Steeplechase is difficult event with storied history

Jeff Tully

BURBANK -- In track and field, the steeplechase is a storied event

that requires a unique combination of running and leaping skills.

In short, the event is a distance race with barriers and water

hazards. However, the combination of skill and endurance it requires to

be successful in the steeplechase is much more complicated.

Legend has it the steeplechase began in Oxford, England around 1850

when some young Englishmen got together to settle a bet on the results of

a horse race. On the day of the race, it was too muddy for the men to

risk their prize horses getting injured over the jumps and rough terrain.

One of the men, Halifax Wyatt, suggested they settle the wager by a

foot race. So they laid out a two-mile course over meadows near Oxford

that included 24 jumps over hedges and water-filled ditches.

As a track and field event, the steeplechase was introduced in 1860,

mostly as an amusement for spectators.

As an Olympic event, the race was first staged at the 1900 Paris

Games. It wasn’t until the 1924 Games in Paris that the steeplechase race

was standardized to 3,000 meters.

The sport was dominated by the Finns in the 1920s and ‘30s, and

Kenyans have laid claim to the steeplechase since the 1980s.

The Americans have a very brief Olympic history in the event. In 1904

at the St. Louis Games, Jim Lightfoot won the gold medal in a 2,590-meter

race in 7 minutes 39.6 seconds.

Perhaps the most famous U.S. steeplechase runner was Horace

Ashenfelter, who won the gold at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics in 8:45.4.

Ashenfelter was an FBI agent who trained at night by jumping over park

benches.

The American record is 8:09.17 set by Henry Marsh in 1995 and the

world record of 7:55.28 was set last year by Morocco’s Brahim Boulami.

The steeplechase has traditionally been an event less talented 1,500

and 5,000 runners have chosen -- or been pushed into. Rarely is the

steeplechase looked on as an athlete’s first option.

A few things a athlete needs to be a successful steeplechase runner is

good 1,500 speed, fearlessness, balance, hurdling ability, jumping

ability, flexibility and visual acuity.

In many respects, the event is a union of opposites, where mastering

the techniques of the sport is usually the difference between success and

failure.