A brief introduction about hurdles

While considering the hurdle event in track and field, there always exists a misconception which is that most of them consider this game as just a jumping event, but it is not so. It is a sprint event that is conducted for both sexes of human beings. In this spot, it is considered as portable barriers in which the competitors must leap in certain races. In this race, a series of such barriers are kept and the competitor must jump without breaking their stride. There are two types of races that exist and they are sprint and long hurdle races. Unlike other track and field events, this game is not so easy and an athlete takes some years to get master through this art and they need entire hard work and practice.

To reach the first hurdle, the sprinters either use seven or eight foot gaits, but most of the sprinters uses eight foot gait to reach the first one. Actually the sprinters lead with the knee of their dominant leg and they lift the knee and raise the dominant foot over the hurdle. Most of the sprinters clears the hurdle by reaching the opposite arm towards the toe of the dominant leg because this keeps their body centered and helps the momentum to carry the body as they jump over the track hurdle. For conserving speed and energy, the athletes lean the upper body towards the dominant leg to keep the center of gravity low over the hurdle. These are the steps taken by the hurdlers to complete their task in this event.

It is a very popular and challenging event in track and field and the fast speed and proper hurdle jumping technical skills is what most of the successful hurdlers possess. The athletes who are young are entitled to participate in events that begin with 80- meter distance and as they get old, the races become longer and also the height of the hurdles are set farther apart.

So the sprinters get trained in both on and off of the track by using variety of drills in order to increase their skills and speeds. Two types of athletic gear available for this event is max-power hurdle and training hurdle and they are made as per the standards prescribed by IAAF. The max- power type is one of the best available block that suits best for both training and competition session. It is a light weight one that is built of strong rectangular aluminum construction with necessary height adjustment.

It is specially designed with ABS plastic molding system for easy slip-in adjustment of gate board and has push buttons to raise and lower the board to the desired height adjustment. The training type of hurdle is a great tool for training session and almost used by all players in track and field events. It also has the same features as that of the first one. If any problem exists in hurdles, then the athlete can use replacement board and it is an useful equipment in emergency.