The ancient Olympic Games began in the year 776 BC, when
Koroibos, a cook from the nearby city of Elis, won the stadium race,
a foot race 600 feet long. According to some literary traditions, this
was the only athletic event of the games for the first 13 Olympic
festivals.
The marathon was not an event of the ancient Olympic Games.
The marathon is a modern event that was first introduced in
the Modern Olympic Games of 1896 in Athens, a race from
Marathon—northeast of Athens—to the Olympic Stadium, a distance
of 42.195 kilometers. The race commemorates the run
of Pheidippides, an ancient “day runner” who carried the news of
the Persian landing at Marathon of 490 BC to Sparta (a distance
of 149 miles) in order to enlist help for the battle. According to
the fifth-century BC ancient Greek
historian Herodotus, Pheidippides delivered the news to the
Spartans the next day. The distance of the modern marathon was
standardized as 26 miles and 385 yards or 42.195
kilometers in 1908 when the Olympic Games were held in London.
The distance was the exact measurement between Windsor Castle,
the start of the race, and the finish line inside White City Stadium.
From 776 BC, the games were held in Olympia every four
years for almost twelve centuries. Additional athletic events were
gradually added until, by the fifth century BC, the religious festival
consisted of a five-day program. The athletic events included three
foot races (stadion, diaulos, and dolichos) as well
as the pentathlon (five contests: discus, javelin, long
jump, wrestling, and foot race), pugme (boxing), pale (wrestling),
pankration, and the hoplitodromos. Additional events,
both equestrian and for humans, were added throughout the course
of the history of the Olympic Games. Equestrian events, held in
the hippodromos, were an important part of the athletic
program of the ancient Olympic Games and by the fifth century BC
included the tethrippon and the keles.
During the next several centuries Athletics developed in slow
steps. However, during the Middle Ages the new wave of the track
and field development began. During that time track and field
developed in the Northern part of Europe. Track and field as we
know it today began developing in the 19th century when first
competitions in track and field took places. In that time, those
track and field competitions primary were organized by educational
institutions, sport clubs and some military organizations. The events
organized by these institutions were actually the one that included
the hurdle races.
During this period, first national athletics associations have
been established and shortly after that first national competitions
took place. Among the first associations who organized such
competitions was Amateur Athletic Association of England who in
1880 organized the annual AAA Championship. Even before England,
the New York Athletic Club from the United States organized the
first USA Outdoor Track and Field Championship back in 1876.
One of the biggest milestones for the development of the
Athletics came back in 1896 at the Summer Olympic Games. In
those Games in Athens, track and field together with a marathon
comprised the majority of the sporting events at that Games.
Besides that, those Games are also important because it’s the first
time to introduced the metric measurement in the track and field
competitions. During the next couple of decades, the development
of the track and field, or rather; the athletics in general, put the
Athletics on the path of becoming the most important aspect of the
Olympic Games for every game in the future.
In 1912, the second milestone in the development of the
Athletics occurred when the International Amateur Athletic
Federation or IAAF was founded and as such it became the
international governing body for track and field. The officials of the
IAAF of that time emphasized the importance of the amateurism for
the athletics and it became of the basic principle on which IAAF will
continue to operate. Up until the early 1920’s, track and field was
only a male sport. Women became part of the athletics only after
women’s sport movement organized Women’s World Games back in
1921. However, women for the first time participated in track and
field competitions at the Olympic Games back in 1928 Summer
Olympic Games.
After athletics gained more media coverage and since it
became appealing for big companies the amateur statues of the
athletes were dropped in favor of the professionalism. Officially, in
1982, International Amateur Athletic Federation abandoned the
notion of amateurism and it became the organization of
professional athletes. Following that, the next year marked the first
year in which the first IAAF World Championship in Athletics was
held and from that moment, the popularity of athletics and athletes
continued to grow and today they are among the most respected
athletes in any sport.
Track and Field Facilities and Equipment
Track Oval: Consist of 2 Straight ways and 2 Curves
know and understand how track and field are Construct ed. But
the Standard Measurement is 400 meters.
A 400m oval has two straights at 84.39m and two curved sections of
36.80m × π in length. This is the distance for the inside track. As more
tracks are added, these are wrapped around the inner track, like
layers of an onion.
http://datagenetics.com/blog/may12015/index.html# (Links to an
external site.)
