Although the discussion started out with IAAF rules, I'd like to make some
observations about hurdle height and spacing for young athletes.
Most 12-14 year old boys cannot hurdle over 39" barriers. But once a boy can
deal with the hurdle height, 3 stepping is no problem because the hurdles
are relatively close together. The kids who can run the 110's in 9th grade
are tall kids. When they mature, they will probably be above the optimum
height for sprint hurdling. The 2 fastest hurdlers of the past decade are
about 5'10" tall.
The situation is different with girls. I have a couple of 7th graders who
can hurdle 33" barriers, but they can't even 4 step. My good girl hurdlers
only 3 step well when they are in 11th or 12th grade.
For developing young hurdlers, I'd like to see lower hurdles for the boys
and closer spacing for the girls. Maybe in states with a junior high track
program, young kids can have different hurdle specifications. But here in
South Carolina, middle school kids run with high school teams and once size
fits all.
Ed Prytherch.
