Athletes in Action

HIGH HURDLES (I) TnE ~thlete competing in, or training for, the I20 yds. race over ten flights of 3 ft. 6 ins. hurdles must learn to take-off approximately 6 ft. in front of the hurdle and should n t land much more than 3 ft. beyond it. It is best t hurdle with the hands flat open, a , thu , they act most efficiently a balancers. he fists hould only be clenched for the final print of I 5 yds., from the last hurdle to the winning-post. In Fig. I on the page opposite ro sbach, the erman r cord holder, i ab ut to take off t clear the hurdle. t carefully that the knee of the right leg is n rmally bent as in a sprint ra e and that the forward body- lean, us d by th sprinter ha be n well prc erv d. te that the y n t directed t the t p rail f the hurdle whi h i about t be 1 'ared but are, in fact fixed up n the top rail of th hurdle n . t beyond the on ab ut t b tak n. This trick f c ntinually lifting the yes n to th top rail of the hurdl beyond the one which i to be 1 ar d is an in uran e again t rapping hurdle with ones 1 ading heel, or with the knee or ankl f th r ar le . he nl p ibl cnt1 1 m f th form h wn in ig. I i that the athlet ha all w d th h cl of his right foot t sink to th track. the i w f s m xperts but thcrs maintain that the inking of th h 1 all ws for m r str ngth in th forward and up ard tep-over acti n. T run ov r hurdl s ff ne t e i , in fact, a c unscl of p rfection, to which but cry few hurdl rs ar able to a here. The athlet mu t train himself, always to take- ff at the am di tancc in fr nt f th fir t hurdle and, there£ re, he must tabili e the numb r f tride he takes fr m th tart to th take-off f r cl aring th first fence.