Total Track Length = (2 × 84.39m) + ( 36.80m × π)
= 168.78m + 231.22m = 400m
This is the distance for the inside track. As more tracks are added,
these are wrapped around the inner track, like layers of an onion.
Each track is of width 1.22m and it is assumed, as with the inside
track, the runner will take a line 0.30m from the inside edge.
Below is a table of track dimensions for the different lanes. It would
only be fair if every runner runs the same distance so, as the outer
tracks run on a greater radius of curvature, the starting positions
are not in a straight radial line but are staggered based on length of
the curve. The table below shows starting positions for a 200m race.
The inside track runner will run exactly half loop of the track. The
further out the racer starts, the more ‘advanced’ the runner in that
lane will start. The table below shows the angular starting position;
measured from what would be the centre of the circles. (For a 400m,
these starting angles are double and on the other curve of the
track).
Lane Radius
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
36.80m
38.02m
39.24m
40.46m
41.68m
42.90m
44.12m
45.34m
46.56m
Semicircle
Delta
Length
115.61m 0.00m
119.44m 3.83m
123.28m 7.67m
127.11m 11.50m
130.94m 15.33m
134.77m 19.16m
138.61m 23.00m
142.44m 26.83m
146.27m 30.66m
LANE - This is the ordinal number of
the lane with the first lane being on the
inside.
Angle
0.00°
5.78°
11.19°
16.28°
21.08°
25.60°
29.86°
33.90°
37.73°
RADIUS - This is the radius of the
curve 0.30m into that lane.
SEMI-CIRCLE LENGTH - This is
the length of the half circle of track at
that radius
DELTA - This the length a track of this
radius track is longer that the inside
track (and thus how much lead-in is
needed to make it a fair race).
ANGLE - This is the corresponding
staggering angle. Starting at this offset
ensures that a racer in that lane runs the
same distance on a curve.
All runners run the same distance. It’s up to the individual
psychology of each runner to decide if they get perceived
advantage of starting ‘ahead’ in the race by appearing to be in a
position of lead at the start, or if (on the inner tracks), they are
behind and it motivates them to catch up, pace, or overtake those
‘infront’ of them.
According to official rules, formal races cannot be run on tracks with
more than nine lanes. As the number of lanes increases, so does the
radius of the curve. If the radius gets too large then outer lane
would gain too much advantage as the curve is so gentle it behaves
like a straight section of track; runners find it easier to run on a
straight track instead of a curve. (A race greater than 100m that is
run on a track with radius greater than 50m is not an official time
and is ineligible for any record).
I am not a runner, and have no personal experience of which lane is
more preferential and athletes prefer or feel gives advantage. I
have, anecdotally, heard the the very inside lanes are harder to run
because the curve is very tight, and the far outside ones give you
nobody to chase, so the middle lanes seem to be the sweet-spot.
These anecdotal feelings appear to be corroborated by the IAAF
rules about lane allocation based on seeding of elimination heat
race results. According to IAFF 166.3(a) rules, athletes are ranked
based on their elimination times, then three draws made:
1. One for the four highest ranked athletes (or teams) to
determine placings in lanes 4,5,6 and 7.
2. Another for the fifth and six ranked athletes (or teams) to
determine placings in lane 8 and 9.
3. Another for the three lowest ranked athletes (or teams) to
determine placings in lanes 1,2 and 3.
This seems to imply that the three inside lanes are the worst, the two
outside are the middle preference, and the four internal the best.
Cutting inside the line?
Calculations for distances run (and thus starting positions),
as we have seen above, are based on the assumption that
a runner races on an arc 30cm away from the inner line.
What are the consequences of running a different distance
from the inside lane edge?
If you run closer to the edge, your radius of is decreased,
so you’ll be running a shorter distance than the track was
calibrate for. The inverse happens if you run further out.
How much difference does this make to the total
difference you will run? Also, how much difference is there
by lane?
Below is a table showing the differences (in meters) for a 200m race dep
on your displacement from the inside lane divider. Clearly for 30cm, ther
difference, and you can see the nearer you get to the inside, the shorter
distance. You can also see how this difference changes based on the lan
run in. (The closer your lane is to the inside, the higher the percentage ch
on the radius, and also the greater percentage of the circle you run).
