Proposal 16: Proximity of start and finish, elevation difference, and drafting, in road race records [ Revision 1 ]
Committee: Review and Update the GuidelinesSubmitted on 2020-05-21
Status: Pre-Voting (Reviewed from May 21, 2020 to May 26, 2020)
Background
Based on discussion 24, this proposal is to rewrite section 4.1, Road Racing Records, General. Issues addressed:
drafting is allowed behind other unicyclists
sets a 50% (of race distance) limit on separation of start and finish
sets a 0.1% overall downhill limit
some smaller text changes.
See Body for detailed explanation.
Proposal
OLD RULE
4.1 GENERAL
Road racing records are run as races, therefore:
– they can be done on a point-to-point, circuit, or multi-lap course
– drafting is allowed
– The start and finish line should ideally be the in the same area. If not, there must be not more than +/-
50m elevation difference between the start and finish area
– the world record distance is the minimum distance required. For instance, a 43.0km course can be
used for a marathon record, but a 42.0km course cannot
– The record is the time required to complete the course in its entirety. No adjustment will be made for
the distance which a course exceeds that of a specified record
– records must be set from a stationary start
NEW RULE
4.1 GENERAL
Road racing World Records must be set in a race competition.
Drafting behind other unicyclists is allowed.
The start and finish points of a race course, measured along a theoretical straight line between them, shall not be further apart than 50% of the race distance.
The overall decrease in elevation between the start and finish shall not exceed 1:1000, i.e. 1m per km race distance (0.1%).
The world record distance is the minimum distance required. For instance, a 43.0km course can be used for a marathon record, but a 42.0km course cannot.
The record is the time required to complete the course in its entirety. No adjustment will be made for the distance with which a course exceeds that of a specified record.
Records must be set from a stationary start.
Body
With the new rule, it is more explicit that a road race record must be set during a race. Unlike in the old rule, the other requirements don't follow from that through a "therefore" relationship, but are phrased as separate requirements. The reason is that some of the requirements don't hold for races in general, but prevent them from being suitable for World Records.
The first and third dash of the old rule are replaced by the third sentence of the new rule. This 50% requirement is copied from IAAF rules, its intention is to limit tail wind effects without having to define or measure the wind, which is difficult for a road race.
The fourth sentence of the new rule is also copied from IAAF rules. There are two changes with the old rule: (1) uphill races are valid for records; (2) the 50m elevation difference seemed strange without a dependence on race distance.
The other rules are unchanged, except for small and non-essential text edits.