Posted by Glenn Ribotsky on March 09, 2004 at 15:25:19:
In Reply to: Re: Another NYRR race with a problem... posted by Stephen Kairys on March 09, 2004 at 10:48:28:
Actually, you'd be right, for most courses. But "point to point" means
that on curvy patches, a tangent "midline" is to be measured from the point where a curve begins to where it's direction changes, and this tangent is slightly different if the "whole" road is open for racing and passing, as opposed to just a limited part (like the inside lane). On that "four mile" loop in particular, that road curves back and forth a lot of times, so measuring down the midline results in a slightly longer route than that of the bike lane.
At least, that's how it was explained in the USAT&F handbooks years ago. It's really damned technical. There have been problems even in big races, by th way--Alberto Salazar's NYC marathon world record was disallowed eventually because it was found the course at that time was about 100 meters short. In any case, course measurement should not be left to amateurs--even well-meaning ones.