Imperial Valley press., 1926-02-03
Here's Dope On
Track Training
By Dean Cromwell, Track
Coach at University of
Southern California.

| The next time you see a high
hurdle race between accredited won
| der hurdlers take your eyes off the
| top of the hurdles where the ath-
letes are skimming the barriers, TO-
Gus your vision to their heads alone
and you will discover a great Sc
cret in hurdling.
The head will be in the same line
| throughout the race just as the head
of the sprinter travels straight
down the track without bobbing. In
other words there will be no rise
and fall as the men take the hurdles
which will be surprising to those
fans who believe that hurdles are
jumped.
/ can start Leighton Dye and Ron
aid Stover, my best hurdlers who
took first and third at the l. c. "A
meet last year, down the track over
hurdles and if a spectator will place
a cardboard in front of his eyes SO
that he can see only their heads l
defy him to tell when these men
jump the hurdles. 1t is the same
with all great stickmen.
Conserve Energy
The paramount idea is to get over
the sticks with the least possible
waste of time or energy. The hurd-
Ter must be steady and never off
balance. AS result the head is
held in this straight line.
l have found that in running the
high hurdles when man goes over
with his left foot, it is generally
necessary to change the feet at the
starting mark from that required Of
sprinters and other runners. The
right foot therefore goes next to the
starting line. AS a rule it takes
about eight strides to reach the first
hurdle, which means that each foot
hits the ground four times with
the take off on the right.
Technically three strides are tax
en- between each hurdle. In reality
there are four if we count the num-
ben Of times the feet hit the ground.
In speaking of the three strides the
landing on. the left foot afer clear
ing tn hurdle is nto counted as
one and the first comes with the
stretching forward of the right leg.
Chest Goes Down
The general accepted form of go
ing over the hurdle is to lean or dip
the body forward as the front leg
is lifted straight up toward the
chest. This is what keeps the head
from bobbing up and down. The
chest goes down on or close to the
| thigh for the fraction of Il second.
The right arm is thrust straight
ahead with the left arm carried in
regular sprinting position at the
side. The position of that right arm
is U1le Of the most important factors
in fast hurdling and many begin
ners fail to make note of it.
That arm is pointed out in the
same direction as the hurdling leg
for it is understood that if the ath-
lete be a right leg hurdler the left
arm is extended forward. The idea
of this is to carry the body facing
forward without any body twist as
the hurdle is cleared. The whole Sc
cret of hurdling is to land on the
other side in perfect sprinting form.
1T the runner is not in this form he
must twist around to good stride,
must squirm or practically run in
the air to get around straight or
must waste time in slowing down
to pick up the stride again.
Now beginner will soon learn
this lesson by taking a hurdle with
both the left arm and leg extended.
When the man lands, his body is
swerved to the left, the left leg fair
~ chngs into the ground with a jolt
and then comes the sudden twisting
of the athlete to get back around
i'll position again.
Right here is where champions
are made or lost. Say a man wastes
only one-tenth of second in get
ting back i'll position or correcting
the plane of his body after each
hurdle. This doesn Z seem much but
when one remembers there are ten
| hurdles there is an entire second
wasted and blooey goes the cham
pion.
The right leg is carried straight
out parallel with the ground with
the toe extending to the side, also
ON a line with the hurdle. This
leg must carry forward motion
and must not be dragged over the
! stick.
, AS soon as the runner is on top of
the hurdle the left leg is thrust di-
rectly downward. Here is where
tho loose -jointedness comes into plav
FOR If the hips are tight they must
go high enough to clear the hurdle
for the whole idea in hurdle racing
is to stay in the air the shortest
time possible.
The high hurdlcr should take off
far enough back of the barrier msu-
any =. or . feet to get over and
land about four feet past the hurdle.
The form over lows and training
will be considered later. .