Masters News and Muse

In the pictures you guys are hurdling against the standard fall of the hurdle. It must have been painful to hit a hurdle back then and not have the hurdle fall down. You are a brave man Jeff.

We can get 4 guys to go 14.2 or better and set a standard for the rest of the master track world. I am ready to assemble a team. Come on guys lets have some fun.

Don, I plan on going to Oshkosh next summer so you can count me in.

Rod, don, count me in with you,when you assemble the team we got 3 ,lets go for it guys.lets have some fun and break some records. your boy dave...4x110 usa watch out europe and the world team usa is ready to roll.

Oh yes, I'm in too! Let's go to Penn this year and run the 42's" against the big boys. I think we will hold our own & the stadium would go wild that the old guys can bring it!

Richard Holmes just emaile me and he is in, so we are set. Hopefully Dexter, Karl, and the rest of the hurdlers will assemble a team. It would be nice to fill all 8 lanes with 4 teams going over 39". I know Jeff Brower/James Smith will get some guys to run.

Richard also suggested that we take our team to Penn and run against the Open athletes over 42". What do you guys think. I think it will create a nice Buzz. I know that Rod probably runs faster over the 42" as I usually find it easier.

You all got me hyped over here. I am ready to leave work and hit some hurdles. Let's make it happen! Rod and David shoot me you email, so we can make this happen. highspeedfitness@hotmail.com

For those of us older hurdlers who are enjoying this discourse, what is distance to the first hurdle, between hurdles, and from last to finish - the same as a regular 100/110m race? it's going to be great fun watching you guys do this, especially at Penn if it can be arranged.

Talk of running hurdles reminding me of the old joke amongst us steeplers of running the 'chase backwards...

OK, I'll be one of the pioneers for the ladies....

oh boy..!! first off let me say how proud i am to have been a part of the shuttle hurdle relay event at orno,and how proud to be running for the only all club shore ac nj team. next i am psyched that you youngsters(under fifty ), who i consider the toughest guys out there running the 110's , are chomping at the bit just waiting for this to happen.i couldn't agree more with richard about you putting a team to run the 42's at penn this year. we in the USA have the greatest hurdle tradition in the world,and what better way to remind the world than a team of masters with the lineup you envision.the crowd alone, would power pr's. besides, as talented as you guys are, i consider it your duty as hurdle greats to share your blessings with as many loving fans as possible, and what better place than franklin field. your enthusiasm as a group is contagious and as a soon to be m55 hurdler, gives me inspiration...thanks....and to warren, the distances are exactly the same as in a regular hurdle race. for the 110's the hurdles are set along the same line, facing opposite directions, that is one team takes two lanes...one up and one back. for us older guys running the 100's , the same setup applies,only due to the distances we run, the view from above doesn't look as neat. every other hurdle lane is uniform across the track and the return lanes are set at a different spot, to give a staggered appearance.....sort of the way we look after the race...go for it...albert

Sad to read about the guys settling on 42". Why don't you put the hurdles on cinder blocks and run them at 48" or higher? :-)
Davison and I spoke in Reno, and we'll get some teams together in Oshkosh, but I'm 50 in May so my 39" days are over! Liz, you get a team together and dinner for your team is on me.

i didn't think that they settled on 42's...i thought that they would run at penn in the open/ club division...( for kicks ) and then when the time comes, run the 39's at nationals.and jeff, in may when you turn 50, your body will thank the rules for switching to 36's, and closing the distance a bit.years ago, they ran 33's (i've got an old rankings book from 1982 )from a couple of years before i became a submaster.best of luck this season to all ! ...albert

I hope to get a W70+ relay organized for Oshkosh. Jeff, our team will take you up on the dinner offer.
Becky Sisley

Becky, I will be in it...
except I just found out, I
might need another surgery,
something is wrong with my shoulder.It really "sucks"
BUT, by Oshkosh( by gosh,)
I will be
ready, I have run for food
before, like 60 yrs. ago...
Jeff, that's for you.
Liz, your age group has
to run 100 m, 33" and we
will wait for your last
runner at the finish line,
so there...
fondly,
Christel

Becky-

Any word on the dates for the Hayward Classic being finalized?

