Track Athletics in Detail (extract)
THE RUNNING HIGH JUMP 51 made of cinders, well rolled, and ought to be kept dampened so that it shall be springy. Beyond the posts the earth should be turned over and raked so as to make a soft landing-place. The jumping costumeshould consist of a jersey suit rather than a linen blouse and trousers, be cause the knit goods cling to the form and keep the muscles warm. The trousers should never reach the knees, which have to be kept free. The feet are encased in shoes made of kangaroo skin, laced in front like running-shoes, and are worn without socks. The shoe of the jumping foot— that is, the foot you take off with—is made several ounces heavier than the other, and is about as heavy as a sprinter's footwear. The heel is made of one-quarter-inch sole-leather, and has two spikes. Some men jump with one spike in the middle of the heel; but this is very bad, because when the jumper alights his heel-bone pounds on the spike, and this soon raises a stone-bruise. If you have two spikes fixed at the extremities of a diagonal drawn through the centre of the heel, this bruising is easily avoided. There are no spikes onthe heel of the other shoe, but the heel itself is made slightly thicker. In the toes of both there should be six spikes. It may be well to say here that the jumping foot is usually the left foot, although this is purely a matter of individual taste. Page, Sweeney, Cosgrove,Baltazzi, and almost all of our successful jumpers, however, take off with the left
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