Date: 5th October 2014
Location: Colchester Harriers, Arena Sports and Leisure Centre, Colchester
Cost: Free
Rules: Competitors sprint over 100m, whilst jumping over 10 hurdles evenly placed along the track. The fastest wins. Each athlete must stay in their allocated lane. They are allowed to knock the hurdles, but will be disqualified if they hit the hurdle with their hand.
The Event:
Times:
Sarah: 0:26.35
Ellie: 0:35.90
London 2012 Olympic Gold Medal: 0:12.35 - Sally Pearson, Australia.
Comments:
Sarah: We couldn't have hoped for a nicer day to hit the track and tackle the 100m hurdles. We started with a warm-up and introduction to the hurdling technique before working through clearing one hurdle, increasing the height, then two and three so we could develop our stride pattern. The demonstrations by the other Harriers were a huge help, and showed up how effortless it should look! I was really pleased with the hurdle height I reached in the practice, but by the time we came to the proper event, my legs were starting to tire and I had to reduce the height. I threw myself into this one, and felt it in lesser-used muscles the next couple of days! I really enjoyed hurdling, and am looking forward to returning to it over the longer distance.
Ellie: I was really glad to be attempting hurdles with no warning (we were originally down to do pole vault today) as I'm not too fond of running and it was good not to have time to dwell on it. The magic thing with hurdling is that the athletes manage to keep their upper body constant and still and that they 'just' bring their legs up and over the hurdle. We had some young Harriers giving us tips and demos; it was amazing to watch it done so well.
It was a lovely day for an outside event and our hurdles were set nice and low. The strangest thing was that I experienced a real mental block. After successfully, if not a little clumsily, hurdling for about 6 turns I was suddenly really conscious of what I was doing and unable to launch myself over. Thankfully, that wore off for the main event and I was able to trot through the 100m without any negative thoughts. I actually enjoyed it and really look forward to returning to it in the 400m form and the heptathlon event.
Big thanks to Chris for the coaching and Harriers Ellie, Ellie, Hannah, Imogen and Jess for their enthusiasm and showing us how it's meant to be done!
Ellie: I was really glad to be attempting hurdles with no warning (we were originally down to do pole vault today) as I'm not too fond of running and it was good not to have time to dwell on it. The magic thing with hurdling is that the athletes manage to keep their upper body constant and still and that they 'just' bring their legs up and over the hurdle. We had some young Harriers giving us tips and demos; it was amazing to watch it done so well.
It was a lovely day for an outside event and our hurdles were set nice and low. The strangest thing was that I experienced a real mental block. After successfully, if not a little clumsily, hurdling for about 6 turns I was suddenly really conscious of what I was doing and unable to launch myself over. Thankfully, that wore off for the main event and I was able to trot through the 100m without any negative thoughts. I actually enjoyed it and really look forward to returning to it in the 400m form and the heptathlon event.
Big thanks to Chris for the coaching and Harriers Ellie, Ellie, Hannah, Imogen and Jess for their enthusiasm and showing us how it's meant to be done!
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