Coaching and Care of Athletes

HURDLING - 120 Yns. 110 METRES 440 Yns. 400 METRES Public Schools r6·3 secs. - - - All universities r6·o " - 58·8 secs. - Individual courities r6·6 " - 6o·o " - Northern District r6·7 " - 6o·5 " - Midland District r6·o " - 59"2 " - Southern District ry g " - 57"7 " - English A.A.A: 15"2 " - 56·3 " - International matches 14"7 " 14·8 secs. 55"2 " 55· r secs. Olympic Games - 14"5 1 - 53 "2 2 " " race, will always take his mark in accordance with his personal dominant. That is to say, an athlete with a right dominant will place his right foot in the rear starting-hole instinctively, and on no account should his natural instinct be denied. Where hurdlers are concerned the case is different. One famous coach suggests, in discussing the approach to and clearance of the first fence in the I 20 yds. high hurdles race, that an athlete with a right dominant will just as naturally throw his right leg first over each hurdle as he will instinctively place his right foot in the rear hole in taking the "On your marks" position. He says, "If the runner will start with the same foot back in his marks as he uses foremost to go over his hurdle his step for . the first hurdle will come out correctly." This theory is acceptable only as a broad principle. Occasion– ally athletes using this method in all, or any, of the three types of hurdle race find that the initial number of strides either brings them too close to the first hurdle or leaves them too far away from the hurdle for a compact and comfortable clearance to be effected. A problem thus presents itself which cannot be solved obviously either by subtracting or adding two strides to the total number used by the athlete in rumiing from his starting-holes to the correct spot for him to take off to clear the hurdle. At first sight it would appear that only one stride must be either subtracted or added. But this means that a man using the famous coach's method 1 F. G. Towns, U.S.A., won the Olympic 110 metres hurdles title in 1936 in 14·2 secs. from D. 0. Finlay, Great Britain, and F. D. Pollard, U.S.A., both credited with 14·4 secs. 2 In the 400 metres hurdles Olympic final of 1936 three men beat 53 secs., which was the time of the fourth man, and the sixth man returned 54·2 secs. 279