Proposal Summary

The Goal

To create logical and fair specifications while increasing participation and retaining the spirit of the event.
Performances should more closely mirror the aging performance curves of other events.

The Basis

Determine the 200 Meter AGT (Age-Grading-Table) % performance loss for the oldest year in each respective 5 year age group, and then propose specification changes whose aggregate meets or slightly exceeds the aforementioned 200 Meter AGT value.

Example: For the W45 age group, the W49 AGT value for the 200 Meters is .8481. This converts to a 15.19% performance drop from the Open division. Aggregate changes to the W45 should meet or exceed 15.19%. Dropping from 33" to 27" in the 100MH race is a 18.18% change, which exceeds the aforemention value.

How should the specs be changed?

To offset the performance loss that accompanies aging, the hurdle height should be changed first, followed by a reduction in the number of the hurdles, and then followed by increased spacing to the 1st hurdle.

Follow-up

Subsequent reviews and analysis of performance and participation levels should be performed to analyze the impact of changes to this event, and to substantiate additional changes to the specs in the future.

Changes should not be made too often to the specs, as the resulting benefit from years of training on a particular set of specs will never appear. A recommendation of 3 years minimum (3 National Outdoor Championships) is proposed.

The resulting Performance Loss for the High Hurdles should be compared to that of the 100/200 meters, and if the slope of the graph is not similar, it is very possible that the specs are either too difficult or too easy.

Supporting Graphs

Graphical Representation of Men's Proposal
Graphical Representation of Women's Proposal
Graphical Representation of Men's Current Specs
Graphical Representation of Women's Current Specs

The graphs above, and the detail below further document the basis of this proposal.

Proposal Detail

We know that people slow down as they age, and if the hurdle settings weren't changed from the Open division specifications, no one would run the event. The 42" hurdles have been negotiated by men over 50, but never in an actual race. Women actually have a better chance of clearing the 33" hurdles for several more years, but that's not at issue here.

What is at issue is how much to alter the event while retaining the "spirit" of the event. There are 6 things that can be changed in the hurdle race:

1. Spacing to 1st hurdle
2. Spacing between hurdles
3. Spacing from last hurdle
4. Distance of total race
5. Number of hurdles
6. Hurdle Height

As you might guess, if you alter each of these 6, you could literally come up with HUNDREDS of various combinations. (And people have!) How do we decide what to change and what to leave alone?

Let's look at them individually:

1. Spacing to 1st hurdle
   Hurdlers are athletes that learn how to adapt, and this spec is one that's handled in different ways. Hurdlers decide whether or not to use blocks, and which foot to have in front at the start of a race. They alter how large their first step is, too, and the tempo they run at to the first hurdle, all in an effort to place themselves in position to negotiate the first hurdle as rapidly as possible. So, while altering this spec doesn't affect the always-ready-to-adapt hurdler, can changing this distance help the aging hurdler in any way? Absolutely! The High Hurdles are a sprint race, and the more speed a hurdler can get at the beginning of the race, the more momentum they have to carry them over the 1st and subsequent hurdles. Based on the 100 Meter analysis via Track & Field news, typical sprinters get up to full speed somewhere between 20 & 35 meters. So, for example, with all other specs remaining constant, suppose you placed the 1st hurdle at the 20 meter mark for one person, and placed the 1st hurdle for another person at the 10 meter mark. Now let them have weeks/months/years to train at that distance. If these hurdlers are equal in all other aspects, the hurdler going over the 20 Meter 1st hurdle will have more speed and a distinct advantage. This may be a fantastic spec to change for aging hurdlers that are needing more space to get up to top speed, as changing this would allow them to get up to a greater speed before negotiating the 1st hurdle.
   
   
2. Spacing between hurdles
   Reducing the spacing between the hurdles allows the slowing hurdler to reach the next hurdle easier. Sounds simple enough. But how does this affect the hurdler that is NOT having trouble reaching the next hurdle? Shall we create some custom specs for just some hurdlers, but not others? And if so, how much should the spacing be reduced for each gender and each age-group? One inch? One foot? One Meter?
   
   Even if you could come to a consensus (which you can't), at some point you'd realize that you have hurdlers of all shapes, sizes, speeds & skill levels, and no matter how you change the spacing, you will always have some hurdlers that dislike it, and rightly so. By altering the spacing, you are in fact penalizing the greater-skilled, better-trained, faster and/or long-legged hurdler, and providing an unfair advantage for other hurdlers. Perhaps your rationalization will be that the spacing is reduced to help a majority of hurdlers. There is no evidence to substantiate that statement. Changing the spacing between hurdles will always ultimately result in some thinking it's spaced perfectly, others chopping their steps, and still others stretching to make it. (See illustration)
   
   A serious problem related to changing the spacing between hurdles has to do with the impact to training, and consequently, participation. If spacing specs are created that do not correspond with any mark on a common track, then everytime an affected hurdler wants to train, they've got to measure the track and put down marks where the hurdles belong. This discourages current and potential hurdlers. The current specs fall into this category. This has a negative impact on participation, and also adversely affects the administration/staging of the event. Delays in track meets are commonplace when it comes to High Hurdles. Meets get behind schedule just because of this one event, and athletes warming up for subsequent events are impacted, as they must deal with cooling down, warming up again, all while trying to stay fresh for their event.
   
