The Elite Forum
The Big Three Plus One => General Chat => Topic started by: octoinky on May 07, 2009, 05:06:00 pm
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The high point in my "career" is coming up next Tuesday! Gerd Kanter from Estonia is in San Diego and has chosen my university UCSD to attempt the world record in Discus on Tuesday at 2:00 PM. And who is creating and painting the field Tuesday morning? Yours truly!
I went out and watched him and some other insane discus throwers today, throwing in their practice what was close to the gold medal distance from the 2008 Summer Olympics. No surprise, this thrower won the gold medal this last summer. He contacted our uni and asked for a small track meet, which is basically just a formality so he can attempt the world record. A good amount of people are expected to turn out, and of course I'll be watching!
He has thrown close to 241 feet, and the WR is 243 feet. Our usual lines stop at 160 feet, so needless to say we've got some extensions to do to our sector (https://forums.the-elite.net/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ezboard.com%2Fintl%2Faenglish%2Fimages%2Femoticons%2Fhappy.gif&hash=7b9cd982f9a41f9aefcd7ea74682d5f1e4caf4c6)
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That's great Octo, really; wish I could be there too. My father has done similar work as he's a functionary at some national athletic events (though he did high jump, with Stefan Holm, among others)
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Paint that field! Paint that field! Paint that field!
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What kind of things do you go through to ensure the distances you paint are correct? Given the importance of this meet is there additional supervision for your job?
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For some reason, this instantly made me think of that old Snickers commercial, where that old guy is painting the Kansas City Chiefs' entire end zone, and when he finally finishes, he sees he accidentally left out the "I". Random player comes up..."That's great, but who are the Chefs?" haha
So don't screw up Octo!
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Any distance is re-measured exactly, they don't just trust our arcs, so that isn't a HUGE deal. We'll re-measure the angle of the sector to make sure it meets regulation, but there is no extra supervision, coach said just re-measure everything and make it look good, etc.
To measure the arcs, we just have somebody hold a screwdriver with the end of a 300' tape measurer in the center of the throwing area, and I pull it tight and arc out lines at 104', 124' etc., 4' to compensate for the radius of the throwing area itself, so it really isn't too difficult to get it right, at least within the width of the line you end up painting of course (https://forums.the-elite.net/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ezboard.com%2Fintl%2Faenglish%2Fimages%2Femoticons%2Fsmile.gif&hash=1adea417e08e9042f9ce1a5426616bf29f2ca20e)
Our margin of error on soccer fields is usually about 1 foot for a 345 foot length of the field, so no big deal, but if it is a collegiate game we'll try harder and get within a few inches by the time the field is done and we check things - margin of error of line width so whatever
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(https://forums.the-elite.net/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ezboard.com%2Fintl%2Faenglish%2Fimages%2Femoticons%2Flaugh.gif&hash=657f1346088ce2081c398c7379c3a47e4cf5861b) Lovins Then the guy says "Great googly moogly" that commercial is amazing.
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Haha that's right, classic.
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He threw farther than his Gold medal distance, but didn't break the record today. Next time!!
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That was a pretty good writeup. I read it in the Union but didn't see your name in there: "Superior field layout and striping by Octoinky". That record's been around for a long time, nearly 23 years.
edit: Wait, back up a second, boy. That must have been a real thrill to take part in it. It wasn't just laying down some stripes for some intramural flag-football game. This was for one of the most hallowed records in sports. But I don't quite understand how this was "official competition" and not practice.
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It was an official track meet. He had 6 attempts. Here are the results, including a video as well. Just look at those pristine lines (https://forums.the-elite.net/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ezboard.com%2Fintl%2Faenglish%2Fimages%2Femoticons%2Fhappy.gif&hash=7b9cd982f9a41f9aefcd7ea74682d5f1e4caf4c6)
http://www.team75plus.com/18737
Our coach had the meet sanctioned before to make sure the record would potentially count.
And the old record is from an East German in the 80s... roids anyone? LOL. Basically everybody wants to see it broken.
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pretty cool
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That's pretty cool. I wish I was in SD.
Wonder if that's one of those steroids records that can only be beaten with newer technology. What's the oldest track and field record anyway? A lot of 20 years plus ones that athletes can't quite beat.