Jones counter

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The Jones Counter is a device for the exact measurement of routes. It consists of a counter that is mounted on the axle of the front wheel of a bicycle and records the number of wheel revolutions, even in fractions. With its help, the record suitability of the routes is ensured in road races.

application

Once the organizer has determined a route and has it approved by the responsible authorities, the route surveyor's work begins. First, a distance of at least 300 m is measured with a steel tape or with electronic distance measurement and calibrated on this by repeatedly running the counter . Then the route is driven on its ideal line (the line that a runner takes to advance as quickly as possible) and the relevant points (kilometer or mile markers, half of the route, etc.) are marked. After the actual distance measurement, a new calibration is carried out on the reference distance in order to compensate for any fluctuations in the expansion of the wheel tire. A safety surcharge of one per mille of the total distance is now added to the route length determined in this way (in a marathon this corresponds to an additional 42.195 meters).

history

different models

The Jones Counter was developed in 1971 by Alan Jones when he was measuring the route of a local street run. Demand for the equipment assembled by Jones' son Clain soon increased, and in 1976 the Montreal Olympic Games marathon route was measured with a Jones counter. From 1983 sales were in the hands of the New York Road Runners Association (organizer of the New York City Marathon ). In 1990 Paul Oerth took over the production of the device he had modified.

In 2008 Tom and Pete Riegel came out with the Jones Counter model JR , which they had further developed . The updated version from 2014 has only been sold in the USA since 2018. The British route surveyors Tony and Phil Cook brought another development onto the market with the Cook-Jones Counter model in 2015. It has been sold worldwide since 2016.

The route measurement with the Jones Counter was promoted by the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races (AIMS) since the 1980s and was finally adopted by the IAAF as a standard method for determining the suitability for records and best lists of times achieved in road races .

literature

  • IAAF (Ed.): The Measurement of Road Race Courses. 1989; second edition 2004, updated 2008 ( PDF; 2.85 MB - official international manual)
  • Manuel Stocker: 38.5 centimeters towards the Uster . In: run + athletics. No. 8, November 2006, pp. 47–49 (report on the measurement of the Greifensee run )
  • DLV (Ed.) [German Athletics Association]: Manual for the DLV route surveyor 2019; 5th edition 2019 Authors: Udo Brandt u. Karl Josef Roth, representative of the DLV for road measurements ( PDF; 4.9 MB - official nat. Manual)

Web links