ADRIAN MARTINEZ USES WRONG MILE START LINE?!?!?!

mathematics wrote:

Star wrote:

Every track I have ever seen was lined as if it was either 400m around or 440 yards around. (this was lined as a 400.6 m track)

My guess is that every "400m" track without a rail you've ever seen has been lined the exact same way as this one is.

You've never seen a meet add a temporary rail and make an adjustment like this one did presumably because either

(a) not many elite meets are taking place on tracks without a rail to being with, so there's no need to add a temporary rail

or

(b) the average meet director doesn't know enough to make this correction and all the races end up being slightly "long."

A and B are both correct. Elite meets do certify themselves but very few if any are held on high school tracks. High schools tracks are multi purpose with many uses on the infield not just the track. Rails would be a nightmare.

Simple adjustments measured properly are accepted internationally and work.

Point B is unfortunately correct as many coaches just don't have the knowledge or someone knowledgeable in the community to help.

Question: are the big college tracks marked so that a lap WITH a curb is 400m? Or are they like this HS track that Adrian Martinez used?

Yes.

If you look at Baylor's track here:

https://www2.baylor.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/track-dec14.jpg

They have a traditional mile line 9.44m behind the start and another one 6.832m behind the start.

They remove the curb from competition sometimes which changes the dimensions of the track.

But college tracks are marked assuming that 30cm away from the barrier is hte measure line and that distance is 400m. If you remove the barrier, then you have lane 1 being short ~.6m each lap as you're running 20cm away from it.

Most of the college/university tracks I know of were built to have a curb. Nearly all of the tracks around the world are as well. Infact, many countries have many IAAF certified tracks - many more then the USA.

file:///C:/SRS-2017-data/IAAF%20CERTIFICATES%20-%20Certified%20Athletics%20Facilities.pdf

For years, athletes have achieved qualifying performances on tracks/facilities that have not met the IAAF standards because there was really no way of checking. But now with everything on the internet the world (and the IAAF) is watching. This is even more of an issue for the acceptance of performances for the long throws where the events are contested on adjacent fields that do not meet the criteria for levelness. USATF has started to crack down and only accept field event performances from certain competitions where there is a measurement report attesting to the accuracy of the venue.

I believe the two lines you are referring two are:

1. The assembly line for the mile (the one furthest away from the finish line)

2. The actual mile start (one nearest to the finish line).

Why?-

The starting line for the mile on a 400m track is 9.344m meters before the finish line (1609.344 on a 400m track). The beginning of the relay exchange zone is 10 meters before the finish line. This line (mile start) appears to be in the correct position approximately 0.66m nearer to the finish line from the beginning of the relay zone.

Many tracks have a walk up line for the distance races - most of the time it is a dashed line.

explainer wrote:

Yes.

If you look at Baylor's track here:

https://www2.baylor.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/track-dec14.jpg

They have a traditional mile line 9.44m behind the start and another one 6.832m behind the start.

They remove the curb from competition sometimes which changes the dimensions of the track.

But college tracks are marked assuming that 30cm away from the barrier is hte measure line and that distance is 400m. If you remove the barrier, then you have lane 1 being short ~.6m each lap as you're running 20cm away from it.

I suppose in theory, you wouldn't just need to have double marks for the mile - you'd have to have double marks for EVERY distance that uses a bend and is run in lane 1. I.e. all the distance events. So, there should be double marks for the 800m, 1500m, 3000m, 5000m, etc etc. I'm trying to see it in the Baylor photo - is it those black lines for the 800m that sit just behind the white ones?

mathematics wrote:

Star wrote:

Every track I have ever seen was lined as if it was either 400m around or 440 yards around. (this was lined as a 400.6 m track)

My guess is that every "400m" track without a rail you've ever seen has been lined the exact same way as this one is.

By lined I meant starting lines for each distance, not how it is lined for one lap.

So they have not been lined for the starts the exact same way.

This meet was innovative.

Star wrote:

mathematics wrote:

My guess is that every "400m" track without a rail you've ever seen has been lined the exact same way as this one is.

By lined I meant starting lines for each distance, not how it is lined for one lap.

So they have not been lined for the starts the exact same way.

This meet was innovative.

It was indeed. I believe they used tape for yesterday's starting lines, so it's not like the track has those markings on it. I agree that I've also never noticed any other meet doing this, either because they don't need to (no temporary rail) or because they don't know to do so.

I did it for the adidas meet last year at Dilboy Stadium and it will be done for tonight as well.

The Schrader Mile in Austin did it this year. They also consulted with Mr. Katz and Steve Lane I believe.

There are very few meet directors that have done this correctly however.

This thread is a good example of how this site can be awesome at times. Filter through the trolls, the extreme right wing nonsense, the predict my 5ks and you find golden threads like this.

I learn a great deal from this site - but often it takes time to navigate through some of the silly stuff.

Couldn't you just place the rail 10cm inside the line and keep the start lines where they are at???

Is a replay of the race available anywhere?

The rules state that the curb must be placed ON the inner most portion of lane 1 along the line, which prohibits the idea you have.

It's also a curb (the IAAF calls it a "kerb"), not a rail.

I've run on a lot of tracks with or without a rail in the UK but they never altered the start place from the regular ones.

Do any other tracks do this?

Unless you run right on the rail for the entire race, which almost never happens, you are going to run in excess of 1500m. Nobody runs exactly 1500 in any race anywhere.

Mr Katz: Did they also have an adjusted two-turn stagger start for lane 1 only? Obviously rail/no rail doesn't affect 2-8.

To my knowledge they did not run a two turn stagger. The only staggers that were adjusted were for the 800 - if they ran them in lanes. It's a very small adjustment (lane one - 1.25 m, lanes 2-8 - 0.94m)