9 replies to this topic

[Uncle Dave]

Hi guys,

Wondering if anyone can tell me the distance around a standard 400m athletic track in lanes 2, 3, 4 etc?

Cheers,

Unc

[Stu Mac]

Dave

I believe this is correct:

The staggers for the 400 metres are all of length 6.28 metres.

Some mathematical formula stuff

[Easy Tiger]

What about my regular track?
St Luke's oval is 422m, if anyone can calculate the outer lanes i'll be truly impressed.

[Kato]

Easy Tiger

The extra distance of each lane is equal to (2 * pi * lane width).

So if the lanes are one metre wide, as before the extra distance per lane is 6.28 metres.

This is independant of the track diameter.

[PiledHigherq]

quote:

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Originally posted by Easy Tiger:
What about my regular track?
St Luke's oval is 422m, if anyone can calculate the outer lanes i'll be truly impressed.

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If they are a metre wide 6.28m per lane

[JC]

...and they said high school maths was useless!  :)

[Stumpy]

Kato, it makes things difficult when the width of each lane is different. Thats not to then say that the distance of each lane is the same all the way around either. Around the bends some lanes narrow up and get wider, so a full lap could be anything!!!

[Colac]

A rule of thumb for lane 5, I would suggest:

425m for a 400m track
450m on a 422m track.

If you want spurious accuracy in 1,000ths of a second, then get some mates to help you measure it with a long tape measure.

If you are forced to run all the way in lane two in a 1500m race, you can easily run 1525 metres.  Lane three would be 1550 metres.

You actually need to train at race pace speeds in both lanes two and three, so the lactate bear dosen't jump on your back during the race. And if you are then lucky to stay in lane one during the race, you will have fresher legs when it comes to a finishing kick because you have run less distance than the lane two and three guys.

Running tracks that are used for records, have to be certified by a surveyor, and all lanes will be properly marked without variations.

[Schtumpy]

I have nothing to add to this post except to say I had no idea there was a "Stumpy" out there......and he was around here long before me.


I just don't know what to feel anymore. Real identity issues bubbling up......

[dcl]

For academic interest I think the standard IAAF lane width is around 1.22m, or 7.66m additional distance per lane.