1 Road Running Technical Council Minutes USATF 2013 Annual Meeting – Indianapolis IN RRTC Meeting – Saturday, December 7, 2013 Attending: Bob Baumel, Andy Carr, Greg Evans, Jim Gerweck, Jim Gilmer, Peter Hawley, Irene Herman, Todd Hierlmaier, Tom Konieczny, Karren Krsak, Justin F. Kuo, Carol McLatchie, Matt Merrill, Mark Neal, Gene Newman, Dave Oja, Jane Parks, Ron Pate, Rick Recker, Duane Russell, Monica Sencio, Thomas Shinnick, Steve Vaitones, Mike Wickiser, Jay Wight, Jim Wilhelm, Toni Youngman The meeting was called to order at 9:30 am by RRTC Chairperson Gene Newman. The RRTC Officers were introduced and it was noted that we have a new Education and Training Chair (Toni Youngman). We also noted that we are going to appoint a couple of Members at Large positions. These positions will be used for discussions on various topics. Officers’ reports were not presented because they had all been posted online in the Document Library of the USATF website under 2013 Annual Meeting. Agenda Items discussed: 1. Mike Wickiser showed a vest and sign that he produced. These items make for better safety when measuring a course. The vests are unique as they have flashing LED lights. The cost for these items is: Vests for $25. Signs 2 for $5 (the signs say “Official Race Course Measurement”). Mike said he will get the information to Gene, and it will be posted on the RRTC website. 2. Certificate font size: The type of font will be changed from Courier to Helvetica. This will help by allowing more text per line. A couple of the lines will also be adjusted to allow more information to be placed there. 3. An Award to recognize individuals: We will look into this and if it can be done, we will call it the “Ted Corbitt Award.” This would be a Merit award for outstanding service with the RRTC. There is a question whether we can do it technically. Gene will check with Bill Roe to find exactly what has to be done. If it can be done, a committee will be established. 4. Should we remove the course configuration description from certificate? We felt there was no harm keeping it. However, it was decided that we will work on simplifying it after looking at the IAAF form. 5. Allowable difference between tapings of a calibration course. We decided 0.01% of the course length will be the acceptable limit, matching IAAF’s requirement. This will be sent out to the Certifiers and also placed in our Manual with examples. 6. Certifiers as USATF members: We agreed that we represent USATF and all must be members. We now have all our Certifiers belonging to USATF. 2 7. Should we require measurers to be USATF members. This created much discussion and we concluded the following: There is a mechanism in place for measurers to be officials, which would require them to be USATF Members. This will be further investigated by Gene and Justin. 8. Rule 265 change. Bob Baumel and David Katz have been working to amend the USATF rules on conditions for road records, to achieve consistency with IAAF. David reported that the changes have been approved by the Rules Committee. As a result, the previous contents of Rules 265.3, 265.5 and 265.8 are all being consolidated in a new Rule 265.4 which will read as follows: For road records: (a) The course must not have a net decrease in elevation from start to finish exceeding 1 part per thousand (i.e., 1m per km). (b) The start and finish of the race must lay no more than 50% of the race distance apart as measured along the straight line between them. (c) For World and National Open Records, the course, measurement and verification shall comply with the provision of IAAF Rule 260.28. (d) For all other records re-measurement may be required if the original measurement has not met criteria established by the RRTC validation chair, approved by the executive committee of the RRTC, and publicly available on the USATF website. Since this is no longer self-contained, but refers to IAAF Rule 260.28, the current relevant portions of that Rule (sections a–f) are as follows: IAAF Rule 260.28: (a) The course must be measured by one or more “A” or “B” grade IAAF/AIMS approved measurers. (b) The start and finish points of a course, measured along a theoretical straight line between them, shall not be further apart than 50% of the race distance. (c) The overall decrease in elevation between the start and finish shall not exceed 1:1000, i.e. 1m per km (0.1%). (d) Any course measurer who originally measured the course or another “A” or “B” grade measurer in possession of the complete measurement data and maps must validate that the course measured was the course run, normally