Coaching and Care of Athletes

HURDLING 34'4 secs. His times for 400 and 1500 metres were the best returned by any athlete during the 1932 Olympic Decathlon. Enough has been said to prove that men in the top class among intermediate hurdlers, like Andre and Tisdall, are also in the world's top class among all-round athletes. Burghley represents a distinctive type, specializing at all three hurdle distances, but good also at track distances up to 88o yds., and perhaps beyond, having regard to his performances in 4 X 88o yds. steeplechase competitions. We come now to the question of relativity in connection with quarter-mile speed on the flat and over 3-ft. fences. Let us study the following comparative table: CoMPARATIVE TABLE oF RuNNING AND HuRDLING Note. Actual times returned are given in ordinary type. Equivalent times for yards or metres, as the case may be, are given in it~lics. I FLAT HURDLES NAME 1 440 Yds. 400 Metres 440 Yds. 400 Metres H. L. Hillman, U.S.A. . 49 48'7 53'3 53 1 Lord Burghley, Great Britain 47'1 46·8 2 52 '4 52'! R. M. N. Tisdall~ Ireland 49'3 49 52'1 51 ·8 J. Simpson, Great Britain 52·6 52'3 54'2 53'9 Had Hillman's hurdle race been run over 3 ft. instead of 2 ft. 6 ins. fences his time would probably have been round about 55 secs., which gives a difference between running and hurdling time for 400 metres and 440 yds. of about 6 secs. in r9o8. Burgh– ley's best times, both made in 1932, were 52·1 secs. for 400 metres hurdles and 46·8 secs. in a 4 X 400 metres relay race. If we allow I ·3 secs. for the advantage of a running over a stationary start it would appear that the difference between his running and hurd– ling times is approximately 4 secs. Tisdall, on the other hand, returned 51·8 secs. in the Olympic hurdles final on August r, 1932, and on August 5, after competing that day in the roo metres, long jump, shot put, and high jump in the Decathlon, returned 49 secs. for 400 metres, which suggests that he was also in the 48 secs. class of quarter-mile runners. On actual times returned, however, 1 Race run over 2 ft. 6 ins. hurdles. 2 Time returned with running start in 4 X400 metres relay. 3°9