If you could create an event for track and field, what would it be?

The Real High Jump

I always thought it was strange that pole vault equipment is so expensive and is only used for one event. How about covering the "plant" hole and using the pole vault runway, pit and bar for a real high jump competition. The idea is to run, jump up and knock the bar off with your fingers at increasingly higher heights. No flopping. No straddle. Just pure "high" jumping technique. As per usual, you get three tries at each height. Might get some basketball players out for this event. And best of all for the officials, when you miss, you don’t have to replace the bar.

Javelin for accuracy (already mentioned but here are some more specifics)

We may no longer think of track and field as a warlike activity, but why else are javelins thrown? How about javelin throwing for accuracy? You could have archery targets set up at 20m, 30m, 40m, 50m and 60m and give points for hitting the target. Kind of like a giant game of pub darts. Or balloons could be staked out at the same distances and points given for coming the closest. Then we could say, "Swifter, Higher, Stronger, STRAIGHTER."

Shot Put Bowling

Tens of thousands of people still bowl. We need an Olympic Track & Field event for them. Line up the shot bowlers on the finish line. Place a hurdle 50 meters up the home straight-away. Gentle bowl the shot put at the hurdle, one point for getting it under the hurdle. Most points in six tries wins and better yet, no gutter bowls or nasty 7-10 spares to muck things up. No points for trying to carve out finger holes, though.

Discus for Distance

Line up the discus competitors on the finish line. Roll the discus up the home straightway. Winner is the one who can roll the discus the furthest while still keeping the discus on the track. This would also be fun at indoor meets with banked tracks. See who can roll the discus up and around the banked corner of the track.

Pole Vaulting for Distance (already mentioned but more specifics)

Here is another possibility for the pole vaulters. Instead of pole vaulting for height, pole vault for distance. After all, half the work is lugging those long poles to a meet. Why not get some more work out of them? Apparently this was (is?) a sport in Holland, also known as canal jumping. I suppose you could also utilize the steeplechase water pit as the landing zone for real crowd appeal.

Long Jump with weights (Similar to triple jumping with a shot put )

Apparently the ancient Olympians thought they could get more distance long jumping with weights. Somewhere along the line, weights were disallowed. Seems like an interesting combination that would be entertaining to watch.

400m Skateboard Dash

In order to attract the skateboard crowd, how about a 400m Skateboard dash? Padding and helmets would be mandatory, of course, as skateboarders zoomed around the track, elbows flying. Why with this event alone, a television crew might actually show up.

Stadium Racing

One reason meets run long is that the 3K, 5K and 10K events are, well, so long. How about running them up, down and around the stadium steps instead while other events are happening on the track? This way the crowd could get a real close look at their favorite sweaty athlete.

Backward Hurdling

As a pure crowd pleaser. I can think of no better event than the backward hurdles. The idea is to try and run the 400m hurdles backwards. Oh, the running backwards is no mean trick, but what kind of technique could you use to actually get over the hurdles with a backward motion?

Standing Double Long Jump

There is already a standing long jump, but how about a second jump after landing the first one (or even a standing triple jump)

O.K., now we have ourselves a new modern Decathlon.

I would like to eliminate the newly created crab walk..

Nobody like that in gym class. Is it maybe time for an ultra? Like 100k or more? Triple jump is comically contrived. Respect for the jumpers, but how is that still around.

I'd replace the steeplechase with an individual stadium cross country running event on dirt made for fun spectating. Think supercross bikes or rallycross cars or cyclocross. There would be artificial hills (like the ramps used to jump cars) as high as you can reasonably make in a stadium. The course would wind around and cross under the artificial hill through a tunnel. There'd be watered down sections for mud (think muddy cyclocross), some sandy climbs too, and some barriers to jump.

It could be 45 minutes or an hour plus one lap. Maybe pull lapped runners, or pull the last runner each lap.

zzzz wrote:

and some barriers to jump.

Also have some climbs that are a few 30" tall steps, so you have to vault up and down. Cross country mountain biking has added things like big drop and rock gardens so riders have needed to add skills. Similarly some freerunning/parkour skills would be of benefit to get up and down big steps quickly.

rgw wrote:

200 m Steeplechase. With 4 barriers and a water jump.

