Comments on: German track czars pick and choose which WMA rules to obey

By: Ken Stone

Ken Stone — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:19:37 +0000

Jess Brewer writes:
Am I the only M60 hurdler to notice that my hurdling career has just been terminated by bureaucrats? The 16m run-up to the first hurdle was my only hope of reaching a high enough speed to make 3 steps to the second. Now, with only 12m, I will never get there.
The excuse given for this change is ridiculous: the number of steps to the first hurdle is irrelevant, it is only the number of steps between the hurdles that matters.
Are these people crazy, stupid, or just trying to eliminate the last few masters hurdlers so they don’t have to set up our hurdles any more? There were few enough of us before; now I think the event is destroyed.
PS: I may not be world class, but I was Canadian champion last summer; so I’m not just some whiney loser.

By: Ken Stone

Ken Stone — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 19:27:32 +0000

FYI: Courtland Gray holds the M60 world record for 100-meter hurdles: 14.62.

By: Courtland Gray

Courtland Gray — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:32:10 +0000

For some, the additional distance may be an advantage, but I can assure you, I was never comfortable adding the extra two steps. I never was able to take 10 steps to the first hurdle. It was always 8, plus 2 more, for some reason. The rhythm of 8 steps was too imprinted. I welcome the change back. But then, I didn’t run very many races in the M60-64. I think I could have run faster with the shorter, more familiar pattern because I would not have been tentative at the first hurdle like I have been with 10 steps.
If you were to ask my German friend Rolf Geese, I bet he would say the same thing. The extra steps is not why he would have set a record.

By: joe johnston

joe johnston — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 07:42:50 +0000

KUDOS to the Germans! Not only do they make fun cars, but appears they have good sense about athletics as well. I could not believe whan I read that our governing body voted to make the hurdle start distance shorter! What was the thinking behind that! Anyone with any experience at this knows as we age we do better with MORE DISTANCE @ START of the race. Right on Roger! Set ‘em anywhere you want to & most likely Geese will still dominate. Better arguement is to design our rules/adaptations for the masses & mid level athletes like me to attract more participants. The most fun I’ve ever had running hurdles is after I adjusted to the longer distance to the start. Any change in hurdles should be to LENGTHEN the start distance as we age!

By: Ken Stone

Ken Stone — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 19:59:16 +0000

Good question, Roger!
I’ll check it out.
One reason German authorities don’t want to change the specs is because one of their own — Dr. Rolf Geese — set the M65 short-hurdles record at Lahti. He’d have to redo his steps.

By: Roger Parnell

Roger Parnell — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:24:27 +0000

I had heard that the M6o-69 distance to the first hurdle had been changed, but have yet to read it in print. I can’t imagine that the German DLV will be successful in resisting the change. What happens when one of their hurdlers shows up for a competition outside of Germany? Now that the change has been made, what happens to records that were set while the 16M run-up was in place. As a hurdler, I know that the additional four meters allows me to build greater speed to the first hurdle, which one could ideally carry all the way through the race. So….are the 16M era records nullified….or do those who now have to run at the 12M distance have to overcome another hurdle(pun intended) in matching or bettering a record?