Are steeplechasers just rejects who couldn't make it in other distance events/cross country?

Steeple is one of the toughest events. It combines jumping and hurdling fast twitch muscles with the burn of a distance race, not to mention the fact that your shoes are weighted down by water every lap. I wouldn't call them rejects at all. Where did this notion come from anyway? It's just as legitimate as all the other events. Would you say people who can't sprint do distance, so they are rejects and vice versa? It's all relative, so no, they're not rejects.

I would say for the most part they are guys who weren't quite good enough at other events. Not fast enough for the 1500 or 5k, yet still have talent and are fairly tough. Olympic guys would be the exception. They are pretty fast at other events as well.

Yea, you're pretty much right.

Every athlete wishes they were really a rock star, right?

Well every steepler wishes they were a miler or a marathoner. I was going to say 5k guy but nobody cares about that event either.

i started out as an 800/miler. i ran 149 and 359. i have since run teh 3k in 751, the 5k high 13's and placed top 10 at NCAA xc. i feel like i have run good times in all my events ad could run what i want and i have decided to runt he steeple. i did it once as a freshman at 856, this my senior year i chose to do it even though i could be successful at another event.

my answer is steepler's are good in other events.

kyle alcorn, ncaa champ at 3k and sub 4 mile.

josh mcadams, 753 3k and 4 flat mile

many more if i had time

(oh and solinsky is going to run the steeple)

yeah, that Kiptanui was a failure at everything else so he tried the steeplechase

While it's true that oftentimes runners try the steeplechase merely for a chance to compete, the really fast steeple guys are incredibly legit at other events. Look at Fam - very low 13's for 5k, fast 10k, even a pretty decent 1500, yet the guy chooses to focus on the steeple. As a poster mentioned earlier, the steeple combines more skill sets than any other single event - hurdling, jumping, and distance running. It's a very tough race.

I have no beef with steeplechase runners. It just seems like they're always too lazy to capitalize their sentences.

Solinsky failed to make the Olympic team in the 5k so he's switching to the steeple.

The best example I can think of for an American steeplechase stud who wasn't a "reject" is Jenny Barringer, 2nd at NCAAs to Sally Kipyego.. and who has a shot at winning next year (vs. Susan Kuijken).

Actually Willard's sub 4:07 1500 PR (Olympic A Standard) is pretty good too.

Those are the best examples I can think of. Not people who couldn't make it in one event so switched to steeple.

kyle perry?

359.1 wrote:

i started out as an 800/miler. i ran 149 and 359. i have since run teh 3k in 751, the 5k high 13's and placed top 10 at NCAA xc. i feel like i have run good times in all my events ad could run what i want and i have decided to runt he steeple. i did it once as a freshman at 856, this my senior year i chose to do it even though i could be successful at another event.

my answer is steepler's are good in other events.

kyle alcorn, ncaa champ at 3k and sub 4 mile.

josh mcadams, 753 3k and 4 flat mile

many more if i had time

(oh and solinsky is going to run the steeple)

There may be something to this notion, but I also think a lot of them are people that like the 3000-meter distance and would run flat 3000s if they were more common.

the reason you see so many mediocre 5k and 10k guys in college is because they arent athletic or coordinated enough to do the steeple.

Its easier to be good because not everyone can hurdle with either leg, continually switch gears and rythm and run in a pack without biffing. The fastest kid we had, 3:45, 8:08 and ncaa xc qualifer, looked hilarious over it and likely would of killed himself had he continued.

Never done this event but my friends that did said is tougher than anything you'll ever experience in running event .

As a cyclist I regularly do cyclocross . In this event you run over 40 cm barriers , with your ~20lb bike in one hand or on your shoulder . Painful fun and lots of elements of xc running . Try it before your life is over .

as a past steeplechaser, looking back the exact reason i started it was to make nationals as a 15 year old. i was a decent runner but not fast enough qualify in the 3k or 1500. i learned to like the event and by the end of college was pretty good (ran at nationals). as far as cross country i was an all american so that was alright. i always found the steeplechase to be easier then a regular event becuase the race is broken up so much. i found it mentally easier to run barrier to barrier and plan my race that way. in the 5k i always got stuck counting down the laps which was no good for me

Fam

27:37

13:11

7:41

3:35

Steeple is a hard event get over yourself.

Take eight top 5K runners nationally or internationally, have them all compete in a 4000 meter steeple (not a 3K) agianst eight top steeplers

Then we would have a better idea. Would these slower 5k pr'd steeplers last through another 1000 or be swallowed up by the elite 5k guys? Would the 5K guys crack after 3K and watch as the steeplers tough it out and pull away over the last couple of laps? I would pay to see that.

yes, pretty much. i wouldn\'t say \'rejects\', cause the good ones are decent on the flats, too, but can score higher in the steeple, cause the best of the flats stay with the flats. same reason most of us became distance runners. we started out trying to sprint or at least run the 400m and kept moving up in distance until we were competitive.

Plasticized cross country, toughest track race, favors the more athletic runner (see Billy Nelson & Jenny Barringer). Not popular among fast runners for those reasons.

Nobody mentioned SWIMMING !

http://press.pl/lewa_strona/www-data/1147774021m.jpg

Must have been beginners luck with an 8:56 first steeple...or else a short track like Stanfords.

I can't bag on steeplers until I see guys like Manzano, Teg, Webb, and Lagat run one. I honestly don't know what would happen, but it would be entertaining. I do have to say that steeplers are tough mentally and phyisically as are all distance runners. But steeplers bodies have to endure a pounding which is hard to find in high mileage distance runners.