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Mass Strider, Sarah Clifford of Grafton
headed south this week to join the USA Pentathlon training camp in
Texas. For the past two years, (summer 2001 before her senior year at
Duke University and since her 2002 graduation) CMSers have seen her as
a regular fixture at the women’s Tuesday night track practice and
Thursday night run. What they haven’t seen is the swimming practices
before the runs, the fencing sessions after the runs, the riding
practices on weekends and the target practice when she has the time.
It is of course, more convenient to make time for the target practice;
her 10 meter shooting range is out her bedroom door and down the hall.
The unique combination of Sarah’s sports are derived from the
ancient Olympics. Aristotle said that “The most perfect sportsmen,
therefore, are the Pentathletes because in their bodies strength and
speed are combined in beautiful harmony.” It is the competition of
soldiers. The Modern Pentathlon, was first introduced at the 5th
Olympiad in Stockholm, Sweden in 1912 and summoned athletes possessed
of the physical attributes necessary to pistol shoot, fence, swim,
ride and run. It was the original organizer’s belief that these
events "tested a man’s moral qualities as much as his physical
resources and skills, producing thereby the ideal, complete
athlete.” Women too. |
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| Fencing In the Pentathlon Sarah must fence every other competitor with epee (A stiff French sword with a triangle shaped cross-section and similar to the dueling sword of the 19th century). Competitors win with one hit within a time limit of one minute. If a hit is not scored within the time, both competitors register a defeat. The target area is the entire body and hits or “touches” are registered via an electronic tip at the end of the sword. A total score of 70% victories equals maximum points with the value of each hit above and below this percentage depending on the number of athletes competing. Swimming One of Sarah’s best events is the 200 meter free-style swim. A time of 2 minutes 30 seconds for men and 2 minutes 40 seconds for women earns maximum Pentathlon Points. Every 1/10 of second above or below this time is equal to plus or minus one point. In the most recent competition on January 11, 2002, Sarah swam to a 2:22, a personal best by 2 seconds only missing the win by 3 seconds. Riding In the ride, Sarah must ride an unfamiliar horse over show-jumping obstacles. Included in the jumps are one double jump and one triple jump. The track is between 350-400 m in length. Competitors begin with maximum points and lose 30 points for knockdowns, 40 points for refusal or disobedience to jump, 60  points
for falling off and 3 points per second for being over the standard
time. Strong in this event, and atop Maurice the horse, Sarah finished
in a tie for first with the maximum 1200 points at the January 11
competition.
Running
The United States governing body is the USA Pentathlon. USA
Pentathlon (http://usmpa.home.texas.net/
) establishes a ranking list based on the USA Pentathlon Individual
Pentathlon Point System (IPPS) for the purpose of selecting athletes
who will represent the USA in certain international competitions. |
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