Posted by charlie:
You have to judge based on the track surfaces and the starting systems available (the volume of the block speakers themselves affect R/T)
In the past- Ben
Recently- Mo
Good point!!! I have the react time system the same used in the 96 olympics and I would like to note the blocks have a speaker in back of them where as conventional starters would not be directly behind you. Maybe 20 to 50 feet away. My question is the cause and effect this would have on an ahtletes reaction out of the blocks?
Also I noticed in the div ncaa’s instead of a pistol to start the sprinters of the line they used a buzz sound instead and only in certain events. Not including the 100m if I remember correctly. Does anyone actually prefer this method I think its ridiculous. (I remember seeing capel and miller run against each other and it seemed strange to hear a beep sound instead of a pistol start… capel ran 19.87 for 200m)
About the starts Charlie and other, I agree Ben used to be the quickest BUt nowaday atleast untill last season John Drommond by miles. He has consistently smoked Green and Boldon and even Johgn Smith believes that.
I haven’t seen enough of Ben’s races to give an opinion. The races I did see he was only slightly ahead of everyone. But not by a huge margin. But from everyone else i’ve seen, i’d go with Drummond. I’ve seen him in some 60’s ahead by a good 5 meters at the 15m mark. Then there was the race in Sydney, when he went up against Ato & Mo. When he smashed them both outta the blocks. And Ato by no means has a slow start. Mo is probably the slowest reaction wise, of those 3, but Drummond made them both look slow in that Semifinal.
But there’s a guy in Chicago right now who I think is the only guy in the world that would be able to beat drummond out the blocks reaction wise. And thats no exaggeration. I’ve seen this guy get to 10m by the rest of the fields 2nd step. And trust me I am not exaggerating. I ran 1.77HT for 10m in practice once. And he does nuthin short of smash me out the blocks. And Charlie he’ll remind you so much of Ben Johnson it’s rediculous.
What about Ben’s early 10m splits and reaction time from his 87 Zurich Race? Both his reaction time and start there seemed like they were from the future i.e. louder speakers, harder surface…
Sometimes i false start on pairpers (is that how you spell it). In the 100meters mostly because it fucks with the other athletes minds.
I usually blast out the blocks and sprint for 20meters and then jog for a bit. Stop and then turn around, most of the other athletes re by the starting line. I walk back slow, and smile sometimes laf to myself while am starring at them.
Also sometimes i go up to people while we are all warming up for are race. And go to them
“what is your PB” and they say something back like this
“about 11. something”
they i go
"oh man i am only doing this for points for my club, i am a 1500meter runner, they proberly beleave me because i am 5"101/2 and 10 stones 1lb.
Then i end up destorying them. And this ****s with there mind, my mission is to **** with everyones minds.
Re Ben’s 1987 Zurich start.
I don’t have any film on that one and I didn’t get a good look during that race as I was in a bad position to see. All I remember was that I was glad he was OK enough to run after taking a horrendous tumble in Cologne after crashing into a photographer just 10m past the finish line and doing a triple flip back-first onto the track!
What’s with Ben and flipping? He also flipped over the chest high padding/barrier in the Indoor WC’s that same year after running the 60m. Was one of his nickname’s ‘Flip Wilson’ on the circuit that year?
Eventually, if you go fast enough, you outrun the stopping areas! Of course the problem in Cologne was caused by an overflow of media, with the photographer sitting cross-legged in Ben’s lane, only ten meters past the finish line- no way to stop, or even react.
I sent a video tape your way w/ many of Ben’s Races a few months back via someone from Sunnyvale, CA. The tape included the 86 & 87 Zurich Races. I guess it never made it to you Here I was thinking you were enjoying them.
I have to agree with the choice of John Drummond being the fastest starter and quickest to 30m…after watching endless footage, he blows others away to this point and fades away (lack of speed endurance maybe).
As a competitor on the UK sprint circuit, the new rule killed my indoor season. I hesistated alot and didn’t think about driving and reacting…I was thinking about not getting DQ’d which is wrong. This new ‘rule’ will kill the sport. Why should hours of hard work amount to a DQ? Could you imagine this rule in Football (Soccer) One foul and you’re off? It would never happen because the likes of Beckham,Rivaldo Ronaldo ensure a lot revenue for these TV fat cats. ABOLISH THE RULE!! :shoot:
I think it actually encourages people to try and get away with one flyer - if they don’t get away with it they’ve lost nothing - and possibly disturbed everyone’s concentration .
What’s next - sin bin for throwers who shout too loud ?
Drummond has had some of the best starts in his 4x100m starts. one of the craziest starts i’ve ever seen came from Bryan Howard in the Oregon Track Classic a few years back. I think it was 2000. He had a meter on everyone by 10m. At 50m he had atleast .2 on everyone. Then his form fell apart and Mike Marsh won the race in 10.20. I think Howard finished 3rd or fourth. I remember being shocked on how quick he got out.
Here I was thinking you were enjoying them.