Betsy Black
At the beginning of every outdoor season, I look forward to racing outside in the fresh air and sunshine. The warm spring weather is one of my favorite parts of the outdoor season. However, at my first meet of the season, the Tully Spring Break Invitational, the weather was far from spring-like. With overcast skies, on and off precipitation, and winds over 40 miles per hour, the conditions were wretched.
It became evident very early in the meet that it wasn’t the day for land-speed records. Runners had to run directly into the gale-force wind on the backstretch and as a result, many of the times were unusually slow.
The jumpers fared the worst though. Both the long jumpers and the pole-vaulters had to jump directly into the wind. During the girls’ pole vault, the wind was particularly strong and only two girls cleared the starting height. One of my teammates ran straight through the pit and onto the mat without jumping on her first try. When I talked to her afterwards, she told me that she had been too afraid to jump for fear of being blown backwards onto the runway. I couldn’t blame her for worrying though. There were several tricky moments when vaulters hovered in the air, halfway between padded mats and hard track, and it was uncertain which direction they would go in. Fortunately, their momentum usually won out and the wind didn’t cause any injuries.
Although it’s technically spring, this is Syracuse and the weather is never predictable. If it’s 80 degrees and sunny one day, it’s sure to be snowing the next. Runners must be prepared to race in the worst conditions. But most importantly, pole vaulters must make sure to get a fast enough run in when it’s windy.