Marathon runners and triathletes knows that reflective tape is a must when competing in a race; which leads to a question of why haven’t more designers of triathlon courses realized the benefits of marking courses with it? Reflective tape provides vibrant daytime visibility. For races that will be completed while the sun is shining, glass bead or prism reflective tape is easy to see on course markers. For triathlons in which competitors will still on the course after sundown, a glow in the dark reflective tape such as Neon Brite is a good choice for course markings.
In many Ironman competitions, competitors are disqualified for not having at least seven strips of tape on various parts of their body. The reflective tape is so important that even if a competitor has a bodysuit full of glow sticks, they would still risk disqualification if their body were to be found absent of reflective tape. Triathletes are required to take these steps to ensure they are visible to other competitors, emergency personnel, and fans, but the triathlon course is often marked by a hard to locate pink sign here and a yellow sign there. Reflective tape would solve this problem altogether as it is easily visible during the day and night. It can be found at website such as Koffler Sales.
Denny, a triathlon blogger, commented that he was disqualified from the 2010 South Davis Spring Triathlon because as he was running, he came to a yellow sign that said “RUN” with an arrow to the right. There was no path marking the road. He simply followed the girl running in front of him, and they both took an unknowing wrong turn, finding the Novice course instead. When he went to check his results, he found that he was not the only one who had made this mistake because there were a large number of participants with a DQ by their names. He was not mad, but he made a great observation, “We all work hard to prepare for these events and to be disqualified because the course was poorly marked and the directions hard to find is frustrating.” Had the path been better marked with reflective tape, these contestants would not have met disappointment at the finish line.
Denny is not the only one; in the Houston Marathon just last year, there was a group of walkers who confused the directional road signs at a merging point in the race. The sign was meant for runners who had already passed a certain checkpoint, but because these walkers were not in any main pack and far from them, they followed it. This terrible mistake cost them their finishing medals and t-shirts simply because the course was not well marked. Had the planners of the course used reflective tape that clearly marked each of the turns and crossovers, then this would not have happened. A shinning, glass bead or prism reflective tape provides vibrant daytime visibility, and would have been easily distinguishable for the runners. It may seem like a simple example, but for a first-time marathoner, this lack of planning cost them four months of training just to find out that they did not actually complete the marathon but were two miles short.
This problem is not limited to the average novice or intermediate runner. In April of 2010 professional triathlete, Andy Potts, had a major crash as a result of poor marking of the course by officials. His experience cost him a race and some extra elbow skin. One professional said about the Moab Red Hot 50K+, “You hear a lot about how poorly marked the course is! That’s too bad to think that the race may not go to the best runner on the day . . .just the more course familiar.” That is too bad, especially when there is so much at stake for runners and triathletes during these races.
Highly visible course markings near the end of the race are appreciated by Libby Hurley, of TogetherWeTri as she states, “When fatigue sets in and your decision making process begins to falters, the more time you have to react to an upcoming course direction change the better”. For triathletes, this fatigue usually begins to set in around dusk, as many of them are on the road part of the race. After sundown, a glow in the dark reflective tape such as NeonBrite is appropriate for course marking and easier to remove than spray paint or other permanent marking methods. This will help organizer maintain good relations with local community officials.
For triathlon organizers and sponsors, failures to appropriately mark courses by the use of highly visible reflective tape or otherwise could cost them more than they think. Even though participants sign waivers of release for accidents, they are still held liable in cases of neglect. For example, if a biker has an accident, and this is a pretty common occurrence during a race, and would therefore be an “assumed risk”; however, if the organizer of the race does not properly mark the course, has confusing or otherwise non-effective signs that participants do not notice, and a biker takes a path that causes them to be hit by a car or run over a runner, negligence might then apply. No waiver of liability will stand up against a negligence claim.
There is no excuse for poorly marking a triathlon or other outdoor course with the existence of highly effective methods such as the use of reflective tape to provide direction. If the use of reflective tape is so important that participants cannot check their bags into the Kona Ironman without it, then triathlon course organizers should consider using reflective tape to mark their courses more efficiently. Some course organizers have already started using reflective tape ordered from places like Koffler Sales. Finding the tape is as easy as visiting a website: Koffler Sales.
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