By Carter Melrose
In the scope of sporting events, there has always been a large question mark looming around swimming strokes. Questions relating to the relevance of these seemingly random movements have surrounded the sport for centuries. This same style of question has also often surfaced about a certain track event.
During this event, a person has to run 3,000 meters, hop over a handful of awkward barriers, and scale a wall-like structure that leads into a pit of ankle-high water. The event is the steeplechase, and it takes a certain type of athlete to dedicate the time to mastering a race that seems so odd to so many people.
One of those athletes is Iowa’s Marta Bote Gonzalez.
A native of Spain, Gonzalez got into the unorthodox event in the same way many of her predecessors did — through sheer curiosity.
“In Spain, we run the 1,500-meter and the 2,000-meter steeplechase for high-schoolers, and I thought it was a cool event that I wanted to try,” she said.
To set the scene, this event has swallowed many an athlete whole. Bumping, colliding midair, because every racer has the same launching point and landing zone. This is one of the events you can finish and feel successful based on your head not hitting the polyurethane track at any point during the race. Get on the computer and Google “steeplechase gone wrong,” and there are bound to be plenty of accidents that pop up.
“It can get really challenging if you start to get tired because it is really easy to fall,” Gonzalez said.
The chaos doesn’t stop there, however. After the steeplechasers barely scale over the barriers, their endurance is tested — and that’s also when they get wet.
“It’s really an event of mental toughness,” said Joey Woody, Iowa director of track and field. “And then you throw in the water pit.”
With many obstacles unseen by all other track athletes facing Gonzalez in the steeplechase race, she has built herself a strategy that she believes has cut down falls and shaved time.
“Because it is a hard race, I need to make sure I do not run out of energy too early, so my strategy is always to try to run at an even pace through the race, because constantly speeding up and slowing down is what makes you the most tired,” Gonzalez said. “Additionally, I try to get myself in a good spot so other girls do not hit me while I am jumping or they get too close to me that do not leave me space to go over the steeplechase and the water jump comfortably.”
The history of steeplechase commonly goes as such — in the 1700s in Ireland, men and boys raced from one church steeple to another, while having to scale stone walls and hop over small streams. This later became an Olympic sport and was accepted by the world. With much rich history surrounding the sport, the biggest asset the steeplechase may have to lure future athletes is that it is out of the ordinary. No other sport is like it.
“I like how challenging it is compared with any other distance race,” Gonzalez said. “I am an athletic person, so I liked that I had to do more than just run.”