SCIENCE INVADES SPORT

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 54, Issue 3898, 7 May 1937, Page 6

SCIENCE INVADES SPORT

NEW METHODS OF TIMING. (By Professor A. M. Low.) The curious fact remains that a man may still attract more attention by running a hundred yards at a speed of about 22 m.p.li. than by driving the same distance at a speed of 220 m.p.h. Man, using his greatest physical talents and putting forward all his energy in ten seconds, cannot achieve a speed much greater than that of a motor car in the earliest days. It is curious and significant that it is much easier to attain speed by using the brain than by using the muscles. I say "curious” because, although n en have not managed to add five miles per hour to their running speed since the dawn of time, you will often find more people to watch sprint races than to watch a motor race. It is interesting and instructive to work out the speeds of athletes in various events. At the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 1932 the 100 metre sprint was won in 10 2-3 secs, which gives very approximately tlie speed I have quoted above. Over twice the distance very nearly the same speed is maintained, and the 200 metres was run in 21 1-5 secs. Human beings, like rabbits, are fastest over short distances. They do not require a few miles to “warm up” like motor cars. After 200 metres speeds begin to fall away. Over 46 secs were required for the 400 metres, which gives a speed of approximately 30 m.p.h. For double this distance twice tne time and 17 secs were required, and for the 10,000 metres race, nearly 800 secs more were required than would have been necessary could the winner have kept up the sprint race. The human machine—some people like to talk of the body as a machine —differs from all other machines in the rapidity with which it becomes tired, and, like razors, benefit from a rest, but the work they do first is prodigious. The reason why the human machine tires so quickly in comparison with the internal combustion engine is, to a large degree, because it has no adjustable carburetter! When we want to go faster in a car we "open the throttle” and let in more fuel. But the human lungs are limited in size or absorption value, and cannot increase the intake of oxygen indefinitely. The effect of high speed athletics on the human machine has been scientifically studied, and as much trouble given to perfecting the “machine” as is given to perfecting a racing car. The runner is “tuned up” by training and his diet is scientifically arranged. Elaborate electrical equipment has been invented for timing a runner over each of the ten distances of 10 yards in a 100 yards’ course. The object of this timing was to discover the different speeds at which a runner covered different sections of

the course. It was found that this varied considerably, and obviously the way in which to decrease the time for the total distance was to concentrate on his speed in the sipwest sections. I believe it was found that most runners took rather more than one-tenth of the total time for the first ten yards, because they were starting, so to speak, from zero, with no momentum. Athletics have become a matter ot split seconds. Anyone who can run a hundred yards in one-tenth of a second less than everyone else appears in (he headlines, although the difference m m.p.h. would have to be expressed in four places of decimals. But even this small increase in speed has been made possible only by the application of scientific principles, such as the above, to athletics. A sprint race may be won by an inch, and it is not surprising, considering the rather competitive atmosphere at international sports, that there have been disputes. There is always the possibility that the judge was not quite in line, or that he was mistaken. Now a special camera judge has been invented. The new camera will show the result within two or three minutes, and in any disputed decision will act as umpire. The camera also gives perfect timing by connection with tile starter’s pistol, which sets in operation a clock. This clock records the time on the negative, so that accuracy to 1-100 of a second is possible. The speed of the human eye and brain is limited. One-fifth of second is reckoned as the average reaction . tithe, that is, the time taken for the message to be sent out by the brain to be acted upon by the muscles. Thus a timekeeper with a stop watch cannot be expected to be accurate to less than one-fifth of a second, although, in fact, races are often timed in tenths of a second, and by practice it is possible to reduce this reaction time. For timing greater speeds some electrical method is required. Electrical timing has been used for motor racing for a long time, and in high speed air racing it is compulsory, the impossibility of making contacts in this case being overcome by the use of a camera which photographs chronometer and competitor together. It would be possible to have the “tape” at the finishing point of a race electrified, so that the winner broke a circuit, but the camera provides a simpler method, and also states the winner. It is often stated that the “quickness of tlie hand deceives the eye,” and this happens particularly in fencing, which is carried out at great speed. There have been disputes about the decision of an umpire who has stated that a “hit” has, or has not been made. I understand that here again a method of electrical umpiring has been devised and that “hits” will be definitely and indisputably recorded. Science is invading the realm of sport very completely. There is pro-

bably not very much more that it can do to increase the speed of the human machine with “doping.” Il lias been shown that the adrenal gland plays a vital part in sport, but the wisdom of interfering with it for tlie sake of running a hundred yards onefifth of a second faster,, even it it were possible, would be doubtful. The adrenal can be stimulated by the emotions, and this, perhaps, explains why men run faster or play harder in a

“needle match,” that is to say, one in which there is some feeling. Scientific tests, again, may be used to pick out the “born” athletes, and save others who have tlie spirit but not tlie body for success from much heartburning. Tlie “throw outs” have ! the consolation that to-day there are ! s ports in which they can excel besides 1 running. The man who cannot kick a . football or run a hundred yards in | “evens” may become a “speed king” ; in the air or on the motor track.

PRESSSING SITUATION. Weary father appearing in parlour doorway at midnight: My dear sir, I have no objection to your coining here and sitting up half the night with my daughter, or to your standing on the doorstep for three hours saying “good-night.” But, in consideration for the rest of the household who wish to go to sleep, will you kindly take your elbow off the bell- ' push?