About the Author
impossible for the line to be painted 300mm from the curb, etc, due to the width of the painting vehicle)
• The error of GPS reading as shown above.
Tests throughout the world have found that even the most competitive runners who run the shortest possible line and start and stop their watches on the official lines, typically only get the distance on the watch to register 8m per km compared to the measured distance. So, their watches will show 10.08km on the finish line of a 10km, and in a marathon, the GPS will show a reading of 42.533km as a minimum. This is 10 times the inaccuracy of the bicycle measurement, before you even add distance from the start line
at the gun, and the remainder is probably how much you ran off the true measured line!
Any marathon with a large field that reads around 42.8km is probably correct in measured distance, so please don’ t go appealing to officials about a long course if they say the course has been officially measured. Above 43km between start to finish lines is where there may be a measurement error. In fact, any marathon that shows on a GPS as less than 42.6km is probably short! And for all the reasons above, it is typical for a GPS in Comrades to register over 2km longer than the measured distance! So by all means, use the technology, but before crying foul, take the time to understand it.
About the Author
Norrie represented Scotland and Great Britain in numerous ultra-distance events, then emigrated and represented South Africa in triathlon. He is an IAAF-accredited coach and course measurer and is the official Old Mutual Virtual Coach. He has authored two books( Everyman’ s Guide to Distance Running and Every Beginner’ s Guide to Walking & Running), and counts 21 Comrades medals amongst his more than 150 ultramarathon medals. More info at www. coachnorrie. co. za.
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