RRTC Officer Roles – Validation Chair

Validation Chair’s Position

This position is appointed by the Chairperson of the Road Running Technical Council. The Validation Chair appoints measurers to do verification measurements and evaluates the results of verifications. Verfication measurements serve to maintain the integrity of records, and are performed only by highly experienced measurers.

The Validation Chair’s Responsibilities

  1. The Validation Chair makes the appointment of a Verifier based on their experience as a measurer and familiarity with verification/validation procedures and philosophy. The appointed Verifier must be absolutely impartial. In most cases, the Validation Chair should try to use a person that resides in the same State as the race, and should ask the Regional Certifier for guidance. However, as Verifiers will often need to be IAAF “A” or “B” measurers, it may sometimes be necessary to bring in measurers from outside the area.
  2. The Validation Chair will assign measurers to Pre-Verify the courses for all USATF Championship road races and for any other races that request it. This assignment will be made within 2 weeks of the request. It is noted that the Race is responsible for paying the individuals assigned (the fee paid is arranged between the race and the assigned Verifiers). The assigned Verifiers in these cases will always be IAAF grade measuers. See Requirements for assigning measurers for Pre-Verifications (Note that in certain cases, i.e., if the original certification measurements were done by measurers who do not have IAAF status, two Verifiers will need to be assigned).
  3. When a Post-Verification is deemed necessary because of a record on a course that hasn’t been pre-verified, the Validation Chair will assign a Verifier within 2 weeks of the request. The Verifier’s expenses are paid through the RRTC budget. The Verifier will sometimes need to be an IAAF grade measurer (e.g., for World or National Open Records, the Verifier must be an IAAF “A” measurer). See Requirements for assigning measurers for Post-Verifications.
  4. In all cases, the Validation Chair will receive a written report from the Verifier. This report will include all of the data as explained in the Policies on Pre-race & Post-race Verification Measurements. The Validation Chair will review the report and determine if the course passes Verification.

Note: Under certain circumstances, the Chairperson of the RRTC may perform functions normally assigned to the Validation Chair, as follows:

  1. The RRTC Chairperson may appoint a measurer to do a verification in case there is a time issue, or the Validation Chair is unable to perform his/her duties or has a conflict of interest.
  2. When the RRTC Chairperson is involved in a Verification, then this Chairperson will make the decision as to whether the course passes or fails verification.

Note: The process of Verification is defined under the following link: Policies on Pre-race & Post-race Verification Measurements.