APPENDIX D - Adjusting an Existing Certified Course

It is sometimes the case that a race director will want or need to make a small change to his existing certified course for various reasons, such as construction on part of the course or a desire for a different location of the start or finish line. If this change is relatively small, it is permissible to do a course adjustment rather than completely remeasure the course.

Adjustments should preferably be made by the person who originally measured the course. However, if someone else is going to make the adjustment, they must be approved by the Regional Certifier. When doing a course adjustment there are two very different situations that have different measurement requirements:

• Case 1: When the race organization wishes to re-route part of the course but the previous path is still available to measure.
• Case 2: When the course must be re-routed because part of the previous path has been obliterated by construction or other events.

Case 1 is the simpler situation, as the measurer need only make arbitrary marks before and after the portion to be re-routed, then measure between those marks along both old and new paths (two measurements along each path), and then calculate the difference.

Case 2 is trickier because the adjustment requires having suitable previously measured "reference points" before and after the portion that&lsquos being re-routed. By "reference points," we mean intermediate points along the race course whose positions have been documented with the same care as required for a race course start or finish, and where the distances between successive reference points have been measured twice and are known to the same accuracy as required for a certified course length. Reference points aren&lsquot necessarily split points, and in fact, ordinary split points often don&lsquot satisfy the criteria to serve as reference points. This is where involvement of the original measurer is especially helpful, because only the original measurer will, in general, know if reference points are available. If no suitable reference points are available, the course must be remeasured completely.

If a portion of a certified course is modified without remeasuring the whole course, the course will not be given a new 10-year life. Instead, assuming adjustments are done properly, a new certificate will be issued containing the same expiration date as the original certification. There is no limit on the number of times a course may be adjusted, but adjustments made without remeasuring the whole course will not extend the course&lsquos expiration date.

If it is desired to extend the course&lsquos expiration date, then, after applying the adjustment procedure indicated above (including addition/subtraction of distance with intention of keeping the course length unchanged), the entire course must be remeasured at least once. Thus, all portions of the course not involved in the current modification must be given at least one new measurement. This will result in a remeasured length for the full course, calculated the same way as for any normal certification measurement (including the SCPF in riding constants). If portions of the course have been remeasured only once, the remeasured length must be within 0.08% of the intended race distance, and if it comes out shorter than the intended length, distance must be added to the course to bring it to the intended length. If agreement isn&lsquot obtained within 0.08%, or if the measurer thinks the course should be shortened, then a second measurement is required, as for a new certification.