Anyone Know Anything About Roddie Haley Running 59.82 for 500 at NCAA Meet?

Odds are there is a border between the lane and the end of the material of a least a couple of inches.

They definitely need to go back to running the 5 and 1k.

Gray split 59.5 in his 600 world record slowing over the last 75 meters.

The edge of the track was not the limit, there was a white line there where the curb usually is. The white line may not have been the physical edge of the track either, it may have been somewhat inside the circle that the white line made. I don't remember as I didn't go to that meet. I remember reading about it in TaFNews though.

Therefore you could "run inside the line" without "falling in" or breaking your ankle.

Do you think anyone could introduce you to Garry Hill? He really is the authority on all these kinds of matters in the U.S. and you are sort of in the Track and Field industry?

You could also ask Doug Consiglio or any of the Hogs from that era, they were teammates of Roddie "The Rocket" Haley. Haley had amazing talent, off the charts. It seemed like he may have been able to be in the same league as Steve Lewis, Quincy Watts, Danny Everett, Butch Reynolds, and Michael Johnson. Able to break 44.00 most likely.

He squandered his talent if I remember correctly.

If the inside lane line had been the physical edge of the track, if somebody ran "inside" a little too much like people are known to do both inside and out, they would collapse into the open space at 15-20 mph. Recipe for disaster or death.

There was a buffer between the "edge" and the lane line.

I remember the picture in T&F News. Of course there was all sorts of Halley's comet references since it appeared that year as well.

Very likely it's just the technicality of the track structure and layout.

I saw the race with my own eyes. Haley was incredible. Probably the greatest talent I was ever privy to seeing as a Hog from '86-'90, and that includes a whole boat load of studs. As was stated, this was done on a board 10 lap to the mile track.

According to Track Newsletter at the time, the track was improperly measured, resulting in a shortage of 25.12 inches per lap. Also, the staggers for the 500 and 4x400 were improperly set, with lanes 2-6 being 36 inches longer than lane 1.

I demand an oral history on this race from Jonathan Gault.

GrayWR500 wrote:

Gray split 59.5 in his 600 world record slowing over the last 75 meters.

Did he looked relaxed?

Was he wearing trainers?

I posted this link on the Shoutout Sowinski thread yesterday making reference to the miss measured track.

Thanks for a better cite LookerBack.

So it was not an issues with the curbing at all.

The ghost of Pat Davey wrote:

Do you think anyone could introduce you to Garry Hill? He really is the authority on all these kinds of matters in the U.S. and you are sort of in the Track and Field industry?

Dave Johnson Penn Relays Director is a good source too.

Both Bob Hersh (another great historical source) and Dave Johnson on the issue.

http://trackandfieldnews.com/discussion/showthread.php?110757-1986-87-NCAA-Indoor-Short-Track&highlight=Roddie+Haley

Does anyone know what they said? The link is dead. What would his 59.82 have been worth if it wasn't short? What did they estimate it to be? Sadly, Roddie has died. There is a thread on his passing here: