Perth Short Cut Had A Long History
Sydney Morning Herald
Friday May 5, 2000
The Perth world triathlon championship embarrassment, which helped to delay the naming of the Olympic team until today, was a disaster waiting to happen.
Dave Cundy, the International Amateur Athletic Federation course measurement co-ordinator for Asia and Oceania, said the 1997 world triathlon championship race, also in Perth, was about 400m short compared with the event last Sunday, which was more than 2km short.
Cundy said he tried and failed to get the International Triathlon Union to measure the course properly in 1997, but it declined his services because it was too expensive to fly him from Sydney to Perth.
Cundy organised for an IAAF deputy to investigate the 1997 route in his absence, and it was deemed to be only 9.6km instead of 10km.
``We know the 1997 course was short, so it was almost inevitable the 2000 course was going to be out. They didn't learn much from 1997 and didn't use internationally accepted measuring methods," Cundy said.
``It appears they were relying on a surveyor's map well, that is not how you measure a course."
Cundy, who is also SOCOG's road events manager for athletics and the man behind last Sunday's Host City Marathon, said the Olympic marathon course was measured using IAAF standards and police assistance to close roads.
The Olympic triathlon course had also been measured for the past four years for the World Cup event, with Cundy doing his most recent check on the morning of the April 16 race.
Cundy said the approved standard used throughout the world employed a $150 distance counter which is attached to the front of a bike and wheeled over a course.
Triathlon Australia employed IAAF standards this year for its domestic St George series, with Cundy being responsible for measuring all TA's races.
The ITU's failure to adopt the same standard in Perth resulted in grossly distorted results, which TA chief Tim Wilson said contributed to the delay in naming the inaugural Olympic team of three men and three women.
``We have sought legal opinion on some details because we have a responsibility to make sure this team is on the right side of the selection policy," Wilson said. ``We are on track to advise the athletes. It will be a stressful time. We'll be advising those who are unsuccessful of the appeal process and their rights.
``They have to signal the fact they want to appeal over the following 48 hours, then they have five working days to lodge that appeal."
World champion Loretta Harrop is expected to be named in the team despite hobbling into Sydney on crutches yesterday, with her leg in plaster. A stress fracture in her tibia prevented Harrop from finishing the first selection race in Sydney and caused her to be thrown out of the team for the world championships.
However, the debacle in Perth has favoured Harrop whose selection was reliant on her past results, which are exceptional. In addition to being the 1999 world champion, Harrop is also the World Cup title-holder, having won four ITU races last year.
``This injury is just short-term. I will be back biking in two weeks and running in four weeks," the 24-year-old said. ``I am not nervous at all about the team. If they pick the best team to represent Australia at the Olympics, I will be in it and I am confident of winning the gold medal."
TA has sent Harrop a $4,000 Exogen machine, which sends ultrasound waves into the bone, to speed her rate of recovery.
Munz heading for trials Page 39
© 2000 Sydney Morning Herald
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