The Measurement of off-road races
Most of the measurements that we undertake are in respect of races to be held on sealed roads surfaces and which can be measured according to World Athletics procedures. World Athletics requires road race surfaces to be hard/sealed surfaces such as tar macadam, concrete, paving slabs or similar. The distance that is allowed on looser off-road surfaces such as gravel, water-bound macadam, dirt trails, or on soft surfaces such as grass or mud is limited.
A firm off-road surface such as smooth grass or dirt can be measured with an accuracy of about 1% based on a calibration done on a road surface. A certain amount of such off-road surface can be included in the measurement of a road race and can qualify for the issue of a Certificate of Course Accuracy.
At present the maximum amount of such off road surface which can be used and still retain the overall accuracy of measurement of a road race is:
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- Road Races up to 10k - 10% off-road allowed
- Road Races over 10k - maximum off-road allowed is 1km plus 5% of the amount by which the race distance exceeds 10km
For other race distances the following lengths of off-road surface apply:
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- 5k - 0.5 km
- 10k - 1 km
- 10 miles - 1.3 km
- Half marathon - 1.6 km
- 20 miles - 2.1 km
- Marathon - 2.6 km
For races which exceed these amounts of off-road surface we cannot issue a certificate of course accuracy. Such races should therefore be classed as multi-terrain on any licence application.
Although we will not issue a certificate of course accuracy for the measurement of courses with appreciable amounts of off-road surface, we can issue a Statement of Measurement for a multi-terrain course, with no guarantee of accuracy.