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Question about track and field competions
- Thread starter Gibbs505
- Start date
M
montycrusto
Guest
Only in the Northern Hemisphere. South of the equator they go round the other way.
mp5stab
Hair and Nails
It's to do with how they are marked more than anything. The tracks themselves are 400 meters, but only in the center lane, which means that for a 400-meter race where every racer is restricted to their own lane, and they all have to cross the finish like at the same time, they have to have staggered starts, which the exterior lanes starting further forward. This set up can only be run in one direction, and its typically counter-clockwise, although there is nothing to really prevent you from putting mirrored markings on the other side of the finish line and running the track the other way.
windar
Teller of Tales
Sorry, but the sources I've found say that it's because it's easier for righties to run counterclockwise and 80% of people are righties.
www.livescience.com
Why are Races Run Counterclockwise?
It's believed to be easier for righties, who make up the majority of world population, to run in a counterclockwise motion.
www.livescience.com
Gibbs505
SERVORUM DOMITOR
Not when I was living in New Zealand!Only in the Northern Hemisphere. South of the equator they go round the other way.
mp5stab
Hair and Nails
Strong disagree. It’s not more natural left-or right-handed to lean into a turn to the left or to the right. Especially at a high level, where both of the legs will be equally strong. Ask yourself, when you go out for a jog, do you slowly veer to the left or the right as you attempt to run straight? No? Of course not!
there is no reason like that, that’s pure fabricatio, an absolute ex-post-facto rationalization. Take it from me, someone who ran track, and not some dumb article writer who doesn’t know what they are talking about and are trading to sound smart by linking unrelated scientific things.
The tracks are painted counter-clockwise because that’s the standard, and that limits you to counterclockwise races.
As for why, the reason is not to give right handers an advantage when stepping off onto their left foot; they don’t have an advantage. You can check the stats on the 400 meter dash yourself. And it wouldn’t be sporting to give them an advantage anyways. Why should you get an advantage over a stronger, faster runner, because you are in the majority? So dumb.
The reason is not because we perceive time as left to right because we read left to right; this article writer forgot to include yknow, Arabic and Hebrew? They read right to left! Kinda major omission there.
The real reason is because the Olympics run in that direction, and most 400m tracks have the standard Olympic layout. Which really just kicks the ball down the road.
like horse racing is run counterclockwise too. Horses have opposite “hoofedness” that humans do. So whatever reason is more fundamental than those two guesses. But OUR reason is that the tracks are already painted that way.
there is no reason like that, that’s pure fabricatio, an absolute ex-post-facto rationalization. Take it from me, someone who ran track, and not some dumb article writer who doesn’t know what they are talking about and are trading to sound smart by linking unrelated scientific things.
The tracks are painted counter-clockwise because that’s the standard, and that limits you to counterclockwise races.
As for why, the reason is not to give right handers an advantage when stepping off onto their left foot; they don’t have an advantage. You can check the stats on the 400 meter dash yourself. And it wouldn’t be sporting to give them an advantage anyways. Why should you get an advantage over a stronger, faster runner, because you are in the majority? So dumb.
The reason is not because we perceive time as left to right because we read left to right; this article writer forgot to include yknow, Arabic and Hebrew? They read right to left! Kinda major omission there.
The real reason is because the Olympics run in that direction, and most 400m tracks have the standard Olympic layout. Which really just kicks the ball down the road.
like horse racing is run counterclockwise too. Horses have opposite “hoofedness” that humans do. So whatever reason is more fundamental than those two guesses. But OUR reason is that the tracks are already painted that way.
M
montycrusto
Guest
It’s true, I’ve never seen a horse hold a pen with its right hoof!
Loxuru
Graf von Kreuzigung
A hypothesis : to please the Gods.
In Ancient times, start and finish of the athletics track, or the hippodrome, was located in front of the emperor's, or king's, or whatver ruler's loggia. The athletes had to run to right, from the ruler's viewpoint, because running to the left was bad.
After all, in many languages, like English : 'right' means right, and left is bad (sinistram in Latin; 'sinistre' still means a disaster in French). So you better ran into the 'right' direction, particularly een from the ruler's view, or you would get the anger of the Gods upon your heads.
In Ancient times, start and finish of the athletics track, or the hippodrome, was located in front of the emperor's, or king's, or whatver ruler's loggia. The athletes had to run to right, from the ruler's viewpoint, because running to the left was bad.
After all, in many languages, like English : 'right' means right, and left is bad (sinistram in Latin; 'sinistre' still means a disaster in French). So you better ran into the 'right' direction, particularly een from the ruler's view, or you would get the anger of the Gods upon your heads.
Hugin&Munin
Presenter Of Images
Ich habe eine Antwort in der deutschen Seite Fitbook gefunden:
Translation:
The correct answer: the British and horse racing are to blame!
Ultimately, however, the correct answer is provided by the British as the forefathers of horse racing. But what do England and horses have to do with runners, one wonders? To do this, you have to go back about 200 years: Back then, the first horse races “in a circle” did not take place on the racetrack, but on busy country roads. And it is known that there is left-hand traffic in England. When the sport was later moved from the street to the harness racing track, this direction was simply retained.
And this is where the runners finally come into play. Because when they didn't have their own sports stadiums, they also trained on the racecourse - counterclockwise. This is how it finally established itself in athletics and the whole world is running around to the left in the stadium.
Translation:
The correct answer: the British and horse racing are to blame!
Ultimately, however, the correct answer is provided by the British as the forefathers of horse racing. But what do England and horses have to do with runners, one wonders? To do this, you have to go back about 200 years: Back then, the first horse races “in a circle” did not take place on the racetrack, but on busy country roads. And it is known that there is left-hand traffic in England. When the sport was later moved from the street to the harness racing track, this direction was simply retained.
And this is where the runners finally come into play. Because when they didn't have their own sports stadiums, they also trained on the racecourse - counterclockwise. This is how it finally established itself in athletics and the whole world is running around to the left in the stadium.
windar
Teller of Tales
Handedness is not a matter of large muscle strength, but of fine motor dexterity. If you're right-handed, your left arm is likely just as strong in lifting weights as your right arm, but you probably cannot write legibly with your left hand without a lot of practice. And you can be trained. My father was a natural lefty who was forced to write with his right hand in school, as was common back in the day. The excuse was that lefties would have their hand over what they wrote as they moved from left to right and tend to smear the ink from the fountain pen. The real reason was that lefties were perceived as different and therefore evil (hence the term sinister from the Latin for left)
Running on oval tracks didn't originate in the Middle East. Their races before the modern era, whether on foot, horse or camel were almost certainly a straight line, who gets to that palm tree first sort of affair.
Yes, it kicks the ball down the road, but with which foot?
But horses don't design the tracks!!
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dfg42
Senator
It naturally proves the globe.....Only in the Northern Hemisphere. South of the equator they go round the other way.
When I was a lad I broke my right arm. It is amazing how little time it took to become 'left-handed'! I must report shortly after the cast came off I returned to being right-handed...
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