Rowing and Track Athletics (extract)

CHAPTER VIII HURDLING AND HURDLERS THE flight over the hurdles is one of the pret– tiest pictures ever framed by the turf and trees of an athletic field. The swift rush and rise - arms outlined like wings - of the high hurdles ; the rhythm of the long, low run and "clip " as the athlete snaps over the lower barrier with scarcely a quaver in the music of his stride-few things are more alive and beautiful with the thrill of contest and of the out-of-doors. The modern style of hurdling has, if anything, rather added to the grace of this lively sport. In crossing both the high and the low hurdle, the runner nowadays tends more and more simply to stride across, to remain in the air as short a time as possible, and to make the flight over the barrier as little as possible a break in stride. The old style of going over the hurdle was to bend the leading leg so that from the knee down it was almost parallel with the hurdle. As a result of this gath– ering up of the leading leg there was a perceptible moment during which the runner "sailed," so to speak, through the air before touching ground with 354