   So, while altering the spacing between hurdles may seem like a great variable to change on the surface, in reality it actually creates an unfair advantage for some, while hurting others, and it is a nightmare with regards to training and staging. The current specs illustrate this problem, and this event remains as the only masters event where specifications in some age groups have been customized to fit just a few lucky hurdlers. (And, surprise, they don't want the specs to be changed!!)
   
   
3. Spacing from last hurdle
   This could be changed to any distance with no impact to the hurdler. So, this is very good candidate for change, but it doesn't help the aging hurdler.
   
   
4. Distance of total race
   The total race distance can be changed, but how will this help the aging hurdler, and what does it really accomplish? For example, the 80 Meter Hurdle race is offered now, and the most obvious problem is that most tracks don't have a starting line for this race. Is there a masters hurdler that can't run 100 or 110 Meters? Of course not. The difference between running 80 or 110 meters is insignificant for Masters athletes. There really is no justification for changing this attribute, unless you can also justify changing the race-distance in non-hurdle events.
   
   
5. Number of hurdles
   Outdoor races typically have 10 hurdles, and Indoor races typically have 5. As hurdlers age, the removal of 1 or more hurdles could be considered to help the aging hurdler. The benefit would obviously be substantial. This would definitely be a great spec to change for master hurdlers. Removing a hurdle at the beginning of the race would allow the hurdler to build up more speed, and the removal of a hurdle at the end of the race would make sense due to the fatigue felt later in the race.
   
   
6. Hurdle Height
   The 42" hurdles run in the Open Division for Men are difficult at best, and must be lowered to retain any substantial interest in the event at all. The 33" hurdles for Women in the Open Division are easier for some women to negotiate as they age, but should still be lowered at some point. The issue then is how much to lower them, and for what ages. Fact: The lower the hurdle, the faster the hurdler. It takes training to negotiate a hurdle efficiently, so whether you raise or lower it, the hurdler must train at the pertinent age-group specification to master it. Hurdle heights, unfortunately, change in only 3" increments, and currently only 27" through 42" are utilized.
   
   

In summary, out of the 6 items that can be changed, #2 doesn't help all hurdlers and should be avoided, #3 doesn't make a difference, #4 can't be justified, and #1, #5 & #6 will make a substantial difference to the aging hurdler. This proposal will focus on changing mainly #6, the hurdle height, and for older age-groups, #1 & #5 (#3 will change as a by-product.)

Now, what do we change the specs to? Well, do we know anything about how much Masters slow down?

Well, thankfully, we do. Due to some superior work related to age-grading (henceforth referred to as AGT, age-graded tables), we have a very good idea about the performance loss for people as they age. As you'll see later, we have graphed the performance loss for Men & Women in the 100 & 200 Meters. Why these two events? Well, we would expect the performance loss for the High Hurdles race to be, at a minimum, equal to that of the 100 Meters open race, and actually greater due to the agility & skillset needed for hurdling. Will this loss equal that of the 200 Meters open race, or perhaps be even greater? We can only speculate because we have no data on the actual loss of performance that affects the hurdling skill. While this data is unavailable, the use of the 100/200 meter open race age-grading shall serve as an excellent guide with which to propose alterations to the hurdle specifications.

So, for example, suppose we know a typical hurdler has decreased in performance by 10% (using the AGT.) Can we then just adjust the hurdle height by 10%, and therefore have a perfect match? No. But why? Because a 10% decrease in the hurdle height does not equate to a 10% decrease in the entire race. Let me explain.

Suppose you remove 1 hurdle (1/10 = 10%), and decrease the hurdle height by 5%. We will, for convenience, refer to this as the aggregate reduction of 15% (10% + 5%). But this still may not offset the 10% performance loss referred to in the example in the previous paragraph. Using another example, you could reduce the total race distance by 10%, remove half of the 10 hurdles for a 50% change, and reduce the hurdle height 50%, and the aggregate would equal over 100%. You should have no race at all, when in fact you still have a race indeed, although it's shorter, with only 5 hurdles set at a very low height. Therefore, the figures will be used ONLY to provide an idea of the aggregate change. They do not equate to the actual change made to the race, but they are a strong indication of the total alterations made.