I have never posted anything before, but I read Dan's article on race course measuring and sent him a reply. He asked me to post it, so here it is.
This article was one I just had to respond to since I have given more than a little thought to it. I agreed with Dan's conclusions, probably because I came from a running background where USA track and field certified courses. To be certified, an official had to go out and walk the course with a wheel. They noted permanent landmarks along the way and thus, once certified, there is not a need to do this year after year for annual races.
Most people don't vie for awards so the race is purely one against themselves and the only thing they have to go off is a clock. Therefore, runners don't like to find out after a race that their PR is not really a PR because the course was measured wrong. Apparently though, most triathletes don't care. Maybe because some of them didn't come from competitive sports backgrounds. Who knows why? I just know that whenever I have noted that a course is short or long to someone, people look at me like I have two heads. Measuring courses is not that hard, so I don't understand why race directors don't do a better job. More than anything I just want to know what the distance is going in.
I just raced a half-IM last weekend where the swim was probably 500 meters short (good for me) and they were setting up the buoy about 15 minutes before the race. Ok, I can live with that, but on the ride they added a little out and back dogleg to get to 56 miles. If it was a simple maneuver it would not have been a big deal, but to add the extra distance you had to make a hard right in the middle of a downhill, scream down a hill, brake hard for a 180 degree turn and then climb back up out of the basin. Why bother? If an RD isn't going make the effort to measure an accurate swim, then don't make me stand on my head to hit the other race distances on the nose.
That is one view. Here is another. Why are we so stuck on the standard distances? Why not have races where the swim is longer (I'll never go since I swim terrible, but others might) the ride is a little long or the run especially tough? I have my best overall place of the year each year at an Olympic distance" race with a 1K swim.
This article was one I just had to respond to since I have given more than a little thought to it. I agreed with Dan's conclusions, probably because I came from a running background where USA track and field certified courses. To be certified, an official had to go out and walk the course with a wheel. They noted permanent landmarks along the way and thus, once certified, there is not a need to do this year after year for annual races.
Most people don't vie for awards so the race is purely one against themselves and the only thing they have to go off is a clock. Therefore, runners don't like to find out after a race that their PR is not really a PR because the course was measured wrong. Apparently though, most triathletes don't care. Maybe because some of them didn't come from competitive sports backgrounds. Who knows why? I just know that whenever I have noted that a course is short or long to someone, people look at me like I have two heads. Measuring courses is not that hard, so I don't understand why race directors don't do a better job. More than anything I just want to know what the distance is going in.
I just raced a half-IM last weekend where the swim was probably 500 meters short (good for me) and they were setting up the buoy about 15 minutes before the race. Ok, I can live with that, but on the ride they added a little out and back dogleg to get to 56 miles. If it was a simple maneuver it would not have been a big deal, but to add the extra distance you had to make a hard right in the middle of a downhill, scream down a hill, brake hard for a 180 degree turn and then climb back up out of the basin. Why bother? If an RD isn't going make the effort to measure an accurate swim, then don't make me stand on my head to hit the other race distances on the nose.
That is one view. Here is another. Why are we so stuck on the standard distances? Why not have races where the swim is longer (I'll never go since I swim terrible, but others might) the ride is a little long or the run especially tough? I have my best overall place of the year each year at an Olympic distance" race with a 1K swim.