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Rafi Solaiman at England Champs

Para-athletics factoid: Frame Running

Frame Running (previously called RaceRunning) is a relatively new para-athletics event - announced by World Para Athetics (WPA) as an official track discipline in 2017. Frame Running is for athletes with severe coordination and balance impairments such as cerebral palsy and the wheeled frame enables the legs to propel the athlete while helping to aid balance. Athletes can be classified into categories T71 and T72. Events range from 60m to 1500m.
Universal Relay team at Tokyo Paralympics

Paralympic factoid: universal relay

Our Olympic teams won a medal in every relay event. But did you know there is just one special relay event at the Paris Paralympic Games? It's called the Universal 4x100 relay and features four athletes (2 male and 2 female) with different classifications.
Jonnie Peacock at London 2012

Paralympic factoid: blade runners

Athletes with classification T/F 61 to 64 compete wearing lower limb prosthetic/s (blades). But even these need to be within the rules - it wouldn't be fair for a sprinter to have overly longer blades than their competitors! So how is this calculated and checked?
Alicia Barratt hurdles

Olympic factoid: up and over

At lower level meetings you may have been asked to help the ground staff and track officials to set up the hurdles prior to races. Did you know that there are lots of different combinations of not just hurdle height but also toppling weight (counterweight)?
Track markings

Olympic factoid: walk the line

Nearly all the line markings on an athletic track are 5cm wide. But do you know which one line is wider than that? And which one is narrower? And what do all the coloured marks mean?
Call room

Olympic factoid: final call!

Many competitions now have a call room, but did you know that at major events such as the Olympics and Paralympics there are in fact TWO call rooms?
Photofinish at Paris

Olympic factoid: snap happy

Most of you will be familiar with photofinish as it is quite common now across competitions at all levels. Photofinish was used as far back as the 1948 Olympics when it determined the finish of the men's 100m. But do you know how it works?
Technical Information Centre (TIC) at London 2012

Olympic factoid: information overload?

Something we rarely encounter at home competitions is the Technical Information Centre (known as the TIC), but for major international events such as the Olympics and Paralympics, this is a vital part of the machine.