Anti-clockwise tracks
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We haven’t watched all of the Winter Olympics, but did see Lindsey Vonn airlifted off the slopes after her dreadful crash. The delay as she was attended to must have been nerve-racking for competitors waiting to make their bid for Olympic honour. It was mesmerising to watch them visualising the track and making graceful movements with their hands and arms as they rehearsed the downhill course they were to follow.
We watched quite a lot of curling. There’s something very appealing about a sport that is not dynamic, but measured and somehow peaceful.
Ice hockey is fast and furious and something I privately call ‘ice brawling.’
Speed skating is graceful and powerful, but as the men, with their enormous thighs, glided at speed (can you glide at speed?) round the ice rink, I wondered why racing tracks always run anti-clockwise.
The answer seems to be that it has always been thus. When Roman charioteers raced, they held their swords in their right hands. Most people are right-handed, so to run counter-clockwise means that the stronger right leg can cope more efficiently with curves.
Once standardised, it became impossible – and inconvenient - to change the arrangement. It seems a little unfair to left-handers, though. Question: How many of the great track runners in the world have been left-handed?
The same does not hold true for horse-racing, however, and there are many famous clockwise courses in the UK, including Ascot and Goodwood.
Vague memories from childhood tell me Australian race tracks are anticlockwise too. Dad would go to the track and my brother and I would go along too, Dad would be betting and brother and I would mix in with the crowds scooping up discarded or dropped tickets and cash. Pickings were better closer to the beer rooms, though we never went home with much, maybe enough for an ice cream cone or two.
ReplyDeleteThough we live very close to the Ascot racecourse, I have never been to a horse racing event. I prefer to see horses running free.
DeleteI must admit that the Olympics doesn't interest me at all lol
ReplyDeleteI'm not enslaved by it, but do enjoy some events.
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ReplyDeleteIt's a bit weird here, as in two states horses run clockwise and in all other states anti-clockwise. I wonder if some horses run better in one direction than the other.
ReplyDeleteApparently, they adapt well to either, so I'm told.
DeleteHandedness doesn't coincide with footedness! You can be right handed and left foot/legged. People who are right eyed, handed and footed are, I believe, pretty rare. They get scouted for major league pitching. But I don't know how they decide in which way to race. Our local park has a big oval walking path which I walk clockwise because it feels right. I'm usually against the stream though.
ReplyDeleteLeft and right inclinations are interesting. It still intrigues me that such a small percentage of the human race is left-handed.
DeleteI seen to remember dog races in the UK running counterclockwise
ReplyDeleteThey do.
DeletePublic skating here is almost always anti-clockwise. It has been a long time since I skated, but every now and then, they might advise the skaters to skate clockwise for maybe 10 minutes. I loved it because I could turn that way much better than the other way, even though I am right handed. I am simply opposite to the average person.
ReplyDeleteUnique, is the adjective you're searching for.
DeleteA thoughtful reflection on the contrasting spirit of winter sports, paired with an intriguing question about the anti-clockwise tradition in racing and its impact on athletes
ReplyDeleteIt's just my grasshopper mind at work again . .
DeleteWinter Olympics is not streamed live because most the events aren't popular here. But I watch the highlights on YouTube Olympics channel, mostly ice hockey and figure skating. I have heard a lot about curling. Never understood it until I read about how it's played.
ReplyDeleteLindsey Vonn's accident was terrible. She is a very determined athlete. Hope she gets well soon.
Here too the running tracks are anticlockwise.
A correction - I had said in my comment that the Winter Olympics wasn't being telecast live here in India. I was wrong. I was misled by the TV listings which had left out Winter Olympics on that day. While watching JioHotstar (StarSports TV channel), I noticed that it was streaming live Winter Olympics. I am now watching Short Track Speed Skating.
DeleteI've watched a lot of curling and am still puzzled by it. I begin to think I understand and then something happens to prove that I don't!
DeleteSpeed skating is exciting.
Never gave it any thought but now that you mention it....I'll check out the horse racing here down under.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't thought about it until the other day.
