How many laps is 3000 meter steeplechase

Ann Gaffigan is former American record holder in the 2,000- and 3,000-meter steeplechase.

When people learn I ran steeplechase, they always ask, “What’s the steeplechase?” I’ve answered this question more times than I can count on my hands and feet. I’ve tried different answers based on the person’s age, knowledge of track and field, and perceived attention span. I have called it a long-distance hurdling event, simulated cross-country and human equestrian. No matter what I say, I always remember to mention there’s a water pit. People love that.

Simply put, the steeplechase is a 3,000-meter obstacle race with four barriers, or hurdles, and a water pit. Everyone loves a train wreck, and the water pit is just that. People flock to it when a race starts, hoping to witness a few good crashes. They’re rarely disappointed.

The pit is 12 feet long and located at the end of the track on the curve before the home stretch, either on the inside of Lane 1 or the outside of the final lane. It’s got a barrier in front of it, a barrier being a really wide hurdle. It doesn’t collapse if you catch a leg on it; you do. More on that later.

Drawing by Dr. James Fields/Women’s Steeplechase Report

Most runners step up onto the barrier and try to jump as far over the water as possible. The idea is not to clear the water but to land with one foot in the pit and the other about to step out of it. “One foot in, one foot out” is the rule. Others just hurdle over the dang thing and take two or three strides through the water.

Eventually, someone goes for a swim. Just ask Katy Andrews. A video of her epic fall went viral earlier this year. I think steeplechase falls are where the idea for the television show Wipeout came from.

I’ve fallen in the water pit once. It was 40 degrees, raining, and my first steeplechase of the season. The barrier was an older one, made of wood and pretty slippery. With a couple laps to go, I stepped up onto it with my right foot, which slid the length of the barrier to the right. I belly-flopped into the pit and went all the way under. For months afterward, my coach kept a video of my fall cued up on his TV. Every time I walked into his office, he’d jump up from his chair and turn it on. Thanks, coach.

Falling is a rite of passage, though. If you’re a steepler, it’s only a matter of time. I once caught my toe on a barrier in the preliminary round at the National Championships, fell to the ground and somersaulted, then rolled back up to a running position without losing ground to my competitors ... and still made the final!

Drawing by Dr. James Fields/Women’s Steeplechase Report

Besides the water jump, there are four barriers placed evenly around the track. The standard steeplechase distance is 3,000 meters, or about 1.875 miles for the metrically challenged. That’s seven and a half laps. You’ll occasionally see a 2,000-meter race run as an exhibition, and juniors and youth athletes typically run 2,000 or 1,500 meters.

In a 3000-meter steeplechase, you skip the water pit and first barrier during the first half lap. The first barrier, which is just after the finish line mark, is wider than the others to accommodate the fact that the field may be bunched up at the start of the race. Hurdling a barrier while running in a group is no small task, because sometimes you can’t see the barrier. There were times when I simply jumped when I saw heads rising ahead of me and hoped I’d make it. Runners sometimes go down, and if they’re in front of you, you’re probably going down too, and you’re probably going to get stepped on. And yes, everyone is wearing spikes.

Drawing by Dr. James Fields/Women’s Steeplechase Report

As awesome as this event is, steeplechasers get no love. We’re treated like the ugly stepchild of track and field. Networks don’t like to televise our races, even though there’s always the potential for a pileup. C’mon – that’s great entertainment. It’s like NASCAR but without the noise.

Often, athletes who get really good at the steeplechase promptly exit stage left for more glamorous events like the 1,500 meters or 5,000 meters. Some people say steeplers are steeplers because we couldn’t make it in the “flat” running events. This never made sense to me. The steeplechase is clearly the more difficult event. It requires a different type of fitness than flat events do. It takes more than endurance; it requires hurdling endurance. You have to be able to adapt quickly and handle the rapid changes in speed that come as you approach a barrier, clear it and resume your run. You also must master hurdling efficiently and clearing the water pit. All that jumping subjects your joints to a lot of shock.

Men have been running the steeplechase in the Olympics since 1920, but the women’s steeplechase wasn’t added until 2008 because people worried our uteruses would fall out and stuff. When I was a senior at the University of Nebraska in 2004, I won the Olympic Trials in Sacramento with an American record of 9:39.35. Briana Shook broke my record by 10 seconds just 17 days later. She was ranked No. 2 in the world and I was ranked No. 5. We could have fought for a step on the Olympic podium but for one thing: Women’s steeplechase didn’t become an Olympic event until 2008. Not that I’m bitter about it or anything.

If I could go back in time and pick a different event to specialize in – you know, one that was included in the Olympics – I wouldn’t. I love the steeplechase. It’s long and it’s difficult and not everyone can handle it. It’s also really fun and makes you feel like you can do anything. My dad always wanted me to be a miler, even after I won a Big 12 Conference title and became an All-American in the steeple. When my father, mother and big sister watched me set the American record in Sacramento in 2004, I couldn’t wait to ask him, “So dad, now do you like the steeplechase?” He grinned. “I guess it’s OK.” Mom cried and my sister put me in a headlock.

That scene says a lot about the event, actually. You have to be really tough and a little crazy to be a steepler. It helps if your family is the same way.

Ann Gaffigan is former American record holder in the 2,000- and 3,000-meter steeplechase. She won the 2004 Olympic Trials when the event was held as an exhibition for women. Ann retired from competitive running in 2008 and co-founded the website WomenTalkSports.com. She has owned and run her own web development company, Gazelle Incorporated, since 2004.

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