Never heard or read it explained...
Never heard or read it explained...
They crammed the biggest track they could into Franklin Field. 9 lanes, but only the outside 5 are 400m or more. Short straightaways and big turns.
My guess has always been there were originally 6 lanes (4-9) and they wanted to expand, but the only way they could do it was on the inside since the Franklin Field walls are pretty solid.
The previous posters are correct. Franklin Field was originally 6 lanes with the stands right on the edge of the outside lane. When they expanded they added the extra lanes on the inside. So inside lanes are over a lap long for 400m.
so what do they use the inside lanes for?
The inside lanes are mainly for relays. If you watch the athletes line up on these lanes they are along the front straight in front of the finish lines. Usually after the first lap the inside lane runners merge outside to the normal lane one on the back straight of the second lap. They have moveable rails to guide the runners to that position from the inside.
its stupid and needs torn down and rebuilt, never seen so many people crash on a track before, only a matter of time before some olympians career is ended on that crappy track.
dire wolves wrote:
its stupid and needs torn down and rebuilt, never seen so many people crash on a track before, only a matter of time before some olympians career is ended on that crappy track.
This is the most incorrect statement that has ever been made about the sport of Track & Field.
How many people "crashed" during the three days of this year's meet? How many of those were directly caused by runners merging in from the inside lanes?
Cutting in, cutting out, it's pretty much the same thing. start in your own lane and converge after a turn. No reason to throw away a perfectly good track.
confused68687 wrote:
so what do they use the inside lanes for?
The inside lanes are decoys so that power walkers and soccer parents are kept to the inside of the 400m lanes. We should install these at every track.
You'll laugh, but when I started working out on the track, I thought the inside lane was 400m. I couldn't believe how fit I was! I'm sure I am not the first to make this mistake, but it was embarrassing to find it out later in conversation with another runner.
what they need to do on tracks (especially indoors ones) is have another track about 10 feet above the one on the ground.
That way multiple runners could run in the ideal lanes.
Maybe have the upper track be see thru! Would be awesome!
dire wolves wrote:
its stupid and needs torn down and rebuilt,
That's the eastern mind set, narrow and strange.
Among the issues with Penn are:
--Most relay races from 4x4 and up only use the outer 5 lanes
--Most relay races from 4x4 and up have huge fields
--I think that the lanes are narrower than most other major tracks (looks like 48 inches for normal tracks versus 40 inches for Penn, though I could be wrong)
A unique venue that works for a major relay festival like the Penn Relays. It really wouldn't work for a typical Diamond League type event.
It is different, but that's part of makes it unique.