Hurdles relay question

[noone]

I've never seen a 4x110m hurdles relay. How do they run it? My guess is back and forth down the home stretch, with not much of a running start.

[guru]

Re: Hurdles relay question

I've never seen a 4x110m hurdles relay. How do they run it? My guess is back and forth down the home stretch, with not much of a running start.

No running start, all four are in blocks, the last three signaled to start by the incoming runner when he crosses the "finish line".

[noone]

Re: Hurdles relay question

I've never seen a 4x110m hurdles relay. How do they run it? My guess is back and forth down the home stretch, with not much of a running start.

No running start, all four are in blocks, the last three signaled to start by the incoming runner when he crosses the "finish line".

No baton?

[guru]

Nope, no baton.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeLQJbwELUw

[tafnut]

The event is problematic. You'd have to have a massive jump to get DQed, so there's the problem of two incoming runners being a meter apart, but the outgoing runners leave simultaneously. If your foot hasn't actually left the blocks, you are usually considered 'legal' but that can mean you 'started' leaving earlier. Fun event, but statistically 'sketchy'.

[noone]

Fascinating! Thanks, guru. It looks to me like the runners from one team run in adjoining lanes (i.e. lanes 1 and 2, next team lanes 3 and 4, etc.), so that track workers have a chance to set up the hurdles that have been knocked down.

[tandfman]

Fascinating! Thanks, guru. It looks to me like the runners from one team run in adjoining lanes (i.e. lanes 1 and 2, next team lanes 3 and 4, etc.), so that track workers have a chance to set up the hurdles that have been knocked down.

Well, also so that the incoming and outgoing runners don't run into each other. :wink:

[noone]

Fascinating! Thanks, guru. It looks to me like the runners from one team run in adjoining lanes (i.e. lanes 1 and 2, next team lanes 3 and 4, etc.), so that track workers have a chance to set up the hurdles that have been knocked down.

Well, also so that the incoming and outgoing runners don't run into each other. :wink:

That too

[Halfmiler2]

Fascinating! Thanks, guru. It looks to me like the runners from one team run in adjoining lanes (i.e. lanes 1 and 2, next team lanes 3 and 4, etc.), so that track workers have a chance to set up the hurdles that have been knocked down.

There is the occasional mishap when a track worker doesn't get out of the way quick enough after setting up a knocked-down hurdle. Especially indoors when the event is 4x60H or 4x55H instead of 4x110H.

In the USA, the event is commonly called the Shuttle Hurdle Relay or SHR for short.

In some parts of the USA, there are also high school relays for the longer hurdles, either 3x400H or 4x400H. This is often done by simply having the hurdlers race separately and adding their times together.

I once saw a college meet in which a 4x400H was done consecutively in lanes. Lane One was left open. For the other lanes, each leg would line up in the stagger, and a teammate would pat the outgoing hurdler's back when the previous leg had crossed the finish line. I've also heard of (but not seen) a 4x400H race in which each flight of hurdles was was set straight across the lanes like a steeplechase barrier and hurdlers could break for the inside. Sounds pretty wild.