Steeple water hurdle at 36" for women?

This is I believe the third race in two seasons that Oregon has messed up the women's steeple. Last year at the Oregon relays they forgot to put on the first barrier. I believe they had a simular height mess up at this years Oregon Relays. Now this. How does this keep happening?

Maybe the women should stop the race at the first water barrier.

I was standing near the water jump and noticed an athlete yell at their coach that it was too high. However, it looked like the right height to me and it definately was NOT 36". An official went over to check it once word got around that it may not be right and the official said it was okay. They did NOT adjust it for the second heat.

I'm virtually certain it was the right height.

Of course they didn't adjust it for the second heat. That would give time qualifiers in the 2nd heat an easier time than people in the first heat.

The coach of one of the runners in the steeple semis told me that the water barrier was 36" and that Nicole Bush broke her leg on the water jump and went to the hospital. I know no more.

Do not blame the Oregon officials for this; the vast majority of the officials at this meet are big self-important officials from out-of-town.

Bush finished the race. Whats the real story? Someone has to know.

I couldn't tell just by looking at the barriers that they were too high, but I thought I heard the officials saying it wasn't the right height. It did seem that it was taking the steeplers a little bit more effort to get over the water barrier than usual -- I even saw one runner in the 1st heat have to slow down and climb over the penultimate water jump! That never happens at the elite level, right? It just didn't quite seem right.

I was in the stands and can tell you something was not right. Every woman in the first heat was landing very deep in the water. Bus hurt herself and limped throughout after hitting wrong. There was something wrong with the water for sure.

Bush finished the race, if she broke her leg...dam she's tough.

I did notice her take a tumble on the 2nd or 3rd lap. There did seem to be a problem with the pit, but hearing that the hurdle was too high sounds like it could have been it too.

Barringer, noticed it and did go to the officials afterward, she was on camera doing that, pointing in the direction. If Barringer noticed it, something was wrong.

Hopefully Bush is alright. She was in contention for a spot on the WC team and hopefully still is. I hope this toughens her resolve.

I raced tonight in the second heat of the steeple and the water barrier height was indeed not at the women's height. We heard nothing about the barrier being too high at the time (obviously, as you can't tell a group of women that the race they're about to run isn't the one they've been training for) but afterwards a bunch of us were talking about how it seemed too high. I noticed it on the first water jump, as mine are usually good, but tonight I couldn't hit them properly, and after the race I found out why. After her race, Barringer told the official, but to keep things at an "equal disadvantage" the barrier remained at the same height, otherwise you'd have a first heat filled with legitimate protest filers.

Of course an official would go over, eyeball it and say it was at the right height- why would they openly admit to screwing up the height in front of a crowd? Also, it really seems to take a water jump in a race to figure it out, as I noticed immediately that it seemed higher while approaching the first water jump but thought that I was imagining it. If I were just looking from a standstill, there's nothing to put against it for scale, except a measuring device, so those in the stands likely wouldn't have noticed. If a record was set this evening, it would have been nullified due to improper officiating. This better not happen in the finals.

Additionally, Nicole's ankle was black and blue in the med tent, which sounds serious and I hope that there's a large enough amount of tape she can wrap her ankle with that will allow her to race on Sunday. Being a shorter girl, she really relies on form to get over the barriers, and when the height's off, it really throws her, and other shorter women, off, thus the damage to the ankle.

boson wrote:

. . . Barringer, noticed it and did go to the officials afterward, she was on camera doing that, pointing in the direction. If Barringer noticed it, something was wrong.

I was wondering why Jenny B was so animated after she crossed the line.

One good race and now she's whining at everything.

Next she'll be whining that her drugs didn't work well enough.

Just from watching the race on the webcast I could tell something was off.. Jenny was stutter-stepping just about every water and thats not typical for her.

This pisses me off.. How hard is it to make sure the height is right at a championship event. In college I ran my PR at drake relays only to find out 2 days later that one of the barriers was an inch or two low.

Nice job vin! Nicole bush has a broken foot.

This can't be right. No women, particularly an elite one, possibly post on Letsrun.

Meet officials list posted anywhere?

Hey trollism - go find an assh*le and crawl back where you came from.