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Both genders deserve level field of play
On Sunday, Aug. 27, I heard people who are opposed to biological men competing against biological women called vile names, so I referred to the World Track and Field Championships ending the same day for examples.
Let's start with the 100-meter sprints. The men ran it in 9.83 seconds and the women in 10.65, a difference of .88 seconds.
A meter is 1.0936137 yards.
At those speeds, the men would beat the women by approximately 9 meters, 9.8425 yards.
Next, the 1500-meter run.
The men ran it in 3 minutes and 29.28 seconds, the women in 3:54.87, a difference of 25.69 seconds.
At the speed the men ran they would have beaten the women by about 180 yards.
Now we examine the marathon which is 26.2 miles.
The men ran in 2 hours 8 minutes and 53 seconds, an average speed of 12.4 miles per hour, and the women in 2 hours 24 minutes, and 23 seconds.
At that speed, the men would win by about 3.4 miles.
In weight-tossing events men threw the shot 23.51 meters and the women 20.43.
The men's shot weighs 16 pounds, and the women's 8.8 pounds.
In the javelin, men threw 88.17 meters and the women 66.73. The men's javelin weighs 1.76369 pounds and is 2.6-2.7 meters long, and the women's javelin weighs 1.3227 pounds and is 2.2-2.3 meters long.
Could your daughter compete against biological men? These competitors are the best in the world, some holding biological world records.
Nothing here supports the notion of fairness when biological women compete against biological men.
Tim Toroian
Altoona
C-K's first field
was a little short
The Claysburg-Kimmel School District is taking justifiable pride in the opening of a brand new Bulldog Stadium that will host football, soccer and other field sports.
Education and athletics at Claysburg have a distinguished history.
The first school building in the area dates from 1812. Claysburg High School was built in 1918 and the first graduation from a four-year curriculum was in 1928.
The first football team was fielded in 1933, and cheerleaders appeared two years later.
To accommodate the first Claysburg football teams took some imaginative innovation.
It had a field large enough to lay out the first gridiron but was only 90 yards long. Only one end of the field had an end zone and a goal post.
When the team with the ball reached the 30-yard line on the end of the field without an end zone, the ball was repositioned to a spot at the other end of the field, with the end zone, and play continued.
This information was related to me by Claysburg High School players Buck Cowher and Bob Gordon and confirmed by former coach Ted Delozier.
James Wentz
McLean, Va.
(The writer is a Morrisons Cove historian who contributes a monthly column to the Mirror.)