Athletics: Southern Region Half-Marathon Championships-ITO Velzian course measurement makes race authentic |05 November 2005

His mission here was to do the road measurement to make Saturday’s (NOvember 5) Southern Region Half-Marathon race an official IAAF event.

After athletics veteran Velzian had certified that the road measurement is correct, it means that if a world record is broken during the race, it will be ratified by the IAAF.

International Technical Official (ITO) Velzian told Sports Nation that for every international road race to be recognised by the IAAF it is necessary to have the route measured accurately as all these measurements go into the ranking lists of the IAAF and the Association of International Marathons (Aims).

“Measuring the route makes the race authentic and if this is not done properly, the race can never be called an international half-marathon or marathon. To carry the name international, the race must carry a certificate of measurement. The route measurement is done accurately using a bicycle with a special counter on the front wheel. Then we have to set up a calibration course of about half a kilometre for the temperature and everything else. When I ride that four times and take the average, if I’m more than 10 centimetres out, I will be very angry with my riding. If it falls below that, it is now that I go out and measure the course,”                                               explained Velzian.

Having completed the first part of his job, Velzian will now oversee the entire organisation of the event and then make a report to be presented to the IAAF and Aims.
Based in Kenya where he has worked for more than 30 years with some of the world’s top long distance runners, Velzian represents all English-speaking countries of the continent on the IAAF committee.

He said that he has a long relationship with Seychelles for having run courses here before.

When Sports Nation asked him for his impression about the level of Seychelles athletics, Velzian replied:

“What you always have to ask yourself is what is your population and relate it to that. You can’t start saying how many Olympic medals you’ve won or what else you’ve done at the highest level. You really have to be honest and open about it to say that Seychelles has a population of 80,000. Then compare Seychelles to any small towns in the British Isles with the same population and see how many Olympic medals have they won. This will prove why Seychelles will not be high on the list of Olympic medal winners.

But in terms of organisation and I can say this in all sincerity, that the SAAF is one of the better organised associations and has been for many years. It’s a small one but it runs very effectively. The SAAF is always the first to return information I send to all associations when I organise different activities.”

Apart from ITO Velzian, Area Technical Official Goinsamy Seeneyen of Mauritius is also in the country to oversee the organisation of the race.

G. G.