Questions and answers: Updated April, 2001
Q. What does it cost to get a course certified?
A. The certification fee for a road running course is $25 and for a calibration course, $10 - payable to the certifier.
There is no set fee for measuring a course. Any measurement fees are usually agreed upon by the measurer and the race organization prior to the measurement. It's not necessary to seek out an experienced measurer, unless the run is an AIMS event or an IAAF championship.
No prior experience is necessary to measure a course and apply for certification. A do-it-yourselfer can expect to fork out some cash in order to get started. A Jones-Oerth counter will cost around $100 in Canadian funds. Other necessary tools include a bicycle, a steel tape, concrete or P-K nails, paint, a thermometer, a hammer, a notebook, pencils, a spring scale, safety equipment. a lumber crayon or chalk, and a calculator. - L. Lacroix
Q. Understanding that your web page tries to get involved with course
measurement in Canada and there would be a considerable amount of work yet to do. But, you miss many of Canada's larger races, many that have
considerable amount of prize money and feature a large field of entrants.
Examples are: Vancouver's Sun Run (42,000 runners) or Calgary's Mother's Day (10,000 runners).
These are certified courses but they and many others, along with many course certifiers are not listed in your web page.
Should you not have links to the various provincial Athletics' Associations to determine what is happening around the country? Is the
Canadian running scene really being represented?
A. Each Province's branch of Run Canada was approached concerning certification of Road Races. Except for Ontario I received no documentation of certified courses in any of the other provinces prior to 1999. With no documentation, the races you referred to are not considered certified.
We are quite proud of how the number of certified courses is growing in Canada. There were no certified courses except in Ontario prior to 1999. We added 39 courses in 1999 and in 2000, another 75 courses. - B. Conway
Note - The Vancouver Sun Run and the Calgary Mother's Day Run are now certified.
A. It may be disturbing to learn that Canada's national measurement
and certification scene is, in fact, being accurately represented on this web site.
Athletics Canada had trained many measurers and appointed several certifiers since the first national course measurement seminar in 1984. Unfortunately, lists were not kept up to date, communication was spotty, and files were lost or discarded. Each region was left to fend for itself, with measurers and certifiers from a region isolated from colleagues in other parts of the country. The reorganizing of the measurement and certification system in 1999 put the responsibility squarely into the hands of measurers and certifiers, and we're doing our best to track down others who've been measuring courses in all parts of the country. Other than Ontario, whose measurers applied for certification through the USATF or through their provincial branch, which has already provided all historical course documentation to the national certifier, we've had to start from scratch.
If an event is not listed on this site, it has not been certified by one of Athletics Canada's certifiers. Ontario is now the only province to have its own certifier, namely John Craig. Events from all other provinces must forward applications for certification to Bernie Conway, our national certifier and Canada's chief measurer. John and Bernie are the only two certifiers that are currently recognized by Athletics Canada.
Many major events have already taken the steps to ensure that they meet the certification standards and others have made inquiries about getting their course certified. Until an event is included in the national certification database, it isn't certified - regardless of the claims made by the race organization. The size and prestige of an event do not ensure a certified course.
Any concerns or questions about course measurement and certification in your area may be addressed to your provincial association, your Run Canada representative, or to one of the contacts on this web site. - L. Lacroix
Q. Does a course need to be certified in order to be sanctioned?
A. The direct answer for British Columbia and probably the rest of the provinces is no. An event does
not need to be certified to be sanctioned. Sanctioning usually consists of 1 or 2 of the following.
A.) Insurance.
In B.C. the sanction fee is $10.00. Now the event is insured. The event director has to collect $2 per
non B.C. Athletics member and if that is done the participants are now insured. Runners who go in the
event that are B.C. Athletics members are already insured because it is one of the benefits of
membership.
B.) Safety
The sanction form in B.C. asks questions pertaining to safety, primarily sports medicine information.
We would ask if the course was measured and if it was certified. Also whether it was out and back,
loop etc. There was other questions so that generally one could get a comfortable feel for the
knowledge of the organizers and the safety of the participants. - J. Tighe
Q. If you have a race course that is point to point, what is the maximum allowable net change in
elevation between the start and finish? In other words, how much can the course drop in elevation
before it becomes too much of a downhill run? I recall from the IAAF/AIMS measurement seminar in
May 1999, that it is 1 m of net drop for every 1 km in the course. Does this hold true for the Canadian
system? I've searched through the measurement manuals and can't find a thing.
A. In Canada we do not have the same rules regarding slope and separation as the US, probably
since records are not kept for Road Races in Canada but are in the US. We do however still record
the altitudes of the start, finish, highest, and lowest points in the race as well as the slope and
separation in case Athletics Canada/Run Canada decides that they will accept or not accept records in
the future. Therefore there is no maximum allowable elevation change in Canada.
As measurers, it is our job to measure the length of the course accurately. As a certifier, it is my job to
check the data and map for accuracy and then to certified the length of a course. The distances
measured can be of any length, not just those that are the most common in races. The separation can
be as short as 0% or as long as 100%. Similarly the slope may be of any value. As long as the slope is
stated, it is not the measurer who is open to protests. - B. Conway
A. A "standard" course will have a drop of no more than 1 m/km, or 21.1 m for a half-marathon. This
eliminates downhill aid to the runner. Also, the start and finish must lie no farther apart than 30 percent
of the race distance - 6.3 km for the half-marathon or 3 km for a 10k. This mostly eliminates aid due
to wind.
The 1989 version of the USATF Course Measurement Procedures manual has, on page 61, an
out-of-date definition of a point-to-point course. This has been corrected in the present online version,
which may be obtained at: http://www.rrtc.net - USATF/RRTC - Course Measurement & Certification. Although the online version has been revised from the 1989 version, basic techniques
remain the same. You can use your 1989 version without fear.
Internationally, only runs made on "standard" courses may qualify for records.
There is no prohibition against races that exceed the "standard" limits. One may put on a race, as far as
I know, at any distance along any route. The only thing different is in the potential for records. This is
not in the measurement manual because it has little to do with measurement - it's a standard set up to
accommodate the record-keepers. Perhaps it ought to be in the manual.
In the US, which has the largest database of information relating to race courses, about 90 percent of
courses are "standard." This happens, I believe, because it is usually practical for the race to set things
up so that there is not much distance between start and finish. This reduces runner transportation
problems. - P. Riegel
Q. What qualifications are required to become a course measurer?
A. Anyone can measure a course and apply for certification, it is not necessary to enroll in a seminar.
The measurement manual is designed to guide a novice measurer through the steps, lists the necessary
equipment, and provide the forms for completing the paperwork. The manual is available
on this
web site. Hard copies can be obtained by contacting Bernie Conway.
Seminars are offered from time to time and they allow a measurer to gauge his or her riding ability
against that of experienced measurers. Though they are helpful in boosting a measurer's confidence,
they are not mandatory unless a measurer seeks IAAF or AIMS credentials.
Courses that are measured for the IAAF or AIMS must be measured by an "A" or "B" level measurer.
L. Lacroix