Dear Euric, The expression �mile rate� seems to be a fairly flexible thing. For example, in the �Miracle Mile� of 2003, the mile was 1760 metres in length. I know of no Australian trotting or pacing races that have their lengths expressed in old measures such as furlongs and yards.
See <http://www.harness.org.au/grandcirc/2003/p_miracle.htm > for a recent example (Search for 'miracle mile' or 'mile rate'). This sentence, from the above web page, will give you an idea of the confusion that exists here: 'Although Justice dictated his own terms in front, he allowed the seven-year-old to bowl along freely. The mile rate of 1:54.5 for the 1760m was the third fastest in the history of Australia�s premier sprint, just a mere 0.3 seconds outside the record set by Iraklis NZ in 1996'. This does not suppose that a mile is 1760 metres, because as we know an imperial mile was 1760 yards, but simply assumes that the owners, trainers, and commentators still retain this idea of 'mile rate' and each of them uses their own formula to calculate it. However, having said this, there is a considerable social force in the Australian trotting community to be able to refer to outstanding performance in the past history of trotting - this is not dissimilar to the requirement of new mothers to compare the mass (weight) of their new babies with the weights of their mother's and grandmother's babies. As I was writing this, I rang a friend who is an owner and trainer of trotting horses. After some time, and several phone calls, he admitted that he couldn't remember the formula he used for calculating 'mile rate', although he said he had done it in the past. I suspect that the practise might be dying out � slowly. The mile rate formula as he remembered it involved the time in seconds, multiplied or divided by the distance in metres, and somehow it involved the 'magic number', 1608. When I suggested that a 'magic number' of 1609 or even 1609.344 might be more appropriate, he said that he'd check it out. I'll let you know when he returns my call. Cheers, Pat Naughtin LCAMS Geelong, Australia Pat Naughtin is the editor of the free online newsletter, 'Metrication matters'. You can subscribe by sending an email containing the words subscribe Metrication matters to [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- on 2004-06-29 08.03, MightyChimp at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > METRICSUCKS.COM Message Board > > Harness Racing > > Posted By: G.G. > Date: Saturday, 26 June 2004, at 3:57 a.m. >> >> Note: All race distances, other than one mile, were changed to metric on >> 01/08/1973 with kilometre ratings. However, in 1986 the Australian Harness >> Racing Council decided to revert to mile ratings for metric distances as >> from 01/08/1986. Australian records made in kilometre rates will be >> maintained in kilometre rates but as such records are broken they will be >> replaced by mile ratings. >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> Can someone verify this? Pat is this true? > > > > Euric >
