Track and field is the ultimate test of athletics.
It combines all the skills and talents required for every athlete competing in sports. Strength and power are necessary in field events, including the shot put and javelin. Try hurling an elongated stick weighing around a pound and a half at least 175 feet — and do it without throwing your arm out.
Also, only a rare group of athletes are given the speed needed to run 100 meters in between 10 and 13 seconds.
Attempt to run 5,000 meters, or a little more than three miles, in a test of endurance and finish in around 14 to 17 minutes.
But what is the toughest overall track and field event to excel at, considering all factors?
This question was asked by ESPN.com’s Page 2, which pertains to all sports. They asked eight sports “experts,” including three journalists and one current athlete, baseball player and former football player Brian Jordan.
Why only one current athlete was asked to participate, who knows.
Of all the track and field events, they listed the pole vault as the most difficult and ranked it 16th overall when considering all sports. They cited its power, flexibility and nerve as the three main attributes.
In the spirit of the track and field season, I asked several members of the Oregon women’s track and field team at the Oregon Twilight meet Saturday this very same question.
Many of the athletes mentioned the triple jump, high jump and the javelin as some of the hardest to succeed in. However, the general consensus and the first event that came to mind of most was the pole vault.
Take a shot at running full speed on the runway with an enormous pole in your hands and propel yourself over a bar that sits 12 to 18 feet high. Then prepare for the landing from up above straight back onto the ground.
Pole vaulters Kirsten Larwin and Emily Enders both agreed to this assessment, trying not to be favorably biased toward their own event.
Freshman Enders pointed out the intricacies that go into the event.
“I have to say the pole vault just because it’s so technical,” Enders said. “Everything you do, there’s a perfect way to do it and we’re all striving to get that. I think there’s 11 things you have to think about in the 30 seconds it takes to do a vault. It’s much more a mental challenge than a physical challenge.”
Senior Larwin concurred, also mentioning the discus as another event she felt was difficult.
“The pole vault and the discus are the two most technically frustrating, complicated, millions-of-aspects events that I can think of,” Larwin said. “One thing can go wrong and it’s done. I think a lot of people will agree — it’s not just the pole vaulters.”
Larwin proved to be right.
Junior Rachael Kriz, a high jumper and a javelin thrower, said almost all the field events were hard to excel in.
“All of (the events) have their own difficulties,” Kriz said. “It’s hard to pick one from another, but I think pole vaulting is especially difficult.”
Senior Jill Hoxmeier, a thrower who competes in the hammer and discus, also agreed with her teammates, but says she has no fear whatsoever if she were to be asked to compete in the pole vault.
“I’ll jump on the pole vault bandwagon,” Hoxmeier said. “I’d give it a try — but I think that’s the toughest.”
The issue of depending on a bent pole to boost yourself into the sky and avoid coming into contact with the bar is enough to scare most people off.
First-year Duck and junior Bree Fuqua said it best when she was asked the toughest track and field event overall.
“I would say the pole vault just because it seems a little scary to me,” Fuqua said.