ukathleticscoach wrote:
No it was certified by a qualified course measurer. I've seen the certificate someone posted on Facebook.
It won't count as a world record as no post race dope test.
This guy has it. The primary impediment to WR status is the lack of drug testing. Hey, I trust this guy and the others that are from there and have both run this race and trained there. If the course is legit, great. However:
No test = no record according to WA.
National Records are different. Let's take a look at the BTC intrasquad TTs. These broke at least one USATF rule - the one where more than one school, team, or club is invited. In fact, in the picture of Houlihan standing next to the big clock, you can read INTRASQUAD in the background. There weren't even other Nike runners outside of BTC there. They also broke at least one WA rule - testing. So, if by some miracle, Shelby breaks 14, it ain't a WR. Like this UK road race, there weren't WA officials present, and there weren't WADA certified testers either.
Here's where the plot thickens. USATF or the UK or anyone else's Federation can certify their own National Records regardless of their own rules. They make them; they can break them. So when it comes to BTC, they'll let a few rules slide since Nike owns and operates the Federation. Yes, owns. This is not the least bit hyperbolic since they completely fund it and don't offer a process during which another sponsor may step up in a competitive bid process. Don't we all remember Al ducking into the official's tent at Indoors and deciding who gets DQ'd and who wins? He outranks any of them in the Beaverton hierarchy.
What I'm saying is that if Sara Hall had run the same 5k in an asics-only race with just her and her pacers, they wouldn't certify and recognize the record, citing various broken rules such as the lack of other competitors having the option to race. A great time, but no USATF-recognized National Record.
So, UKA (or whatever their Federation is called) gets to decide. Various WA rules being broken is of no consequence. They create and interpret National rules, so they can't really break them. They are the organization which hands out UK records, so what they say goes. Look at Shelbo's 5k, it is a US record if USATF says it is. What WA thinks (they require testing, so we already know what they think) doesn't affect what the UK Federation does. Ergo, it may stand as a National Record.