How
to Get More out of Watching a Track Meet
James Dunaway for the IAAF
27 July 2001 - Over the years, watching everything
from Olympic finals to elementary school competitions, I found that there were certain
things I could do which helped me see a lot more of what was really happening and thus
enjoy more of what I saw. Here are some thoughts:
Bring a stopwatch, binoculars, pen and paper
Stopwatch: Every time a starting gun sounds, there’s something you can time. Sure, most really important meets today have fully automatic timing, and the results are up on the scoreboard almost as fast as you can say, "One-hundred meter dash." But you can still find a stopwatch useful in many ways. In a distance race, pick one runner and split his 400-meter lap times, which will give you an overall idea of how he really ran the race. And if the runner you’re timing races up from fourth or fifth place with a strong finishing kick to win the race, you can say, knowingly, "He ran his last 400 meters in 57.6!" Even watching on TV, you can use a stopwatch to make the viewing more fun.
Binoculars of course, are useless if you’re watching TV. But at the track they’re great for seeing details you might otherwise miss. In the discus, for example, some throwers just step into the circle and throw; while others go through elaborate rituals before every attempt. In the high jump you can see what part of the body knocks the bar off when there’s a miss, and what the jumper does to correct it on the next try. In a 1,500 meters, try zeroing in on the pack of runners behind the leader. There’s a lot more physical contact than you might imagine – pushing, elbowing, stepping on and spiking - as each athlete tries to maintain a "comfort zone. Some of it’s defensive, of course, but some of it’s downright aggressive. Most people never see things like these. But you can see them if you use those binoculars.
Writing materials. Take a clip board, or a notebook to write down the results as they’re announced, to keep a record of the splits you’ve taken, and to keep score. When possible, I like to keep a running record of any field event I’m watching, so I know at all times who’s leading, who’s second, who’s been eliminated, and so on. If you have a startlist, or heat sheets, or a meet program with event-by-event startlists, you can do most of your writing there. Even watching TV, there are plenty of things worth making notes about. I wouldn’t think of watching a meet on the tube without a pad and a pen handy.
Watch the meet with friends
Sitting with one or more friends, you’ll see much more than if you are sitting alone in the stands. One pal will be charting a field event, and when a top competitors is ready to jump or throw, he just has to say, "Marion Jones," or "Godina," and all of us know just where to look. Another will keep a sheet for assigning and recording splits for each distance race or relay. A third will keep an eye on the wind gauge. And of course, friendly differences of opinion will arise. Cordner Nelson, co-founder and for many years editor of Track & Field News, says, "One of the things I enjoy most at a meet is making bets with friends. If he thinks Gebrselassie is going to win and I think Tergat will win, it makes it a lot more fun if we have a small bet going." Don’t get the idea that Cordner is a latter-day "Bet-A-Million" Gates. Cordner’s standard bet used to be a milkshake; now he generally bets a nickel (5 cents, American). But still, he says, "It makes the race a lot more interesting if you have a bet on it." That certainly works when you’re watching TV with friends, too.
Watching the sprints
As a reporter, I’m usually seated on the homestretch side close to the finish line. I see the straightaway races virtually head-on for most of each race, and it appears that the runners in the inside and middle lanes are far ahead of those on the outside. To compensate for this, I look for lines across the track, and sort of "scan" the runners as they cross these lines to see who really is in front. This takes practice, but I find it really works. Hurdles races are a lot easier: just watch to see who "rises" to a hurdle first.
Bert Nelson, co-founder of Track & Field News, always s that the best place to watch the home straight was across the track, along the backstretch. "You get a much better angle through the whole race," he said. Either way, always remember that the top-seeded runners are usually in lanes 3, 4, 5 and 6, so it’s usually a good idea to concentrate on the runners in those lanes.
Watching distance races
At home or in person, you can "split" a runner you’re interested in with your stopwatch (I usually write the runner’s place next to each split). Another idea comes from statistician Chris Kuykendall, who says: "I’ll often pick out one runner in a distance race whose form looks real good, and watch him or her all through the race. It’s surprising how often that runner will win or come close."
Watching relay races
Splitting a 4x400 relay adds insight to your view of the race. If you start your watch at the gun, the only tricky split is the exchange between the lead-off runner and the second runner. Since most 4x400s are now run with a three-turn stagger, the middle of the first exchange zone is different for each lane; it’s the green line 2/3 of the distance back from where the lead-off runner started. The other splits are taken at the finish line. Always take the split at the moment when you see the baton cross the line. Track expert Jack Pfeifer of The New York Times picks a team and watches the baton exchanges through binoculars. "You can really learn a lot on why relays are won and lost by focusing on the exchanges," he says.