I was thinking 400m Steeple...

steeple go wrote:

Sorry to hijack, but I would instead rather delete events.

1. Steeplechase

Potentially the other hurdle events too but definitely steeple.

Come on man....

slowerthanu wrote:

10000 meter steeplechase - imagine the carnage late in the races with epic falls. Would be the NASCAR of track racing.

YES !!!

Add me as one more vote for elimination races.

I'd also like to see more time trials. Maybe set them up pursuit style, with two runners starting on opposite sides of the track. It's crazy to me that as much as everyone in track obsesses over times, they still conduct every race as a mass start.

busybusy wrote:

Decathlon race - all the disciplines back-to-back as a point to point race. Get rid of points - hit a minimum standard for the throws/ jumps or you're knocked out.

Kinda like ninja warrior but round a track.

What would the minimum standards be?

try this? wrote:

Triple-shot. Some teammates of mine did this. You carry a shot while doing a triple jump and release it before you land. Success is measured by the distance of the shot from the triple jump's takeoff spot.

Did you throw it or did you put it?

How about the 110m and 400m limbo (hurdles in the same place as in hurdle races, but you have to limbo under them - not sure of the height)

The triple jump is useful if you're trying cross a river containing two evenly spaced crocodiles.

Somersault long jump.

EOT.

Long Piss, just a good old male pissing contest.

Marathon on a 9-laps-to-a-mile indoor track.

SDSU Aztec wrote:

The triple jump is useful if you're trying cross a river containing two evenly spaced crocodiles.

I can stop reading now. Nothing is going to be better than this.

Cheese roll with a gold medal stuck inside

OFOOS wrote:

[quote]SDSU Aztec wrote:

The triple jump is useful if you're trying cross a river containing two evenly spaced crocodiles.

I can stop reading now. Nothing is going to be better than this.

A popular myth as to the triple jump’s origin (popular being a relative term) is jumping from one rock to another across a stream, and it’s possible that wild animals played a part in its early development, though not in the way you suggest.

It is also true that the jumping events could be made more interesting for lay spectators by introducing flamboyance and danger, in the way that the circus makes trapeze artists out of gymnasts. No reason to stop at the somersault long jump, make the first 15 feet of the pit on fire or a water tank filled with sharks. (No more running through the pit on fouls.)

Drew Peacock wrote:

busybusy wrote:

Decathlon race - all the disciplines back-to-back as a point to point race. Get rid of points - hit a minimum standard for the throws/ jumps or you're knocked out.

Kinda like ninja warrior but round a track.

What would the minimum standards be?

This sounds a lot like an obstacle course race, similar stuff is currently done in cross-fit and used to be done in the Superstars competition back in the day (O.J. Simpson holds the record for the fastest time). It does stand to reason though that as you make obstacle races more elaborate you would necessarily decrease interest in the more mundane hurdles and steeple.

Parcours would be the purest ninja warrior event. David Bell, the founder of the sport, resists attempts to transform/promote it as a race or time trial. Having a standardized parkour course is also somewhat inconsistent with the philosophy of the discipline, but it might help stop people overdoing the danger.

utbcw wrote:

Drew Peacock wrote:

What would the minimum standards be?

This sounds a lot like an obstacle course race, similar stuff is currently done in cross-fit and used to be done in the Superstars competition back in the day (O.J. Simpson holds the record for the fastest time). It does stand to reason though that as you make obstacle races more elaborate you would necessarily decrease interest in the more mundane hurdles and steeple.

Parcours would be the purest ninja warrior event. David Bell, the founder of the sport, resists attempts to transform/promote it as a race or time trial. Having a standardized parkour course is also somewhat inconsistent with the philosophy of the discipline, but it might help stop people overdoing the danger.

I think you might be wrong there.

Whilst parkour looks very dangerous, I think they usually spend quite a long time building up before doing anything dangerous. They'll do lots of run ups, check surfaces they will be taking off and landing on (to see if everything is sturdy, not slippery).

But if they were pressured to do things quickly, that could be dangerous.