Ian Hume and Sand Pits

[roger/over]

Canadian track mailing lists for the past several days have contained many tributes to, and reminiscences of, Ian Hume. Ian, a distinguished jumper during both his masters years and earlier career, has died at age 91.

Two posts speculated on whether Hume's scissors-style high jumping in his masters years may have reflected earlier days of jumping into sand pits.

I would feel very sure that Ian's early career included experience with sand pits in both the high jump and (worse) the pole vault. Canada's forest industry probably provided sawdust for pits in both events earlier than in some parts of the world (including my Kansas), but most of the jumpers in Ian's generation knew the uncomfortable impact of landing in sand pits. Warmerdam was born the same year as Ian and told me even he had vaulted in sand pits. Dutch remembered only sawdust in his school and college career, but said he vaulted into sand on some European circuits.

Masters vaulters who had begun their jumping into sand pits often were notable for their "jack-knife" clearance styles that made certain of their landing feet-first.

Like today's long jump pits, sand pits for the high jump and vault were the bane of the existence of school custodians who maintained the athletic fields, since the sand was forever getting sprayed around and the grass growing through it ruined the appearance of a neat, flat surface surrounding the pits. I remember vaulting once at a school where the custodian had solved that problem by laying a four-inch concrete curb to contain the sand. Now THAT did strongly encourage landing feet-first.

Interesting information, too, was provided on the track-canada list about days when girls weren't permitted any high jumping style except the scissors, since the Eastern or Western rolls exposed too much body and were therefore considered "unfeminine." I've just finished watching a DVD that showed every vault of the Athens Olympics. Of the women, only Poland's Monica Pyrek and Anna Rogowska wore uniforms with traditional shorts. All the others wore bikinis. How times have changed--for the better!