Use 300M Hurdle Marks to run the 400M Hurdles

Use 300M Hurdle Marks to run the 400M Hurdles

So, you're on a track that has the hurdle marks for the 300 Meter Intermediate Hurdles,
but you want to run the 400 Meter Intermediate Hurdle race. What's a person to do?

Option 1: Create 10 new hurdle marks in every lane (because the 300M hurdle marks are 5 meters off)
     Measure out the proper spacing and create 10 new marks in every lane. A TON of work!

Option 2: Create 3 new hurdle marks in every lane and backup the start/finish line by 5 meters.

What to do:

a) Back up your Finish line by 5 meters (so the finish line is actually now the 395 Meter line)
     Easy - just measure 5 meters back from the common finish and run a white tape across the track.

b) Back up your Starting marks by 5 meters
     No so easy, as the start is staggered - measure 5 meters back from the typical 400 Meter staggered start in each lane.

c) Mark off the 1st 3 hurdle marks
     A bit of work. From your known first 300 hurdle mark, measure back toward the starting line 35 meters (For 400 Hurdle mark 3), then 35 meters again (for 400 Hurdle mark 2) then 35 meters again (for 400 Hurdle mark 1). The 400 first hurdle mark is 45 meters from your new starting mark.

d) Don't put a hurdle on the last hurdle mark of the 300 Meter race (as that would make the 400 Hurdlers have to jump ELEVEN hurdles)
Check out the table below: (Everything is in metric)

Distance	Starting Line	Hurdle Mark Number										Finish Line
Distance	Starting Line	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Finish Line
300	100	145	180	215	250	285	320	355	390	N/A	N/A	0
400	395	40	75	110	145	180	215	250	285	320	355	395

With this altered alignment, notice that in the 400 Meter race, Hurdles 4 through 10 exactly line up on the same marks as Hurdles 1 through 7 in the 300 Meter race!