Flashes of Panic

There are two nifty gizmos out on the field here at the Sacramento track. Between the two shot put sectors, where the throwers are currently in their qualifying round, are two long snakes of black PVC drain pipe. The end away from the throwing circle is elevated about three feet on a stand. About two feet from the other end is a chunk of two-by-four which elevates the throwing-circle end slightly; then there’s a horseshoe-shaped barrier next to the ring.

As the officials mark the fall of the shot, they hand the implement over to a volunteer, who feeds it into the outboard end of this pipe. The shot rolls down to ground level, then takes that momentum to roll the rest of the way back to the throwing ring. The two-by-four at the receiving end slows it down with a short uphill before it pops out next to the throwers again and is stopped by the horseshoe barrier.

Now that I think of it, it looks a lot like a home-made bowling-ball return system, except that shot are only about the size of candlepin balls even though they’re heavier than most duckpin balls.