Deadman Running wrote:
Yes. The course was USATF certified last week. The organizers had to scramble to get it certified once they were informed that Galen was running. So, in essence, the course was "Rupp-certified".
Why is there so much misinformation on this board?
The course Galen ran today has been USATF *certified* since 2013. It was not certified last week! See:
http://www.usatf.org/events/courses/maps/showMap.asp?courseID=OR13012LB(Note this race was run on a certified course prior to 2013 but it was a slightly different course, so different certificate.)
The race wasn't USATF *sanctioned* until last week. Sanctioning just means the race agrees to follow USATF rules and not do something weird, like award the last place finisher first place. To receive sanctioning you fill out a form and pay your USATF association.
USATF Sanctioning and USATF Certification are completely separate processes. Sanctioning is done to a race; certification is done to a course. The Olympic Trials are a USATF event, so they want the qualifier USATF sanctioned. For the rest of the world, we want Galen to have run a true half marathon, so we want the course USATF certified.
A race can have a USATF certified course and not be sanctioned as well as a race can be USATF sanctioned and not have a USATF certified course.
Why is this so hard to understand?