Coaching and Care of Athletes

COACHING AND CARE OF ATHLETES gave Brown a ·g sec. lead over the last American runner, whom Brown beat by 2 secs. THE SHUTTLE HURDLES RELAYS We come now to the shuttle hurdles relays, much favoured in inter-university, collegiate, and school contests, but not included in the Olympic programme. The races usually run are 4 X I 20 yds. high hurdles over 3 ft. 6 ins. obstacles and 4 X 220 yds. low hurdles, in which each of the ten obstacles is 2 ft. 6 ins. in height. Hurdling tec-hnique and training are fully dealt with in Chapter XXI. Relay racing over hurdles calls, however, for special consideration. Shuttle relays, as the name suggests, are run back and forth, instead of progressively around the track. Partly on account ofthe danger of carrying anything -in the hand when hurdling, and partly because of the difficulty of the incoming athlete's passing the baton to a waiting athlete who is facing him, the OJ.I.tgoi:hg runner is dispatched by the touch of the incoming hurdler's hand. The touch should be light but tangible- neither a bang on the back nor a shove at the point of the shoulder. Each team taking part in this type of shuttle relay will require the allocation of two complete flights of hurdles. The men who are to run first and third for each team take their stations at the end of the track at which the race will start and finish. The men who are to run second and fourth are at the other end. Hurdlers should be trained to run in the left-hand lane, so that the touch-off may be made with the right hand, and also because the waiting hurdler in the crouch position is most likely to have his right foot in~ the back hole, and so will be better placed to withstand too hard a touch falling on his right shoulder rather than on his left. The race should be run, therefore, as shown in the following diagram: A Te am B Team Nos. land3 ----------------~ ~-------------- Nos. 2 ond4 Nos. land 3 ---------------~ -?----------------- Nos. 2 a nd4 FIG. 78B. THE SHUTTLE HURDLES RELAY '276