DeleteI am surprised I have watched so much of the Olympics. I have enjoyed the curling. I had no idea so many countries partake in the sport.
ReplyDeleteIt's the countries that don't generally experience snow that interest me.
DeleteI'm not watching any sports on TV, but the clockwise/anti-clockwise question is truly interesting once you start to think about it, which I never have done until your post.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure it would be more interesting if athletes had to adapt to different track directions.I can imagine the commentary . . .
DeleteThat's interesting about races being run counter clockwise. I honestly had never even noticed that.
ReplyDeleteIt's something I've always taken for granted, but it suddenly occurred to me to question it.
DeleteThose clockwise / anti clockwise courses are is fascinating. I'm glad you think of these things and let us know
ReplyDeleteLOL!
DeleteAnd I wonder why you say anti-clockwise and we say counter-clockwise. Anti seems to connote being against something - Anti-Defamation League, Anti-racism, Anti-Trump…..
ReplyDeleteInteresting comment. English-speaking countries divided by a common language - a bad paraphrase of someone's aphorism - George Bernard Shaw or Oscar Wilde.
DeleteI feel the same way about curling; no pseud involved just absolute precision!
ReplyDeleteIt is very pleasing to watch.
DeleteThank you for this observation that I've never really paid attention to. Counter clockwise is exactly how the races are run.. interesting.
ReplyDelete😊
DeleteOnce again, thank you for telling me something I didn't know.
ReplyDeleteWell, I don't know where my comment went. I think I forgot to press 'publish' or something - probably distracted!
DeleteAs a left-hander I can submit that much of the world is not particularly fair to lefties. Every right hander should try using a pair of left handed scissors just to see how obnoxious it is for them. I never had a left handed pair until my 20s--didn't know they existed. Then there are fountain pens, composition books or three-ring binders where writing as a leftie is a challenge. I'm not one who hooks my hand around in an arc as some lefties do, but as a child I turned my paper upside down and wrote that way...often accused of "cheating" until I proved that was just my way of adapting. Though being able to read papers upside down has been quite helpful. Also, I had a German teacher (lived in Germany at the time) who tried to convert me to right handedness at the age of 11. He did not succeed. I kept my "devil-handedness," as he liked to call it. Not his favourite student. So many ways lefties are somewhat discriminated against. Although I do like to say the left-handers are the only ones in their "right" mind. On the other hand, I'm no athlete, so it doesn't matter which way the track goes. :)
ReplyDeleteMy extended family has many left-handers and none of them hooks their hand around. I have only seen that once in grade 7 when a classmate did that, it looks awkward. My dad grew up in Germany and was forced to write right handed, but always drew plans or pictures left handed.
DeleteYes, life is not fair to left-handers, who are often very creative - maybe because they have to overcome so many problems.
DeleteWell, there's a question I never considered. I'm right-handed and I haven't run on a track in ages.
ReplyDelete. . . but if you did you would have an advantage over the left-footers!
DeleteInteresting observations on the anti clockwise tracks. -Christine cmlk79.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteLife is strange.
DeleteI've not been watching the Winter Olympics other than the snippet of it when mentioned on the main evening news.
ReplyDeleteI had to think back to school days and which way we ran around the track, as I'd not given it much thought.
That's the joy of blogging you never know what you are going to find out, so thank you.
All the best Jan
I find blogging makes me think and find out, especially when I learn from another blogger.
DeleteThis reminds me of Taylorism. Systems gonna system.
ReplyDeleteWell, I had to look up Taylorism, so thank you for that. Time and motion studies followed, I guess.
ReplyDeleteSuch a shame for Lyndsey having that terrible accident and having her hopes and dreams shattered. I really hope that with the help of her doctors and medical support she will become mobile agin. I wish her well.
ReplyDeleteI haven't watched the Winter Olympics this time round but I do enjoy watching any skating events. I had heard about the reason for racing anti-clockwise was historically to do with Roman charioteers . It does make sense; and then why change it. However not so helpful for left handed people.
Professional athletes do things that mere mortals would never contemplate!
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