> Didn't they run clockwise at Oxford during Bannister's day?
I don't think so. At least the picture of Bannister breaking the tape showed
him running left-to-right, not right-to-left. But I was told that ancient
drawings of greek Olympics showed they ran in both directions.
Here's an old post to this list giving a few possible reasons for
counter-clock direction:
http://wso.williams.edu/listserv/tfselect/Aug1598-Sep198/msg00472.html
(see text below).
Frankly, I don't think Coriolis effect is significant enough to explain
this.
I could believe right-handed (and right-legged) explanation, though. When
people get lost in the woods they circle counter-clockwise due to the right
leg being slightly stronger than left leg. So counter-clockwise direction
could be a little more natural to most humans.
Oleg.
On Thu, 27 Aug 1998 14:08:25 -0400, you wrote:
>AFAIK, track races have always been run in the counterclockwise direction.
>Does anyone know the reason for this, historical or otherwise? (I posted
>this question on the internet newsgroup rec.running. So far, the only
response
>comes from Steven Isham, who speculates (facetiously) that it is due
>to the fact that runners race "against the clock.")
>
>************************************************************************
>Terry R. McConnell Mathematics/304B Carnegie/Syracuse, N.Y. 13244-1150
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://barnyard.syr.edu/~tmc
>************************************************************************
This question came up on this list a couple of years ago, and as I
recall, there were various answers offered, including these:
1. It was the direction the ancient Greeks did it, and we've stuck
with tradition.
2. When running around a curve, the arm on the inside of the curve
must swing less than the arm on the outside of the curve. Therefore,
it helps to have a stronger right arm if you run around curves
counter-clockwise. Since there are more right-handed people in the world
than left-handed, running counter-clockwise caters to the natural
strength of the majority of people.
3. Goes naturally with the coreolis effect- the direction water swirls
when it drains being the usual indicator. But that means that in the
southern hemisphere, they should be running clockwise :-).
Of course, our Australian friends claimed that THEY are the ones who
are consistent with the coreolis effect, and it's us northern hemispherers
who should be running clockwise around a track.
4. When looking at runners sprinting down the homestretch from left
to right (to arrive at a finish line which nobody wants at the end
of a curve), it is more natural for spectators to want to see people
running from left to right, just like most Western nations read their
written language from the beginning to the end of a row of words.
5. The horses on carousels always go counter-clockwise, for the same
reason (a bit of trivia I never knew).
6. Horse races (at least in the U.S.) are always counter-clockwise.
7. Same for dog races (i.e. greyhounds).
8. Military parades always go counter-clockwise when they 'pass in
review' (centuries-old tradition). That's where the command 'eyes
right!' comes from.
9. And last, but not least,:
the IAAF rulebook says that is the direction races must be run.
These are the ones I remember (some real laughers), but I think there
were others, too.
R.T.