Insid
Lan
e
e 0.00
m
1
0.94
m
2
3
4
5
Calibrate
MidEdge
0.10 0.15 0.20
d
point
0.40m 0.50m
1.22m
m
m
m
0.30m
0.61m
0.63
m
0.61
0.91m
m
0.88 0.59
m
m
0.57
0.86m
m
0.55
0.83m
m
0.47
m
0.46
m
0.44
m
0.43
m
0.42
m
0.31
m
0.30
m
0.29
m
0.29
m
0.28
m
0.00m
+0.32 +0.63 +0.98 +2.89
m
m
m
m
0.00m
+0.30 +0.61 +0.94 +2.80
m
m
m
m
0.00m
+0.29 +0.59 +0.91
m
m
m
0.00m
+0.29 +0.57 +0.89 +2.63
m
m
m
m
0.00m
+0.28 +0.55 +0.86 +2.55
m
m
m
m
+2.71
m
Insid
Lan
e
0.10
e 0.00
m
m
6
0.54
0.81m
m
7
0.52
0.79m
m
8
0.51
0.76m
m
9
0.74 0.50
m
m
Calibrate
MidEdge
0.15 0.20
d
point
0.40m 0.50m
1.22m
m
m
0.30m
0.61m
0.40
m
0.39
m
0.38
m
0.37
m
0.27
m
0.26
m
0.25
m
0.25
m
Running tighter inside
0.00m
+0.27 +0.54 +0.84 +2.48
m
m
m
m
0.00m
+0.26 +0.52 +0.81 +2.41
m
m
m
m
0.00m
+0.25 +0.51 +0.79 +2.35
m
m
m
m
0.00m
+0.25 +0.50 +0.77 +2.28
m
m
m
m
Calibrate
Runner further out
d
The difference between two ultimate extremes (running right on the
inside edge of lane cf. running right on the outside edge of a lane)
can be almost 4m over a 200m race (a 2% difference, caused by
someone running in the inside line shortening their distance by
0.94m, and someone running on the outside line lengthening their
distance by 2.89m).
This is a very measurable difference, but a ridiculous extreme.
More realistically, a skilled professional
athlete might run about half-way
between the 30cm calibrate line and the
inside lane divider. A 15cm spacing
leaves sufficient gap for an athlete to
put their left foot in, moving their body
centreline over to a +0.15m radius curve
without them stepping over the line and
being disqualified. A +0.15m radius
(cf. +0.30m radius) curve equates to
approximately 40cm shorter distance run
(with a slightly larger advantage for
those on more inside tracks). 40cm over
200m race is a 0.2% decrease in distance
needed to be run.
Image: AJ Mangoba (Links to an
How significant is a 0.2% change?
The current Word Record for a 200m spring is 19.19s, held by Usain
Bolt (Links to an external site.). A 0.2% change represents about
4/100ths second over this distance. World records have changed
hands over time differences shorter than this!
Specific Rules in Running
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The Runners should abide by the following rules in order to complete
a race:
a. Sprinters run in designated lanes and cannot cross lanes,
throughout the race
b. In sprint races with bunched starts, athletes can not break
inside the lane. In 800m race, runners start from staggered
positions and can break inside the lane after the first bend.
c. In longer races of 1500 meters, 5000m, and 10000 meters,
athlete can break inside the lane after the start.
d. Sprinters should not step on the white lines that martk their
lanes throughout the race.
e. Sensors are placed in the starting pistol and at the starting
blocks. In case of a false start, the athlete is disqualified.
f. before giving the "set" command or befor the starting gun is
fired, athletes cannot touch the other side of the starting line with
the hands or feet.
g. Athletes should not obstruct other athletes during the race.
h. If an athlete is obstructed, the referee may order the race to
be held again, or he may ask the athlete to take part in the next
round.
i. Athletes may leave the track voluntarily before the race ends,
but they cannot comeback to the track, otherwise runners are
disqualified.
How to Start a Running Event
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Before tournament starts, players’ position, the number or
heats, and the number of rounds is decided by the organizing
committee. The moment runners are called for the first command,
players stand at least five to ten meters away from the starting line.
In Sprints, athletes take a crouch start position. Crouch start
is divided into four stages:
1.
2.
3.
4.
The “on your mark command,
The “get set” position
The “GO” signal
And the ACCELERATION
In SPRINTS athletes take crouch position – crouch in our
previous virtual discussion was any of the type of crouch start;
Bunch, medium, elongated.
