Posts
By Dave Rhody
‘Sub-rosa’
is term I forgot until it just popped up on thefreedictionary.com as a synonym
for ‘behind the scenes.’ Sub-rosa describes something carried out secretly, a
deed done under-the-table. The behind-the-scenes scenario I have in mind is
more ‘on’ than ‘under’ the table, more like backstage. We, the producers, and
you, the runners, are all on-stage
ready to perform on race day. You’ve practiced. You’ve trained. We have practiced
too; we’ve done this before. We’ve rehearsed the ‘play’ you’re coming to; we’ve
set the stage. We know the timing as well as the timeline. We know who is going
to do what. The odd aspect in this scenario is that we – you, the runners, and
us, the producers – don’t get to do a dress rehearsal together. Nothing about
what we do is intended to be sub-rosa, yet running events have an entire
infrastructure of behind-the-scenes players.
If
I prioritize my behind-the-scenes examples starting with the least known and
hardest working, I have to tell you about a remarkable man named Tom Knight.
Tom is a measurement official for USA Track & Field. He measures and
certifies most (if not all) of the marathons, half marathons, 10Ks, 5Ks and
12Ks in Northern California. A couple years ago he retired after 31 years at
the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. The PhD that Tom has in Physics is not
a job requirement for measuring courses, but watching Tom work, you know it
helps. But, I’m guessing that few PhDs could do what Tom does. Beyond smart,
they would also have to be physically tough, fearless, focused and just a
little bit crazy (Tom’s words).
 |
| The reflection Tom sees in his Jones Counter |
The
only officially recognized measurement tool for certifying race courses is a
low-tech device called a Jones Counter. The disc that slips onto the axle of a
measuring bike’s front wheel is about the circumference of a U.S. silver
dollar. A quarter inch cylinder at its hub holds a small cube with a window
that displays sequential numbers in a five-digit series. It is not an odometer
and is decades shy of GPS technology. It involves multiple calibrations before
and after measurement to safeguard against variables like bike tire pressure or
barometric pressure which change the circumference of the wheel. Each and every
day that he uses his bike to measure a course, Tom has to calibrate it by
riding a straight line, either a exact half-mile or 1000 meters that had been
precisely measured with a steel tape, certifying it to the inch. There are
several of these marked out in San Francisco and around the Bay Area. Four rides,
noting the exact clicks per mile on the Jones Counter. The four rides might be:
15,233, 15,235, 15,232 and 15,333 per mile. The four readings are averaged (and
.1% is added). Then, he's ready to measure. That's where we get to the brave
part.
Tom’s
end goal in measuring a course is to be so accurate that if a runner sets a
record on that race course --- world record, national record, age group record
or course record -- it can be verified as an official record. This assures us
average runners that we have an accurate course as well. Too bad that few of us
run an accurate course. You see Tom has to measure the shortest possible route
of a given course -- this means cutting along the inside of every turn, running
a straight tangent from one turn to the next. By 'cutting' I don't mean
cheating, but, for example, if you run right at the edge of the right curb when
the course takes a big right turn, you've saved half-a-dozen or more steps than
if you stayed on the median in the center of the road. If you’re running in a
crowd, you don’t have the opportunity to run the shortest possible route even
if you tried. You do have the luxury of running the course free of vehicular
traffic. Tom, however, does his measurements while the roads are open. Imagine
him, on his 30-year old Raleigh bike, his faithful round, white helmet, with
nothing more official than a safety vest, ‘USA Track & Field Measurement
Official’ printed in small black letters on the back, biking the Glide Floss
Bridge to Bridge course along The Embarcadero cutting the curves across four
lanes of traffic all the while keeping track of traffic and traffic lights, the
Jones counter on his front wheel and exact landmarks that he has to note for
each mile and kilometer split. If the course he’s measuring will have full use
of the road on race day, Tom is riding with traffic then against it as he rides
long tangents between the curbs of the northbound and southbound lanes. He is
occasionally frustrated, with bad weather, bad data or bad directions, but he remains
tuned in to the task and unscathed day after day, course after course.
Tom
Knight might prefer the sub-rosa image of his behind-the-scenes work. He is a
bit of a highly skilled secret agent gathering data that serves the populous,
runners largely unaware of the who and how of race course. Real life secret
agents (in other words, not James Bond) are probably also mired in mundane
paperwork as Tom is. Once he has accumulated all this measurement data, which
has to be a minimum of two rides, both coming out within a meter or two of each
other start to finish, then a recalibration of the bike’s Jones Counter to make
sure the tire pressure (circumference) didn’t change during the measurement, he
has to compile the data, confirm all the landmarks, diagram the location of
start and finish and finally submit his work to the measurement certification
division of USA Track & Field. Without his precise, pains-taking work,
course distances would not be consistent and reliable and they wouldn’t count
for records or for routine qualifications, like getting into the Boston
Marathon.
In
the world of running Tom has a host of behind-the-scenes counterparts. Not many
of these roles are dangerous enough to qualify for ‘sub-rosa’ intrigue, but
they do require equal focus and commitment. Racing Statistician, Ken Young, has
the monumental task of trying to document the history of winners and records
for 'significant road races around the world' -- the mission of the Association
of Road Racing Statisticians. Check out:
http://www.arrs.net
As easy as Ken's data research
might seem via the internet, the verification of times and names requires
broad, deep web searching and patient pestering of race directors and finish
line companies. Pre-internet race data is hidden even deeper. Who held onto the
records for the 1959 Bay to Breakers? What are the world's most competitive
races? Who produced the 1985 San Francisco Marathon? Who was the fastest woman
ever at the 10K distance in a San Francisco race? Ken Young has become a race
detective with unflagging interest in results.
There
are so many more. Helpful Park Rangers like James Sword and Noemi Margaret
Robinson at G.G.N.R.A., sharp, caring police officers like Sgt. John Nestor of
the SFPD and Sgt. Mike Falzone of the National Park Police, patient, knowing
government staff, like Cindy Shamban at ISCOTT (Interdepartmental Staff
Committee on Traffic and Transportation at the SFMTA) who is the guru of San
Francisco event permits, my own seasoned, committed RhodyCo staff, the team of
timers at BuzzWord, and all the other staff and volunteers who make running
events great competitions, make mass events community friendly, make
fundraisers fun and make running good for all of us. Thank you.
