Also, if enough contact the RD's, the RD's may realize that a real certification is a plus.

I will not lie awake waiting for this to happen, but it would be nice.

I just searched for certified courses in Kennett Square, PA. There are two that were certified in 1995 - PA95006RE and PA95007RE for the Kennett Square Run 5k and 10k respectively. Both of these courses have gone past their initial 10 year certification period. If you select "Course status" to "any" under the "Advanced Criteria" you'll find the courses. As the course certifications have not been renewed the maps won't be there. Once a course has been renewed I believe it then moves into the "active" status and the map should then be posted. The Delaware 10k course that's "missing" may also be a similar situation.

Thanks. I forgot about the possibility of a certified course expiring. I guess these courses should be re-certified, but I feel a little better knowing that at one point the courses were certified.

I'm guessing that there is no mechanism to alert a "responsible party" that a course is expiring? Off the top of my head, I'm not even sure if that is practical...who would you notify ten years later?

Rick - IMHO, it's the RD's responsibility to keep up with whether their course is due to expire. There are RD's around here whose courses have expired, with no changes to the course or the roadway...they can show the start/finish points and all, but... It's accurate, but not a cert. course.

I've asked RD's of races who claimed cert. before to provide me the number so I could find the course map. However, they never replied. I then told my club athletes they could run that event if they wished, however, I was not going to run an event where I could not guarantee the distance was correct.

While not a perfect solution, one could add "USATF Certification # ZZ07000ZZ, Expires Dec 31, 2017" or similar to the course map. That may help remind the race director (a decade from now) to renew or remeasure their course. -- Justin

It's possible that the course in question really was measured and certified, but hasn't made it through the chain of command yet. Quite a few races are measured close to race day, and the paperwork doesn't clear until well afterward.

The RD's failure to use the certification number is a bit of a mystery.

The complete course list is well over 28,000 entries now (includes active, expired, decertified, etc.) and is a little cumbersome. It's over 7MB.