the.com/hurdles
the only race where the obstacles are the point, not the problem.
means Barriers you must leap over in a race, or by extension any series of obstacles you have to clear to reach a goal.
from From Old English 'hyrdel,' a portable frame of woven branches — the kind used to pen sheep or fence a field. These light, movable barriers were exactly the thing you'd jump over, so when athletics borrowed the word the leap came built in. The root is related to a wider Germanic family of words for woven or wattled structures, a cousin of forms meaning 'twist together' — which is, after all, how you make a fence out of sticks.
- designed to fall
- Modern hurdles tip over to prevent injury.
- clearance trick
- Sprinters barely leap, skimming inches above each bar.
- stride math
- Elites take exactly three steps between hurdles.
- farming roots
- Originally portable fences for penning sheep.
- speed cost
- Touching a hurdle barely slows a champion down.