by riding in the lead vehicle. (e) The course must be verified (i.e. re-measured) as late as possible before the race, on the day of the race or as soon as practical after the race, preferably by a different “A” grade measurer from any of those who did the original measurement. Note: If the course was originally measured by at least two “A” grade or one “A” and one “B” grade measurers, and at least one of them is present at the race to validate the course as per Rule 260.28(d), no verification (re-measurement) under this Rule 260.28(e) will be required. (f) World Records in Road Running Events set at intermediate distances within a race must comply with the conditions set under Rule 260. The intermediate distances must have been measured and marked during the course measurement and must have been verified in accordance with Rule 260.28(e). 9. Units of measure on certificates & database. We will use metric for metric courses for distance, separation and elevations on the certificate. However, when a course is imperial, 3 the distance will be imperial, the separation may be imperial or metric, but the elevations will always be metric on the certificate. 10. High & Low elevation on certificate. There was discussion to remove these. However, we decided it best to keep them. 11. How we get new certifiers: People ask this lots of times so it was pointed out that new certifiers are assigned by the RRTC Chair. The decision is based on measuring experience, a recommendation from an experienced Certifier and a need in a particular area. It was also explained that new certifiers will need expertise for electronic scanning and submission. 12. Will there be charge if a change is requested to a posted Certified Course? It was pointed out that it takes a lot of work to change it in all databases & backups. We decided we will issue a new certificate with a new number if this happens after a month. The old course would be marked as unusable (U). This will be treated as a new course; hence all that applies there will apply here. The Certifiers will be notified of this change. 13. Modify application for certification to allow the option to enter cert # of cal course instead of mailing cert and map for cal course? All agreed this should be done and Bob Baumel will make the change. 14. Jim Gerweck opened a discussion on Ted Corbitt’s documents/possessions. There are 17 legal cases of certification docs that NYRRC is still storing. This material is of considerable historical importance and needs to be preserved electronically. There is a Ted Corbitt website, produced by Ted’s son Gary, but it doesn’t include any of this material yet . Jim Gerweck will scan documents and may find help from other volunteers as needed. This will save important history. 15. Measurement Contest: Duane Russell did another outstanding job (but promises that in the future, materials will always be in the Internet Café/business office). The final results for all will be posted later, but here are a few. First place, Ron Pate. Second place, Jane Parks. Booby prize (cow w udders): Irene Herman. 16. Olympic Marathon Trials: Will be in either LA or Houston, but nothing has been announced yet. 17. Toni Youngman felt we should make our Application for Certification compatible with IAAF. There are only one or 2 extra questions. Bob will take a look at this and make those changes. The meeting was adjourned at 12:30 pm. Minutes prepared by Bob Baumel, RRTC Secretary 4 National Officials Committee 2013 Annual Meeting December 6-7, 2013 Indianapolis, Indiana Minutes Chair Krsak called the meeting to order at 9:04 am. Secretary Hott announced a quorum is present. Motion and second to make adjustment to the agenda as necessary. Motion carried. Secretary Hott announced the minutes from the 2013 NOC annual meeting are posted on line. Motion and second to approve the minutes. Motion carried. Treasurer Polansky presented the 2013 financial report and the 2014 budget. Motion and second to accept the Treasurer’s report. Motion carried. Track Town USA spoke thanking the officials committee and the officials for their support of the events sponsored by Track Town USA. Track Town USA also reminded the officials of the events to be sponsored by Track Town USA—2014 USATF Jr. meet, 2014 IAAF World Jr. meet, 2015 USATF Jr./Sr. Outdoor championships, the 2016 Olympic Trials, and the 2016 IAAF Indoor World championship. Old Business Christina Corl, outside legal counsel for USATF, reported on some legal items that USATF is aligning with best practices, specifically the volunteer agreement all officers must sign.