What is a USATF Sanction?
Many people often ask what exactly is a USATF sanction? Obtaining a USATF sanction involves filling out a sanction agreement to form a relationship between the sanctioned event and USATF. Basically, it means that an event has agreed to follow USATF rules where they are applicable. A sanction does NOT have anything to do with the length of a road race course - measuring courses is called Course Certification and is a completely separate process. For more information on certification, go to the Course Certification area.

As part of the sanction agreement, USATF agrees to do the following:

1. Include the event in the USATF comprehensive liability insurance policy. Essentially this means that the event organizers have liability insurance if they are sued. Sponsors, towns or other involved parties may be included in this policy for no extra charge. Finally, events that are already insured may choose to waive insurance and pay a substantially lower fee.
    
2. Serve as an arbitrator if either the event or athletes feel that rules were violated or improper conduct occurred. If requested by an event director, USATF will assign one or more officials in advance to serve as referees in the case of protests (Note that these referees will not be on site, but will be available by phone following the event. The U.S. Congress has specifically charged USATF with the responsibility to ensure that all prizes are awarded in a fair manner, as advertised. Both USATF members and sanctioned events have agreed to follow USATF rules. This does NOT mean that USATF will actively pursue every rules violation - rather it means that USATF will investigate complaints and take appropriate action.
    
3. In Connecticut, USATF lists sanctioned events on the web site as an added benefit. Discounts are also available to sanctioned events for advertising on the web site and in our mailings

1. Follow USATF rules where they are applicable. This provides a standard of competition that athletes can count on. It can also provide guidance for events who are not sure how to proceed. The purpose of this is not to hamper events by making them follow rules that are not necessary or appropriate, but to provide a framework for conducting the event and protection for athletes who expect rules to be followed.
    
2. Take the necessary precautions to provide for the safety and medical needs associated with the event. Safety requirements can vary widely from event to event and USATF can provide the necessary guidance. The overriding concerns are to guarantee the safest arena possible for athletes, spectators, and volunteers, as well as minimizing exposure of the event organizers to potential lawsuits.
    
3. Indicate on the entry form that the event is sanctioned by USATF/CT. Only sanctioned events are permitted to use the USATF logo on their entry form
    
4. Submit a post-event form summarizing the results of the event
   

Benefits of a Sanction
We are often asked why events need to obtain USATF/CT sanctions. While we certainly don't believe that a sanction is necessary for every event, there are many benefits to obtaining a sanction. these include:

1. Liability Insurance. This is generally considered the biggest reason for events to obtain a sanction. USATF has a comprehensive liability insurance policy to which event organizers and sponsors may be added for sanctioned events. The cost of a sanction is very inexpensive compared to most other available policies.
    
2. Medical Insurance for Athletes. Any athlete who is a USATF member and is injured while participating in a sanctioned event will be eligible for secondary medical insurance coverage for the injury. Every year there are numerous uninsured or under-insures individuals who take advantage of this policy.
    
3. Publicity. USATF/CT provides publicity to sanctioned events in the form of web site displays.
    
4. Discounted Advertising. USATF/CT provides discounts to sanctioned events for advertising in Association publications and mailings as well as on the web site. Contact Jim Gerweck for more information.
    
5. Records. In general, for non-road events, a sanction is required for a record to be set. There are some exceptions to this rule, however.
    
6. Resolving Disputes. If requested, USATF/CT will act as an arbiter in disputes between athletes and sanctioned events.
    
7. Increased Prestige. For many events, obtaining to a USATF sanction improves the way an event is perceived. A sanction tells athletes that an event is being run according defined rules and that they have some recourse if prizes aren't awarded.

Sanction Information for 2006

The national sanction fees for 2006 will remain the same as they were in 2005. 

• Events with paid attendance of 5,000 or more spectators will pay the greater of the National Sanction Fee determined above or $1,300.
• Events with total appearance, promotional or prize monies greater than $50,000 will pay the greater of the National Sanction Fee determined above or $1,300.
• Junior Olympic preliminary & developmental meets pay $50 per meet as a National Sanction Fee regardless of the number of entrants.  Association, Regional and National Junior Olympic meets pay the applicable National Sanction Fee as described above.
• Series of events may elect to pay on a “per event” basis or for the total number of entrants across the entire series.  By definition, a series is three or more scheduled events at the same location conducted by the same event management.  In this case, entrants are defined as entrants in each event (i.e., one person is competing in separate events in a series is counted as a participant in each event).

 The Application for Sanction has been updated and is available at www.usatf.org/events/sanctions/application/forms/USATFSanctionApplication.pdf and is also attached to this email. 

The appropriate Request for Certificate of Liability Certificate form is available at  http://www.usatf.org/events/sanctions/application/forms/USATFSanctionApplication_LiabilityInsurance.pdf

The main changes/updates to the Application for Sanction are:

1)      addition of “The event shall comply with USATF’s "Policy & Procedures for Accommodation Requests Pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act," available at www.usatf.org/groups/EventDirectors/ADA”

2)      addition of  “The organizer may obtain a copy of USATF’s Sanctioned Event insignia for this purpose at www.usatf.org/events/sanctions.”  (we recently added this feature to the website.  Events that are in the USATF database and properly tagged as a sanctioned event may use the Event ID and Password they received via email to access the insignia.)

Associations that requested “customized” Application for Sanction applications will be receive a PDF file from Carmen Triplett on Monday that includes the appropriate Association information at the top of the form.

We will be printing 3-part applications next week and mailing them out to the Association Sanction Coordinators.  Many Associations have indicated they are not using as many 3-part forms as in previous years as more event directors are using forms available via the internet.  If you are not mailing 3-part applications out to event directors please send Carmen Triplet an email by 1:00pm ET Monday and let her know how many 3-part applications you need for 2006.  IF we do not hear from you we will send a full allotment of applications, but would prefer not to if they will not be used.