A panhandle track (or pot handle track) is a slang expression for a running track built with a 220-yard straightaway. The name came from the resemblance of the shape of a pan (the track oval) with a long handle.
Tracks meeting this specification were popular in the era of cinder tracks, from the early 20th century until about the mid-1960s. In 1962, the IAAF determined that it would no longer recognize records at 400 meters or longer without the course requiring the athlete to complete an oval every 400 metres. [1]
The long straightaway had allowed for one-turn 400 metres or 440 yard competitions; three-turn 800 metres or 880 yard competitions; straight 200 metres or 220 yard sprint or low hurdles competitions.
A typical one-turn 440 yard dash would start as a scratch start (no lanes) at the end of the straight with the athletes sprinting for the lead before entering the turn, making the race a much more physical and strategic affair, similar to modern 800 metres races. [2] [3]
While new tracks meeting this specification are no longer being constructed, many older tracks still have remnants of the long straightaway, frequently now put to other uses. Occasionally modern all-weather running tracks have extended the surface to the full length of the original straight.
Sprinting is running over a short distance at the top-most speed of the body in a limited period of time. It is used in many sports that incorporate running, typically as a way of quickly reaching a target or goal, or avoiding or catching an opponent. Human physiology dictates that a runner's near-top speed cannot be maintained for more than 30–35 seconds due to the depletion of phosphocreatine stores in muscles, and perhaps secondarily to excessive metabolic acidosis as a result of anaerobic glycolysis.
Middle-distance running events are track races longer than sprints, up to 3000 metres. The standard middle distances are the 800 metres, 1500 metres and mile run, although the 3000 metres may also be classified as a middle-distance event. The 1500 m came about as a result of running 3+3⁄4 laps of a 400 m outdoor track or 7+1⁄2 laps of a 200 m indoor track, which were commonplace in continental Europe in the 20th century.
Hurdling is the act of jumping over an obstacle at a high speed or in a sprint. In the early 19th century, hurdlers ran at and jumped over each hurdle, landing on both feet and checking their forward motion. Today, the dominant step patterns are the 3-step for high hurdles, 7-step for low hurdles, and 15-step for intermediate hurdles. Hurdling is a highly specialized form of obstacle racing, and is part of the sport of athletics. In hurdling events, barriers known as hurdles are set at precisely measured heights and distances. Each athlete must pass over the hurdles; passing under or intentionally knocking over hurdles will result in disqualification.
Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events. Track and field is categorized under the umbrella sport of athletics, which also includes road running, cross country running, and racewalking.
Swimming has been a sport at every modern Summer Olympics. It has been open to women since 1912. Swimming has the second-highest number of Olympic medal contested events after athletics.
In horse racing, a chute is an extended path increasing the length of a straight portion of a racecourse, particularly an oval-shaped one, allowing races of a specified distance to start at a location other than on one of the turns.
Lillian Barbara Board, was a British athlete. She won the silver medal in the 400 metres at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, and two gold medals at the 1969 European Championships in Athletics in Athens. Her career was cut short in 1970 when she developed the colorectal cancer that within months would claim her life.
Alexander "Alex" S. Wilson was a Canadian sprinter who competed in both the 1928 Summer Olympics and the 1932 Summer Olympics. He was born in Montreal and died in Mission, Texas, United States.
David Hugh Segal was a British track and field athlete who competed in the sprints. He had best times of 9.5 seconds for the 100 yards and 21.0 seconds for the 220 yards. While competing in the United States he ran 20.4 seconds for the straight 220 yards.
Silas Edward "Eddie" Southern is a retired American sprinter and hurdler who won a silver medal in the 400 metres hurdles at 1956 Olympics. He won another silver medal in the 4 × 400 m relay at the 1959 Pan American Games.
The men's 200 metres was a track and field athletics event held as part of the Athletics at the 1904 Summer Olympics programme. It was the second time the 200 metres was contested. All races of this competition was held on a straight course. 5 athletes from 2 nations participated. The competition was held on August 31, 1904. The United States swept the medals, with Archie Hahn earning the second of his three sprint medals in St. Louis. Nathaniel Cartmell took silver and William Hogenson earned bronze. It was the second consecutive American victory in the event.
Steve Williams is a retired track and field sprinter from the United States. He equalled the men's world records for the 100 m and 200 m with hand-timed runs of 9.9 seconds and 19.8 seconds, respectively, and was also a member of a team that set a world record in the 4 × 100 m relay.
Quarter-mile or 1⁄4 mile may refer to:
The sprint medley relay (SMR) is a track and field event in which teams of four athletes compete over sprinting distances as part of a relay race. Unlike most track relays, each member of the team runs a different distance. The sprint medley is rather uncommon, run most frequently at non-championship track meets which are focused on relays. Since these are not championship events, specific criteria for the event are not in common rulebooks. This leads to localized variations.
Donald Augustus Styron is the world record holder in the 200 meter low hurdles. He remains the current world record holder partly because the event has not been run frequently by elite athletes since the early 1960s.
The USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships is an annual track and field competition organized by USA Track & Field, which serves as the American national championships for the sport. Since the year 1992, in the years which feature a Summer Olympics, World Athletics Championships or an IAAF Continental Cup, the championships serve as a way of selecting the best athletes for those competitions.
The Michigan Wolverines men's track and field team is the intercollegiate track and field program representing the University of Michigan. The school competes in the Big Ten Conference in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
Adolph Plummer was an American track and field athlete. He is best known for breaking the world record in the 440 yard dash in 1963, the last runner to hold the 400 m record with a time recorded for the longer 440 yards.
Low hurdle races are a now, generally defunct form of track and field hurdle racing. The event, generally run at or near a distance of 200 metres, was popular through 1960 at the international level. After that, the IAAF stopped ratifying records in the 200 metres low hurdles and it became far less common. United States high schools ran a shortened version of the race, the 180 yard low hurdles, until 1974, when most states and the NFHS converted to running the 330 yard low hurdles that with metrification evolved into the 300 meter intermediate hurdles, a shortened version of the international 400 metres hurdles. Because the race occurred in a male dominated era, there was no common female equivalent of the race. At the time the race lost its world record position, women were only occasionally running hurdles and when they did it was the 80 meter hurdles, over barriers the same height as the men's low hurdles.
London Athletic Club (LAC) is a track and field club based in London, England. It is the oldest independent track and field club in the world and celebrated its first 150 years in 2013. More than sixty athletes connected with the club have since become Olympians and top athletics administrators in Britain. The club is currently based at Barn Elms, in West London.