Say it ain't so. Penn Relays steeple pit no longer will be in the corner

Will there still be turf in the infield? A lot of times on these renovations, they put artificial turf in the infield. For multi-use. So a once usable track becomes worthless because the infield is in constant use with lacrosse games or spectators watching football from the track.

We have one ally in our battle against astro-turf infields. Soccer. Soccer is better on real grass turf. Soccer fans usually stay off the track and a soccer ball will not kill you like a lacrosse ball might.

Bad news they switched to an artificial infield surface.

wineturtle wrote:

Bad news they switched to an artificial infield surface.

It's been artificial infield for decades.

Tuppanys Field wrote:

wineturtle wrote:

Bad news they switched to an artificial infield surface.

It's been artificial infield for decades.

You are correct my active competitor days ended half a dozen years before they made the switch from natural to artificial in 1969.

This was my favorite pit in the country. This is really very sad. Not only was it on the outside but when you landed you were on a straight so no post water cornering.

80s steepler wrote:

This is really very sad. Not only was it on the outside but when you landed you were on a straight so no post water cornering.

Time to re-calibrate your definition of "very sad."

not really very sad wrote:

80s steepler wrote:

This is really very sad. Not only was it on the outside but when you landed you were on a straight so no post water cornering.

Time to re-calibrate your definition of "very sad."

Time to recalibrate your desire to dictate other people's emotions.

Good riddance. I always hated that pit- you essentially have to land and take a 80-degree left turn or try to hit the barrier on an angle. If you were on the inside you ran the risk of hitting the inner lip of the pit while trying to run/jump the shortest line.

Far and away the worst of the three Heps pits (the other two being Yale- a traditional outside pit on the apex- and Princeton- inside pit on the front of the turn and my personal favorite). People will often run 5 seconds faster the next week at ECACs/IC4As at Princeton compared to Penn Heps.

That being said, my PR is from Penn so I can't complain too much.

NO EMOTION SHAMING

Chaserofsteeples wrote:

Good riddance. I always hated that pit- you essentially have to land and take a 80-degree left turn or try to hit the barrier on an angle. If you were on the inside you ran the risk of hitting the inner lip of the pit while trying to run/jump the shortest line..

i don't understand your hostility for it. Besides, your description is not accurate. There was no 80° left turn. When you cleared the water you were lined up almost perfectly for the straight. It's much easier than the turn back onto the track on an inside waterjump.

I also don't understand the fetish for it. Back in the day the finishline of the Penn Relays steeplechase was on the curve. At the 1976 NCAA they altered the finishline to the normal line, making the waterjump the last barrier of the race. It's been that way ever since. If my memory is right the 1976 Penn Relays finished on the curve and was switched for the NCAAs. I remember there was some confusion where to start during the qualifying rounds because of the change.