In and longer races athletes should start the race from standing
position. Here no starting blocks are used. They take respective
positions in the lane before the starting line, when they hear “on
your marks” call.
During sprint races, the ‘set’ position is taken on the next call,
firmly placing feet on starting blocks and taking crouch position and
the raising of the buttocks is executed.
For longer races, there is no ‘set’ call as they start their race in
standing position. For the 800-meter race, athletes start from
staggered starting points. For the 1500-meter race, athletes make a
bunched start in standing position.
How a Race is Executed and Performed
A Step by step procedure in executing the proper position and
angle of the body towards the starting line and within the
starting line.
1. Runners stand at least 5 to 10 meters away from the starting
line
2. At the command “On your Mark!”, runners occupy
respective positions.
3. The moment runners are beside the starting line, runners will
have their respective chosen crouch start on the starting line
and CREATE A “TRIPOD” position, or in some other source
they call it four based position.
TRIPOD POSITION – means settling yourself in preparing both
arms (L/R), your point finger and thumbs before the starting line
and positioning any of the crouch start.
In this position, runners stand still, not allowed to keep moving
and fixing their feet, arms and other body parts – ready to the next
command. If you do so, you will be warned by the competition
officials. If you will be warned the next thing you do it you will be
disqualified.
4. The moment the “GET SET” command is given, runners
buttocks goes up and slightly bends forward, by maintain
their fingertips on the ground.
5. The moment runners hear the sound of the starting
pistol (GO SIGNAL”), the ACCELERATION is Performed.
ACCELERATION in running means the action of the runner
towards performing the runaway from starting line as quick as
possible and getting the momentum of coordinating the arms and
the first foot stepping out of the starting line.
6. Runners run in their respective lanes EXCEPT to some events
in running
7. The race finishes when the runners’ “TORSO” crosses the
vertical plane of the finish line. includes the base of the neck
down to the waistline.
Terminologies in Running
Before knowing the rules and the procedure for racing, let’s
get familiar with some common terms used in this sport.
Starting Blocks − Starting blocks are provided at the starting points
in most
sprint races. These blocks have sensors to record starting
time and pressure. They provide grip and help athletes to push
themselves at the start.
False Start − Once the starting signal is given, players usually take
more than 0.1 seconds to respond to it and start running. A player
who reacts before
0.1 seconds is disqualified.
Starting lines − Starting lines are 50 mm wide lines in white that
indicate the starting point in a race. In a straight 100-meter race,
the lines are all straight;
in the 200 meter and 400 meter race
the lines are staggered or curved so that each athlete runs equal
distances to finish the race.
Finish line − The finish line is a 50 mm wide line marked across the
track. It
usually is a straight line perpendicular to the sides of
the track and is at the straight part of the track. If it is at the curved
part of the track, it is marked along the radius.
Break lines − Break lines are 50 mm wide arced lines and indicate
the end of a bend. Small cones or prisms of any color other than
white are sometimes placed on the lines separating lanes before the
break lines start.
Fartlek - Speed play, or fartlek in Swedish (the concept originated
in Sweden), is a speedwork format in which you run faster for
however long (or short) you want.
Body Mass Index (BMI) - A simple estimation of body fat that can
be used to determine whether or not your weight is healthy. BMI is
derived by comparing your height to your weight. It can be used by
men and women of all ages. Use our BMI calculator to determine
your BMI.
Cadence - The number of steps runners take per minute.
Pace - How fast you’re running, usually expressed in terms of
minutes per mile. Your running pace at a given effort level will vary
greatly from day to day, depending on the weather, your fatigue
level, and numerous other factors. While it’s good to have a general
idea of how fast you’re running, it’s best not to base your running
around hitting certain paces all the time. Doing so usually leads to
working too hard, and can drain much of the enjoyment from your
running. As you gain fitness, you’ll naturally speed up.
How to win a Race
a.
Each race is divided into various rounds and each round
may be held in many heats to accommodate all athletes.
b.
The contesting athletes’ records and past achievements are
considered while dividing athletes among heats. It is done so that the most
successful athletes reach the finals.
c.
Though athletes might be randomly placed in the first round,
athletes who advance by place and time are recorded.
These records are considered while seeding them in heats in
subsequent rounds.
d.
Usually two to three top performers from each heat participate
in the subsequent races.
e.
The one who reaches the finish line first in the final is the winner.