Northwest Regional as well? Is it in Spokane?

Thanks...

Christel, I run those in practice occasionally so I can flash back to my "younger years"...but I don't know if I can find 3 other partners in crime for that height and distance. "Will hurdle for food???" Best wishes for a full recovery. Looking forward to seeing you soon.

For the age groups under age 50, the distance from the start to the first hurdle and the distance from the last hurdle to the finish are ALMOST the same, the finish is 30cm (about a foot for 'mericans) longer. So in order to run it properly either you offset the start line and leg ending finish line by that foot (sometimes marked on HS tracks), or you move the hurdles out of alignment by that same distance (which could leave some ragged edges for hurdlers to hit in adjacent lanes--obviously a more dangerous way to do it).

Do not do what I witnessed them doing at Penn a couple of years ago and just figure the hurdlers can adjust for that extra foot. I watched two elite college hurdlers crash, one was carried off on a stretcher. It should also go without saying not to do what they did to Ken back in high school. There are actual rules on the books regarding not only the spacing of the hurdles but the tipping weight. All those rules apply to shuttle hurdles too.

Women and particularly masters are more difficult. The difference is 2.5 meters the opposite direction for Open women and M50 hurdlers. Its 4 meters for M60. 7 meters for W50+ and M70+. With such large gaps, its more workable to make the hurdles ragged, though it takes measuring work. The only division where the start distance and end distance is truly symmetrical is W40.

There are charts for hurdle spacings at: http://trackinfo.org/hurdles101.html

Andrew is correct on the distance from the last hurdle to the finish line -- it is about a foot farther. If not accounted for, those hurldlers will have issues or disaster. I know from personal experience. Good looking' out, Andrew!

Hi All,
Very nice!
It sounds like we have some interest again. Mesa, AZ and Orono, Maine were a lot of fun . . . now we are adding Wisconsin Sunday July 2009 apprx. 3 PM.

There is video on-line for the Arizona and Maine shuttle hurdle relays.

Some of the guidelines:
Two lanes per relay team, no batan, 10-year-age-brackets, the final finish line doesn't change (FAT machine remains fixed) - but the first starting line changes to match the WMA standards (distance, heights, and spacings).

Athletes can drop an age bracket if need be. For example: An M50 athlete can run with a M40 relay team.

I will gladly assist with organizing teams as we get closer to June / July 2009.

I spoke to Dexter at the airport coming back from the Convention and it sounds like he is in also.

I will have more information on my website later this month.
http//www.woodhurdles.com "Shuttle Hurdle"

We will also be advertising
in National Masters News, and other websites.

From my past research on the event: there has been M30, M40 and M50 teams but that is it. Shore AC, as Al mentioned above, now has a M50 Shore AC club record.

My goal is to get M60+ and a W30+ teams involved in Wisconsin.

The Orono event also spured interest in Sweden in 2007 - their media director had requested information about the shuttle hurdle relay . . . the next email that I received from them was that the USA team (open team) had broken the open WR at the GN Galen meet.
I believe the record that they broke was a record held by a team that included Willie Gault.

-Jeff Davison
Laguna Hills, CA
jad-calif@cox.net

Thanks for the information on the SPECS. We will personally count the number of steps from the the start to the finish at Penn Relays to make sure that we have the correct distance. The last thing we want is too much spacing to the first hurdle over 42".

More details are available at:

http://www.woodhurdles.com/ShuttleHurdleRelay/1.html

Jeff Davison
jad-calif@cox.net

Here's the secret to tell if they are correct. Assuming the hurdles are aligned (something you can easily see), the start line for the first (and third) leg should be a foot in front of the finish line coming the other way--they ought to put down tape or a mark for it.

Most people who put on the race will not move the finish camera, meaning the race should start backward down the straightaway (one foot before the finish line and finish one foot past the normal start line). The 2nd and 4th legs should run the race as the track is marked normally.