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How tracks changed forever after the first Tokyo Olympics

Phil Edwards | April 26, 2024
How tracks changed forever after the first Tokyo Olympics

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This post currently has 45 comments.

  1. @mattclark6482

    April 26, 2024 at 4:51 am

    Certainly synthetic tracks are nicer and you can run faster, but growing up running track in hot Texas sun, the off gassing is intense. I've never heard anyone talk about this but there is no way it can be healthy taking deep breathes of that smelly chemical filled air.

  2. @daveinacave

    April 26, 2024 at 4:51 am

    Tattoos from falls actually make a lot of sense- a lot of older inks are made from ask of different materials, then entered into the skin. Ask plus injured skin plus moisture=tattoo ink

  3. @patpierce4854

    April 26, 2024 at 4:51 am

    Interesting – when Kilauea erupted into the Leilani Estates in 2018, folks who lived there recorded all kinds of video – and heating the sound of cinder trucks again, I was reminded of heating footsteps on all that lava!

  4. @seha6391

    April 26, 2024 at 4:51 am

    I loved sponge rubber tracks felt so good to run on but understandably as a distance runner I understand why asphalt tracks are better for sprinters ( You missed out on a few different types of tracks Guys) Depending on the track type it regulated the length of the Spikes on your Shoe (Changes in Traction and running styles are important for the medium your running on) Nice Video

  5. @MrCombs-fk6bn

    April 26, 2024 at 4:51 am

    You bring up a good point and one that most fans of track and field are unaware of. There needs to be some experimentation in the difference in restitution between all weather tracks and cinder tracks, if you can still find one. I was a sprinter in the 80's and have raced on both cinder and all weather tracks and needless to say there is a big difference. I would love to see the times of Bob Hayes corrected for poor surface quality, I'm sure on a contemporary track his times would be competitive today.

  6. @gfotinakes316

    April 26, 2024 at 4:51 am

    When I was in college (1967-71) our team traveled to College of the Desert near Palm Springs, CA. We ran on a natural grass track because other materials would not survive the dust storms. The grass was cut short and was very soft and very "slow".

  7. @bloqk16

    April 26, 2024 at 4:51 am

    When considering the improvements with track surfaces, running shoes, training, and diet, I've wondered how much better the likes of Jesse Owens could have done in the sprints and long jump? As his achievements were remarkable when considering the primitive aspects they were in his prime.
    Combine the talents of Owens with the modern era, his marks could possibly be unattainable by future generations of track athletes.

  8. @philosopher4279

    April 26, 2024 at 4:51 am

    Fun history thanks. But, track is track. For obstacles run cross country or marathons. Pole vault, my sport, used to have no pads and a straight pole so u absorbed all the energy at take off and landing – none of us see that as that glory days.

  9. @kdaum3359

    April 26, 2024 at 4:51 am

    I haven’t been on a cinder track before, I’ve done one season in track and I got to say, synthetic tracks can also tear you up. I took a spill on hurdles and both of my knees got pretty cut up.

  10. @Pixieblitzie

    April 26, 2024 at 4:51 am

    When I ran track in school, we were one of the only schools with a synthetic track, so we always hated going to away meets. The cinder didn’t hinder us though! However the other teams would get a little too confident when they see they have a better track to run on than usual when they came to our track. We crushed that confidence quickly 🤣

  11. @kraycrunr

    April 26, 2024 at 4:51 am

    My high school in the early 80's had a cinder track. We trained on that for cross country and track. When we did go to schools (some high schools had them and the local University as well) that had 'rubber tracks' as we called them then, and our times definitely got better. I'm convinced that training on cinder made us better runners on rubber. When kids from other schools showed up at our meets they would be amazed, saying things like "How do you run on this?" we'd respond with "As fast as you can." In four years of high school, we lost 2 track meets. We had a great coach as well.

  12. @sabaradesert

    April 26, 2024 at 4:51 am

    During my track season this year I noticed how in the cinder or as I call it dirt track made me slower cause I felt like I was going to slip while running and when I made it to finals their track was synthetic and I shaved down around six seconds for one of my relay teams and got us to second.

  13. @mrgold3591

    April 26, 2024 at 4:51 am

    We had a mix of synthetic and cinder tracks we practiced and competed on in the late 70s and early 80s. We had to change out our spikes longer or shorter depending on the track surface. The only advantage of cinder was it didn't get as hot as synthetic on +90 degree F summer days.

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