Measuring course length

Measuring wheel for measuring the course length is one of the most importand tools for the Course Designer. You can buy on the market different qualities of measuring wheels. In longterm it is better to buy a heavier wheel of better quality to minimise wheel slip which can be in sand arenas up to 10%.

In nowdays you can buy high quality software programs for course designing and you can measure the length by computer, but never forget to control by measuring wheel, after you have buildt the hole course and before the riders are alowed to inspect the course.

It`s important to measure the normal way without shortening or giving generous additions. The length of the course is never douptful, there is only one length for a certain course, but curves should be related to the importance and difficulty of the cla.

The course length have nowdays more and more importance and have become the "obstacle number 15" and a not correctly meaesured course will destroy the character of a class.

To get the Time alowed in seconds, you must divide the lenght of the course in meters with minimum speed and then multiplicate with 60.

Since three years I trye to put the measured course line on the courseplan and the riders don`t ask me or the assistents any more, if we have measured short or long. It is more fair to the riders who starts in the beginning, specielly in competions when the tempo is higher than 350m/min.