Chicago Distance Classic - Course long?

This is the Las Vegas of Chicago road races: too big for its own good, all flash, no substance, tons of people go just because everyone else goes, and there are lots of fat people milling about.

So it's safe to say the course was 13.4...

Yup.

Why doesn't somebody who ran the race measure the course "as run" with Google Earth?

Here is a course map from the race web site:

http://walkjogrun.net/cdc

When you open in zoom in between mile 9 & 10. See the endurance Gatorade stop after mile 9? That is the OLD running path, it isn't there anymore. We ran on the loop that goes out toward the lake, then comes back to meet the blue line on the course map. That's the other discrepancy and it looks like they aren't going to acknowledge that screw up.

When you combine that loop with the wrong turn at the south end, that accounts for all the people thinking it was 13.4.

more stuff wrote:

Here is a course map from the race web site:

http://walkjogrun.net/cdc

When you open in zoom in between mile 9 & 10. See the endurance Gatorade stop after mile 9? That is the OLD running path, it isn't there anymore. We ran on the loop that goes out toward the lake, then comes back to meet the blue line on the course map. That's the other discrepancy and it looks like they aren't going to acknowledge that screw up.

When you combine that loop with the wrong turn at the south end, that accounts for all the people thinking it was 13.4.

Also, check out the last home stretch at the end. When you come out from under Lake Shore Drive, the actual course looped back up the curved path towards Roosevelt, however, the course map cuts out this section completely. I'm sure that accounted for some of the discrepancy as well.

dukerdog wrote:

Why doesn't somebody who ran the race measure the course "as run" with Google Earth?

I think that is what this guy did. If you read the 9th post in the attached thread, this individual spelled out all the distance errors he encountered and he logged 13.5 miles.

That's not the certification map. I doubt the course was measured following an old running path that isn't there anymore.

Proving that the course as run was different from the map on the race website doesn't prove the race was longer than what the race director has already acknowledged, since that map may be wrong. This is apparently the case, since it follows a running path that isn't there anymore.

NO certified course since 2004. (see IL-04095-JW)

http://www.usatf.org/events/courses/search/searchResults.asp?courseID=&distance=21.0975&distanceUnits=km&distanceComparison=%3D&city=&state=IL&courseName=&courseStatus=A&courseType=R&drop=&dropComparison=&separation=&separationComparison=&certificationYear=&lastName=&queryType=basic&format=view&submit=Search

The race director said the course was certified this year (IL08064JW). The map has not yet appeared on USATF's website.

dukerdog wrote:

That's not the certification map. I doubt the course was measured following an old running path that isn't there anymore.

Proving that the course as run was different from the map on the race website doesn't prove the race was longer than what the race director has already acknowledged, since that map may be wrong. This is apparently the case, since it follows a running path that isn't there anymore.

However, is this path that isn't there anymore the part that was blocked off with red fencing?

Yep, you couldn't run through there if you wanted to. That turn to go on that loop as of now, is pretty nasty. There is a blind spot there and I've seen a lot of near collisions bike to bike and runner to bike..

If the course was supposedly certified, how come it wasn't posted on the USATF web site. All the other area races are up there.

The course measure screwed up his course description on the certified document[quote][/From the RD:

Hello –

The course was USATF measured and certified (certification # IL – 08064 – JW) earlier this year. In addition, we had the certifier lead the pack on his bicycle to ensure that all the athletes went on the correct course. We have heard comments that the course may be long and we have asked the certifier to re-measure the course and will have a final comment on this later this week.

Thank you!

Beth

Beth Salinger

Chicago Distance Classic

Phone 312.573.1737

MTA -

From the course certifier:

I verified the turnaround and overrun distance, per my mistype on the

Chicago Distance Classic Half marathon certification turnaround point

description, last night Monday 08/11/2008 around 7:15 PM.

Here are the results of my finding:

The turnaround point was extended approximately ~.1668 of a mile (~880

feet = ~268 meters) per my mistype of the turnaround point on the

course description. It should have read: Turn around: Lakefront Trail

(LFT), 40' 7'' South of 4th light pole (W) NORTH of N.E. corner of

Science Dr. and Lakeshore Drive. With that, the complete half

marathon distance of 13.1094 miles was extended approximately ~.1668

of a mile to ~13.2762 miles.

http://www.runningahead.com/forums/post/c53e07ce585c4f6682ed49c07b93b4ad

quote]

Uh, yes, we knew this yesterday.

They have done nothing to answer questions about the area between mile 9/10 and the finish. Bingham's post yesterday led everyone to believe he thought the south end of the course was the only problem and he was done.

Do you have any information on if they will address these concerns? If not, it isn't necessary to re post things from earlier in the thread.

Mile 10 marker was misplaced, but miles 9-11 was the proper 2 miles.

Look elsewhere in the thread Mr. oh so Obvious.

No, the marker was in the right place the question is whether it was measured on the old path like the course map, or the new path where we ran.

And since you are the new self appointed course superintendent, where is the question of the finish addressed?

I wheeled the course very early this morning and it came out to 13.49

If it matters, here's the response from the certifier to YOUR concerns AND mine.

And for those who are wondering, it was USATF certified, it just hasn't been posted. And the USATF doesn't care if a course is long, for record purposes, only that it isn't short.

Here is gmaps pedometer (

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2167717

) of

the course I measured and certified, it measured 13.1834 online, given

the error margin of plus or minus 1 or 2 percent (.131834 to .226188)

it fall right in place with the correct course. Now add ~.1668/2 =

0.0834 to the turn around further south, to the south end adjacent to

the Science Dr where we took the left turn onto the board walk and you

have your over run distance ~13.2762 miles

Lakefront runner wrote:

If the course was supposedly certified, how come it wasn't posted on the USATF web site. All the other area races are up there.

Because it was measured and approved for certification only recently. It takes a while for the course map to appear on the website after it is approved.